With Childlike Faith in the Risen Lamb

Then when they were alone, he turned to the disciples and said, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you have seen. I tell you, many prophets and kings longed to see what you see, but they didn’t see it. And they longed to hear what you hear, but they didn’t hear it.” (Luke 10:23-24 NLT)

The Statue of Liberty took over 20 years to build. In 1865, the French senator and author Édouard de Laboulaye submitted the proposal for France to give a statue to the United States. The statue would commemorate the shared ideal of liberty that Napoleon III’s rule had suppressed for many years. It was constructed in France, disassembled, and then shipped to New York City, where it was mounted on its pedestal. President Grover Cleveland dedicated the statue on October 28, 1886.

An inscription on Lady Liberty’s pedestal concludes with these words:

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

Although Laboulaye passed away before beholding the completed work, the Statue of Liberty endures as a symbol for the poor and downtrodden arriving at America’s shores in search of freedom. Laboulaye waited many years to see his idea achieved, yet the statue’s revealing, in all its breathtaking splendor, fell to the eyes of others.

For centuries, the Hebrew people looked forward to a Messiah, a prominent ruler who would deliver them from their enemies and grant them lasting peace in the Promised Land. Generations of illustrious leaders—Israel’s prophets, judges and kings—had come and gone without seeing the foretold Christ. When He finally arrived, He wasn’t born to nobility and wealth but entered the world in a manger on a bed of hay. He worked as a common carpenter and established His ministry among fishermen.

Like the Statue of Liberty, the revealing of Jesus as the Messiah was intended for the lowly. While Laboulaye never saw the finished statue, Lady Liberty’s legacy endures in the hope of freedom it extends to the masses. We read in Luke 10 how Jesus’ followers declared the miracles of God’s kingdom. Seeing the awe on their faces, Jesus exclaimed:

O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, thank you for hiding these things from those who think themselves wise and clever, and for revealing them to the childlike. Yes, Father, it pleased you to do it this way. (v. 21)

The promised Messiah had finally come. Yet, the revelation of God’s kingdom was not first for the learned, wise, and astute but for the “childlike.” Jesus did not arrive as the Jews expected—a political ruler of worldly renown, riding into Jerusalem on a chariot. Even as news of His miracles spread and people’s eyes were opened about His identity, He arrived in Jerusalem to be greeted by the masses on a donkey (Matthew 21:5). More surprising still, on a colt—a baby donkey!

God delighted to reveal His kingdom, in the proper time, not in pomp and circumstance to those of prestige but to the humble. His kingdom is not measured by palaces, legions of military troops, or amassing land but by the childlike faith of His followers. That faith centers on the ultimate act of humiliation, the cross.

Of course, the story doesn’t end there—Sunday is coming! The Lamb sacrificed on our behalf is not dead. Through Jesus’ humiliation, the Father accomplished the most wonderous miracle in raising His beloved Son from the dead. Today, God invites all to come with childlike faith to the cross, even “prophets and kings.” Regardless of our this-worldly status, at the foot of the cross, we come expectantly. For the One whom we long to “see” and “hear” has indeed risen, holding out today the promise of freedom and victory for all.

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Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.