“Like newborn infants, long for the pure, spiritual milk, so
that by it you may grow into salvation.” [I
Peter 2:2]
A
newborn infant is vulnerable. A baby
that cannot communicate cannot ask for help when anything goes wrong, except by
crying. She cannot defend herself in
case of trouble or run away if there is danger.
A baby is totally dependent on a caregiver for food, for changing, for warmth,
for everything. Infants are also
biologically vulnerable. Here’s a quick
science lesson.
“The small intestine of a
developing child responds to nutritional needs by increasing the absorption of
specific nutrients. For example, calcium transport in newborns and infants is
about five times the rate in adults. If lead exposure occurs, the lead will
compete with the calcium for transport at this high rate. Thus, children's
absorption of ingested lead may be five times higher than that of adults. …
The gastric pH of infants
is higher for the first 12 months of life and does not drop to adult levels until
3 years of age… . A high gastric pH leads to excess bacterial colonization
The younger the child,
the higher the respiratory rate and the higher the weight-adjusted dose of an
air pollutant. For example, newborns take an average 45 breaths per minute
versus 31 breaths per minute for infants 6 months old, 24 breaths per minute
for 2-year old toddlers, and 12-14 breaths per minute for adults. …”[1]
Fortunately
for any child, one of the things that is shared by her or his mother in the
early days is a degree of immunity.
There are antibodies in a nursing mother’s milk that
“protect against infection by working
inside the baby’s gastrointestinal tract, …[which] penetrate and protect the
mucous membranes in the baby’s mouth, airway, throat, and intestines. …This protection is invaluable to a newborn,
and is absolutely necessary in developing countries where access to clean water
is problematic.”[2]
It’s not a permanent protection, but it
buys time for a growing child to develop immunity to the sorts of bacteria that
are specific to the child’s particular environment. Eventually, something is going to get
through. We all get sick; that’s part of
life. But when this particular act of
mothering has done its job, the infant or toddler (no longer a newborn) has
acquired one of the many attributes that make survival and growth possible.
I
Peter [2:2] compares us to newborns who have need of what it calls “the pure, spiritual milk,” that works
on our souls in some sense the way that a mother’s milk works to sustain a
newborn, “so that by it you may grow into
salvation”. A large part of this is
the awareness that “the Lord is good.” Now, that sounds like a very basic
awareness, and it is, just as the first food a child receives in this world is,
and must be, very basic. In the same
way, though, it is very sustaining.
There
are many, many people who go through life without that awareness. Either they think of God as rigid and
authoritarian or as distant and uncaring.
A god like that is not one that will give any attention to human beings. Either we fail to live up to the standards,
and thus are damaged goods at best, or simply by virtue of being so infinitely
far beneath him, we get no notice. In
King Lear, the last tragedy that Shakespeare ever wrote, King Lear loses his
kingdom and his eyesight becomes homeless, tossed out by two of his
daughters. With only two friends left,
he stumbles around outdoors in the middle of a storm where there is not even a
tree for shelter, and one of those two remarks,
“As flies
to wanton boys are we to the gods.
They kill
us for their sport.”[3]
That is exactly the outlook, and it
leads to despair. That’s like looking at
a new baby and thinking, “Poor kid. Once
he walks, he’s going to hit his head on a table. He’ll probably break a few bones growing
up. He’s going to get his heart broken
at least once by the time he’s twenty, then maybe end up going into the wrong
profession and be miserable every day for the next forty years. I hope he finds a happy marriage, although if
he outlives his wife, his heart will break worse than he ever knew it
could. Then again, if he dies early, her
heart will break. Maybe he’ll live long
enough to develop arthritis or (heaven help him!) some kind of dementia.”
Don’t
be silly. There’s some grace in nature
itself that steers us in a totally different direction. When you look at a newborn, you may still get
all choked up, but in a good way. What you
think, and what you say, is, “Look at those tiny hands, will you?” (And you stick your pinky out for him to
grab.) “What a grip! This kid is going to be a great short stop
someday! Awww… Look at that smile! I wonder what he’s thinking about. You’ve had quite a day already, haven’t you,
kiddo?” In Puerto Rico, it’s
traditionally considered bad manners, if not inhuman, to see a baby and not to
touch him or her gently, usually with the words, “Ay! Bendito!”
(“Oh! Blessed one!”)
There
is a close and intimate connection between knowing God, knowing that God is
good, and knowing that God’s care is there for us in our moments of weakness
and defenselessness, whether as children or as adults – because there are
certainly times when an adult is every bit as vulnerable as a child, though to
different troubles. Just to be sure, if
you haven’t heard it already, I’m telling you now: God loves you – yes, you – so
much that he would put himself in the position of a helpless baby or even a
helpless criminal condemned to death, all to protect and help you. You are not an accident. You are a necessary part of the whole
universe – small, as we all are, but in no way insignificant. That message is a vital antibody for
spiritual survival and health.
“Know that the Lord is God.
It is he that
made us, and we are his;
we are his
people, and the sheep of his pasture.”
So
“Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
and his courts
with praise.
Give thanks to
him, bless his name.
For the Lord our God is good;
his steadfast
love endures forever,
and his
faithfulness to all generations.” [Psalm
100:3-5]
God
is in the business of nurturing life, of bringing growth, of taking what is
overlooked or despised or undervalued, and turning all of that into something
great.
“Once you were not a people,
but now you are God’s people;
once you had not received mercy,
but now you have received mercy.” [I Peter 2:10]
but now you are God’s people;
once you had not received mercy,
but now you have received mercy.” [I Peter 2:10]
Goodness and mercy – just think how far
they can take you.
“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of
my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.” [Psalm 23:6]
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