And
a Little Child Shall Lead Them
Isaiah
11:1-10
If life were recorded on a
scorecard; if everything you did, and everything you had were tallied with
check marks in boxes; then the scorecards of Leonard and Hazel Wiles would have
been unmarked save for one check. They
had each other. But, even that
relationship was shaky. Other than each
other though, they had little to show for their lives.
Neither had much education. They had
little money, and even less hope. Each
had been married and divorced. Each came
from family backgrounds, which were wastelands of love. Each had seen their lives spiral downward
because of the bottle. Alcohol provided
a fog to cover their pain.
Their marriage bore no children,
which was probably just as well, because it is hard to raise a family on next
to nothing. She was in her forties, and
he was in his mid fifties.
They lived their lives on a flat
gray plane, no color, and no spark, empty of any real meaning or purpose. Their prison had no walls and no bars; yet
still they dragged the heavy chains of disappointment, discouragement, and depression.
A hundred miles away, another life
squeaked into existence. His name was
Andy. He was a thalidomide child. His mother, when she was carrying him had used
a prescription drug called thalidomide, which the medical world said was safe
and beneficial during pregnancy. The
medical world was wrong.
Hundreds of babies were born with
severe birth defects. Andy was one of
the worst. He had a strong, active and
healthy mind; but he no arms and no legs.
Abandoned by his mother and father because of his disability he lived a
life trapped…trapped by his physical infirmities, trapped by the institution in
which he lived; trapped because no one would love him. He was a helpless, completely helpless child.
The lives of the Wiles’ and Andy
existed oblivious to each other for six years.
Then through a wildly coincidental series of events, the Wiles’ became
the guardians of Andy for legal purposes only.
They were the ones who needed to sign the papers to keep Andy
institutionalized. It was a simple
formality. They did not even have to see
him. It could be done through the mail.
After a while, this shallow
relationship began to tickle Leonard’s mind.
He began to wonder what the boy was like. So, one day he took a train to visit and see
the child with no arms and no legs. The
seeds of friendship formed. On the way
home, Leonard felt good. He had done
something nice for someone else with no thought of any return. Other visits followed. They went on outings, to cafes and such. Then one day Leonard brought Andy home for an
overnight visit.
Something began to happen. The spark, the enthusiasm for life this
limbless child had began to rub off on Hazel as well. And their lives for the first time began to
have color, began to have hope, and began to have purpose, because their lives
for the first time were really beginning to be shaped by love. In their efforts to help Andy overcome some
of the limitations of his disability, they also began to overcome some of their
own limitations. Everything about their
lives turned around. They were
transformed, changed by the life of this little child.[1]
The Bible puts it this way, “The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the
leopard shall lie down with the kid, and a little child shall lead them.”[2]
These words, were of course,
originally spoken to declare that the Messiah would come into our world as a
little child, and that in the kingdom of God, the attitude of a child will
become the modis operandi or
“method of operating among God’s people. “Whoever
does not receive the kingdom of God like a child”, Jesus said, “shall not enter it.”[3]
These words, “and a little child
shall lead them” are spoken as a
promise to each succeeding generation at Christmas. The promise is that the
wolf shall lie down with the lamb, that enemies shall live in peace, that those
who suffer from internal turmoil shall be healed. But, how is that possible? How is it that a child can bring such
redemption? How can such a child
re-order life like that? How can we
understand the power of Bethlehem?
Let’s
go back to that couple who thought they had nothing going for them, and a
limbless child who didn’t have anything going for him. Maybe we’ll see how that’s done.
In
the transformation, which took place in these three lives, three things
happened, three things that should be happening in Christian lives everyday.
First,
Andy, the helpless child brought out the best, the very best in two people who
had only seen the worst in life. Because
he needed them, they soon saw that they also needed him. He helped them to
reach a higher potential, a greater goal.
They extended themselves; they stretched themselves beyond all the
limits they ever set for themselves.
Because
of Andy’s limitations, Leonard became
an inventor. At 55 years of age he took
up a new skill. He tinkered and studied and planned and worked so he was able
to create a machine that would help Andy become more mobile.
And
Hazel, in her late 40’s now became an instant mother. More than that, she became a mother to a
child that many saw as repulsive. She
bathed, disciplined, and loved a child that many saw as unlovable.
Yet,
not only did their skills and knowledge increase; but so also did their ability
to give, their inclination to help, and their desire to love. Andy is not the only child to bring that out
in people.
One
of the things I remember when we lived in Pittsburgh and miss about Christmas back
then was following the KDKA Christmas drive for Children’s hospital. There, nearly the whole broadcast day for a
week or more was dedicated to raising money for the children. They set up the announcer’s booth in an
open-air storefront and anyone who brought in any contribution at all could get
on the radio. And thousands of people
come with money they’ve collected at school or work or in their neighborhoods;
singing carols and selling cookies.
When
they get on the radio they would call out “Hi” to Mom
and Dad, or they would talk about how they raised the money, and maybe they’d
even sing a Christmas carol.
Now,
I majored in Broadcasting at Penn State, and according to every principle I
learned, this should have made for lousy radio, because these ordinary people
who would find themselves on the air often couldn’t sing…at all. Many of them couldn’t really talk or make
coherent sentences. They didn’t come
close to the voices of the professional announcers. But, it didn’t matter,
because these people have stood out in the cold, they extended themselves, they
stretched themselves, they gave of themselves so that children might be given a
chance at life. That is good radio. I think it is great radio.
“And a little child shall
lead them…”
Leonard and Hazel Wiles
found that out. They discovered they
could do more than they thought they could.
But, they also discovered something else. They found a purpose to their lives. They came to see that life does not simply
exist for the receiving and acquiring.
They discovered that eternal truth that God has been trying to impress
upon stubborn hearts since time began.
That simple fundamental truth is that the joy of living does not rest in
how much you get, but in how much you give.
Sometimes you discover that these opportunities come when you least
expect them.
Dr.
Bryant Kirkland, former pastor of the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church in New
York City, tells of traveling to preach on the West Coast one winter: “I needed the time on that three hour flight to
study and prepare”, he said, “so
I buckled down and let everyone near me feel the tension. I sent out by my attitude a message – don’t
bother me, I’m a busy man with places to go and work to do.”
When you are traveling by
yourself you don’t really get to choose who will sit in the seat next to
you. In this instance a young woman and her
toddler child slipped into the seat next to his. Dr. Kirkland thought to himself, “This will be difficult”. So, he said, “I kept a straight
face, stared at my sermon notes, and looked very Presbyterian.” That
lasted for about six minutes. Pretty
soon, this little boy began fussing around.
“Man, man,” he cooed at
me and strectched out his arms. That was
it. “I couldn’t resist. So, I put my sermon back into the briefcase
and picked him up out of the seat and just loved him all the way across the
country. When we landed in Los Angeles, his mother said to me, “Thank you
for doing that. He lost his father not
long ago, and he has no man to muss him up like that and love him. Thank you so very much.” And
Dr. Kirkland said that he didn’t realize how much joy and peace that little boy
had brought into his own heart until he was back in that airport crowd. And a “little child led him” when he least expected it.
Finally, the Wiles learned
something, gained something they thought they could never have. That is hope.
In circumstances that would seem to knock anyone down, which would seem
to kill all hope, in circumstances which could seem to get no worse; Hazel and
Leonard Wiles learned to have hope in the future.
Each
day brought a new challenge. How much
more can Andy learn to do? How much more
can we learn to do? Their outlook, their
perspective, and their lives were now oriented toward the future. Rather than focusing on what Andy couldn’t
do, they imagined, they tried to think of what he and they could do. When they did that they left behind their
self-imposed limitations.
In
the midst of financial difficulties, in the midst of advancing years, in the
midst of Andy’s disabilities, they all learned to hope.
If
you ever tried to put yourself in the Bethlehem scene, you can do no less. In the midst of a country oppressed by Roman
rule, in the midst of a province governed by a jealous ruler who wanted to see
that child dead, in the midst of a cold stable, in the midst of all this, a
child is born who brought a new hope for us all. We have hope in the future because the future
that child brings.[4]
It
is that future that each of us needs to hold onto. That child grew up. He no longer lies peacefully in a
manger. He grew up. He preached, he healed, and he laid down his
life for you and for me. Because He
lives, you and I also live lives of purpose and hope and love.
Jesus
stretches us. He helps us to extend ourselves
beyond the limits we have set on ourselves.
He tames the wolf within us so that it may live with the lamb within us.
The
transformation is often quiet. Its power
is like that of a child. It is not
coercive. It does not command. Rather it beckons. It calls to us like the cry of a child. Anyone who has ever heard that cry recognizes
the power it has. People will move
heaven and earth because of it. This is
the lesson learned by Leonard and Hazel.
It is one we should all remember.
So,
if you will be fortunate enough to celebrate your Christmas in the presence of
a young child, count your blessings. If
not. If children are grown and gone;
remember that it is the Christ child whose birth we celebrate who calls you
forward and lifts you upward.
“The wolf shall dwell with
the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down the with kid, and the calf and the
lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead us.”
Let us pray:
God,
our Father, help us to truly be your children.
Help us, where we need it, to become like children in our approach to
life and to our faith. We ask now that if there is anyone here who needs to be
renewed in Jesus Christ that Your Spirit will touch that person’s life right
now, and that the change will take place.
We pray in Christ’s name. Amen
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