Children of God in jeopardy

“Listen closely, my children. Unless you are baptized, you are not counted one of the children of God, and you will not see the Kingdom of Heaven.”

The Pastor is very, very earnest, for his faith, his career, his theological foundations, his very existence are tied up in these words. “Unless.” He is ordained to hold and turn the keys to the Kingdom in water, word, and sacrament.

The earnest pastor preaches to a room full of children. They come from a variety of faiths, many of them “none”, and others from the churches that choose to baptize around the age of full maturity, near the Sophomore year in High School, when they get their driver’s licenses. . .

I wonder what enters the hearts of the children who know they are not baptized, when the very official and serious preacher tells them they are not children of God, and will not see the kingdom of Heaven? Do they meet a God of love and mercy at these moments? Do they long for a relationship with a God who knows the number of hairs on their heads? Or do they begin to fear, and fear deeply?

For it is their parents who make these choices for them. Their parents put them in “unless” jeopardy. And the kids sit, trapped before a preacher, knowing that they cannot become children of God. Oh dear!

At times like these I hope the children are daydreaming; and I begin wondering what became of the criminal on the cross next to Jesus, when he was told, “Today you will be with me in paradise.” This man was not baptized. Did Jesus lie to placate the poor condemned soul? The man made no formal confession of faith, attended no membership classes, tithed not, received no saving sacrament or baptism, yet to him who believed was salvation promised! And what of the household of Cornelius in the book of Acts – who believe and receive the fruits of the spirit prior to baptism? Goodness, and doesn’t the formal church hustle to cover this grievous procedural error on God’s part? Peter, aware that his formula for salvation has been divinely subverted, stammers:

“Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” So he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. (Acts 10:47)

"Children of God" is Romans 8:15 language. Paul writes that we did not receive a spirit of bondage but a spirit of adoption, wherein the Holy Spirit testifies that we are children of God; children, by faith. Those who believe are children, as Paul continues. “ . . it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are reckoned as descendants.” (Romans 9.8)

Hmmm. Believing faith saves, and belief ultimately desires baptism. But is it baptism that saves?

What, exactly determines whether or not one is a child of God? Is that our designation to make? And how, exactly, does one enter the Kingdom of Heaven? Is there a formula to follow and a gatekeeping scorekeeper?

Or is it up to Jesus?

We know Jesus’ heart. They crucified him for not keeping score, for welcoming thieves and dining with outcasts, for healing without copays and feeding without lunch tickets. And we know how he describes the Kingdom of Heaven – near, within us, and like Luke 15, shamelessly in love with the missing sheep and unworthy children. We know that it is children (unbaptized, certainly) that he holds in a his arms when he tells the disciples, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for it is to such as these the kingdom belongs.” (Luke 18, Matthew 19)

Are the children in Jeopardy? Certainly not, at least not those who believe and love and wonder; not those who want to come close, for theirs is the kingdom.

Yours is the kingdom, child.

Ours.