"Feed
My Lambs"
© by the Reverend Dr. Byron
E. Shafer
(Rutgers, May 6, 2001; Fourth
Sunday of Easter, Year C;
Baptism of Audrey Brayman Hill and Jackson Cornell Thorne)
From 3EasterC: both Revelation
5:11–14 (NT, p. 270);
and John 21:1, 4–9. 13, 15–19 (NT, p. 120)
And
Jesus, the Lamb of God, said to Peter: “Feed my lambs.”
William
Blake was an English printer, poet, artist and mystic whose life spanned both
the American Revolution and the Industrial Revolution.
Throughout his career, Blake worked in virtual obscurity, creating highly
eccentric works, yet today his art and poetry are so highly regarded that the
Metropolitan Museum of Art has just mounted a major exhibition displaying more
than 175 of his pieces. You can
view them at the museum through June 24th.
In
1789, Blake printed the first of his illuminated books, entitled Songs
of Innocence. It comprised 31
color plates that combined his poetry and design work in an inspired integration
of word and picture. I have with me
this morning a modern facsimile edition of the plates, should any of you wish to
view them during coffee hour.
Blake
believed that humankind had been created to live in a state of spiritual
innocence, an Eden, and that Jesus embodied this perfect state, which the rest
of humankind has lost. Blake used
two images to symbolize this inward state of original innocence: the image of a
child and the image of a lamb. For
as Blake knew quite well, in the gospel from which this morning’s Second
Lesson comes, the Gospel of John, Jesus is portrayed as the pre-existent Divine
Word, the agent of creation, who, in the fullness of time, was born among us as
the Son of God, the Child of God, and
dwelled among us as the Lamb of
God—Jesus the Christ, Jesus the Perfect Innocent, Jesus the Child, Jesus the
Lamb.
In
most of the poetry that Blake presented and illuminated in Songsof
Innocence, he portrays a pastoral world, a bucolic world, the world of lambs
as it might be seen through the eyes of a child—directly, simply, without
sentimentality—and Blake overlays his symbolic portrayal of humankind's
original state of innocence with his religious understanding of Christ the
Child, Christ the Lamb. This is
seen most clearly in the poem Blake entitled “The Lamb,” a song sung to an
ordinary lamb by a child who proves to be quite wise!
Listen.
Little Lamb, who made thee?
Dost thou know who made thee?
Gave thee
life & bid thee feed
By the
stream & o’er the mead;
Gave thee
clothing of delight,
Softest
clothing, wooly, bright;
Gave thee
such a tender voice,
Making all
the vales rejoice?
Little Lamb, who made thee?
Dost thou know who made thee?
Little Lamb, I’ll tell thee;
Little Lamb, I’ll tell thee.
He is callèd
by thy name,
For he calls
himself a Lamb;
He is meek
& he is mild;
He became a
little child.
I a child
& thou a lamb,
We are callèd
by his name.
Little Lamb, God bless thee!
Little Lamb, God bless thee!
The
state of original innocence symbolized here by Blake through the images of child
and lamb—this state had been created at the beginning of time by the Christ,
who later became for us both Child and Lamb, so that we might behold the
perfection of such innocence and through Christ overcome its loss.
How
appropriate it is then that we should hear this poem of Blake’s today, when we
are celebrating the Sacrament of Baptism, celebrating the state of innocence
created afresh in these little children, created afresh in these little lambs of
God, created afresh through the grace of Christ, who is, as our First Lesson
says, the truly worthy Lamb.
Some
60 years after the death of William Blake, another English poet, Francis
Thompson, wrote an essay (“Shelley,” 1889–90, unpublished until
1908) in which he described the goodness
of a childlike nature freshened by the waters of baptism.
Listen
to Thompson’s words: “Know you
what it is to be a child? It is to
be something very different from the [adult] of today.
It is to have a spirit yet streaming from the waters of baptism; it is to
believe in love, to believe in loveliness, to believe in belief.…”
Know
you what it is to be a child!
Once, long ago, some people brought to Jesus children, even infants, so that he might touch and bless them, but the disciples scolded them. “When Jesus noticed this, he became very displeased with his disciples and said to them, ‘Let the little children come to me; don’t try to stop them; for it is to such as these that the reign of God belongs. In truth I tell you, whoever does not welcome God’s reign the way a child does will never enter God’s domain.’ Then Jesus took the children into his arms, placed his hands on each of them, and blessed them.” (Mark 10:13–16)
And
so, Audrey and Jackson, you two beautiful children of God, I pray that by the
grace and blessing you have today received from Christ Jesus, who is both Child
of God and Lamb—I pray that you two children—you two precious lambs—may
indeed grow up to know who made you and to know in whose name you have been
baptized. And I pray for you as
well these three things: (1) that you may always keep a childlike nature; (2)
that you may continue to believe in love, to believe in loveliness, to believe
in belief; (3) and that you may throughout your days be filled with a spirit ever
streaming from the waters of baptism.
And
as for you who are the parents and sponsors of Audrey and Jackson,
you who are the members of this their congregation, you who have today,
like Peter of old, professed your love for the Risen Christ—to you that same
Risen Christ now calls out, saying, “Feed my lambs.”
"Feed my lambs." So
I pray that all of you, like Peter, may be empowered to fulfill the vow you have
taken this day, the vow to nurture and support these children, to the end that
they may always keep their childlike nature, to the end that they may continue
throughout their days to grow in love and loveliness and faith.
Let
us pray:
O
Christ, the Child and Lamb of God, we do indeed love and adore You.
And, in response to Your call to us to feed Your lambs, we pledge
ourselves to nurture and support Audrey and Jackson, helping them to grow in
love and loveliness and faith all their days.
And we also pledge ourselves in this Year of the Child to renew our
active commitment to the well-being of children everywhere.
Amen.
Return to Sermon Archive