9 December 2025

It is within the prophecy of Isaiah that ‘a little child shall lead them’. But first he  paints a beautiful picture of a world at peace with itself. Isaiah chooses to celebrate this with unusual images from the animal kingdom. ‘The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together and a  little child shall lead them.’

The Christchild took upon himself the mantle of childhood and imbued it with holiness. Isaiah gives the child a leadership role. Jesus too when he says to his friends, ‘The greatest in the kingdom of heaven is the one who humbles himself and becomes like this child.’ Two things follow.

Firstly, the child’s vocation is hidden. When we look at a baby we cannot see what she will be able to do or say or achieve. The development of her life is hidden from view but the seeds of her future happiness, development and faith are there waiting to be nurtured.

Every great man or woman was once a child. Was it not true of  John Knox and Mary Slessor? Mother Teresa and Martin Luther King? Was it not true of Jesus himself? Who would  have thought that the baby laid in a manger would have been the one to lead us into the Kingdom of God?

Secondly, the child’s vocation is immediate. Whilst it may be hidden it’s not to be postponed until some convenient, future, sometime later when you grow up sort of date! The child has a vocation now, today. For Jesus says, ‘Whoever welcomes a child like this is my name, welcomes me!’

There is something quite incredible about the identification which Jesus makes with the little child. In truth, he is saying that being a young person, being a child, being a baby is a gift because in welcoming our young people we are welcoming and receiving the Christchild, the Word made flesh, the God of heaven and earth!