Baptismal meditation

Matthew 18:4: Whoever humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Children are blessings from the Lord, but how are they blessings? In many ways: There are daily delights in having little children around the house, and there are deeper joys in watching children grow to adulthood. Through our children, our lives, values, projects, hopes, names, continue past our lifetimes. Through our children, above all, our faith continues past our lifetime, as our children carry on what we have given to them.

One of the blessings is related to what Jesus teaches here in Matthew 18. In response to His disciples’ question about who is the greatest in the kingdom, Jesus sets a child in their midst and points to him as their model. As I mentioned in the sermon, this has more to do with status than with behavior or attitude. Children can be annoying, selfish, competitive, sinful, childish. We aren’t called to be like children in those respects. We are to be like children in the sense that we take a lower position. We humble ourselves like children by taking a low position. Children are a blessing because they provide a permanent model of discipleship in our home, a permanent reminder of Jesus’ instructions to become like children.

Children are a living, breathing picture of discipleship, but not only that. They are also a test of discipleship. You can’t raise your children well without becoming like a child. You can’t raise child well without becoming a servant to that child, taking a position lower even than the child’s position. Think of a parents’ job description: You serve them their meals, change their clothes and diapers, earn money so they have what they need. The parents’ job description is the description of a slave, and you are not going to be successful parents without humbling yourselves and becoming servants to these little ones.

As Jesus points out here, this demand for serving your children comes with a stern warning. Your children are among the “little ones” that Jesus warns us not to offend. Jesus warns us not to set traps or stones in their path that would make them stumble and bring them to ruin. He warns us not to lead little ones into sin, or burden them with loads so heavy that they get crushed down beneath their loads. Go about your parenting with this warning in mind: It is better for a millstone to be attached to your neck, and for you to be thrown into the sea, than for you to cause one of the little ones to stumble. Better you cut off your hand or foot, or pluck out your eye, than for you to cause one of your children to stumble. You will be judged by how you treat these little ones in your own home.

Baptism raises the stakes on all this. Baptism says that your children are not just lowly children, but are representatives of the humble child, Jesus. Baptism joins your child to the child of God who took the form of a servant, made Himself of no reputation, and humbled Himself to death on a cross. That is the model child that you are to conform to, the Servant of Yahweh who is also Servant to Yahweh’s little ones. Baptism marks your child as a living, breathing portrait of the gospel. If you receive your child, you are receiving Christ.

This also indicates the way you are to direct your children. You want them to grow up to become big, to become great. You want them to mature to adulthood. But maturing to adulthood in the kingdom of Jesus means being conformed more and more to the Son of God, the servant of the servants of God. Becoming great means humbling yourself more and more.

This is Christian parenting in a nutshell: Take your baptized children as living icons of Christ, and humble yourselves as Jesus did to become servants to the lowly ones; and teach your children to imitate you as you imitate Christ by imitating them.