Image credit: Beck Seamons
Tom Robinson never got a fair shake in the Maycomb city justice system. Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird gives a vivid account of the unjust treatment of a black man named Tom Robinson who lived in the Jim Crow era South. Wrongfully accused of raping a white girl, Tom was in a tight spot. His defense lawyer was Atticus Finch, a voice of reason in a town full of prejudice and religious hypocrisy. Despite Atticus’s best efforts, the trial was far from fair. The jury was set on their verdict before the trial began. Tom was convicted and Atticus’s two children, Jem and Scout, were there to see the whole thing. Tom ended up in a prison yard where he tried to make a run for it. Seventeen bullets sealed Tom’s fate as he tried to scale the prison yard fence.
Back at the Finch household, twelve-year-old Jem was experiencing some righteous anger. He asked his dad, “How could they do it, how could they?” Atticus responded, “I don’t know, but they did it. They’ve done it before and they did it tonight and they’ll do it again and when they do it—seems that only children weep.”
When the adults in Maycomb had become desensitized to the suffering of another man and his family, the children were far more perceptive in distinguishing between right and wrong. The scriptures are full of admonitions to become like a little child. Even God came into the world as a child.
“For unto us a child is born,” Isaiah said, “unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace . . . Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end . . . The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this” (Isaiah 9:6–7).
It is striking to me that all of these promises of peace, prosperity, and perfect government come as a result of a little child entering the world. Though the Jews expected their savior to arrive as a great worldly ruler, he came into the world as a child. This seems to suggest that if we really want to be with him then it begins with his instruction to be like him—to be, in other words, like a little child.
This is the lesson we learn in Matthew when the disciple asked Jesus, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”
And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me. (Matthew 18:1–6)
In the Book of Mormon we read a similar message:
Men drink damnation to their own souls except they humble themselves and become as little children. . . . For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father. (Mosiah 3:18–19)
These verses make it clear that to be converted—and ultimately saved—we have to be humble, patient, and submissive. These childlike characteristics do not save us by themselves, but they lead us to the grace that brings us true perfection and salvation.
When I see little kids I always wish I could be more like them. I wish I was more humble and less selfish. I wish I was more genuine rather than having ulterior motives. I wish I did more to submit to my father in heaven rather than indulging my pride.
As we move through life we start to shed the innocence of a little child. We become corrupted by our sins. Maybe this is why we are commanded to be born again. I’m grateful that the Lord doesn’t just command us to be born again or to be like a little child but that he also offers the grace and redemption we need to accomplish this.
One of the metaphors most closely associated with Jesus’s redeeming grace is that of light. When we sin, the book of Proverbs says we “walk in the ways of darkness.” But Jesus is light. “And the light shineth in darkness,” it says in John. “And the darkness comprehended it not.” The scriptures often talk about God’s light piercing through the darkness. This is the imagery we encounter in 3 Nephi when Jesus pierces through the literal darkness that had descended on the Nephites.
After being in thick darkness for three days and three nights, the Nephites heard Jesus say, “Therefore, whoso repenteth and cometh unto me as a little child, him will I receive, for of such is the kingdom of God. Behold, for such I have laid down my life, and have taken it up again; therefore repent, and come unto me ye ends of the earth, and be saved” (3 Nephi 9:2).
His light ultimately saves us. But it takes a childlike, repentant heart to absorb that light. Jesus urges us to repent because, as he told the Nephites, our salvation is the whole purpose of his suffering. My greatest testimony of Jesus has come when I have asked for forgiveness of my sins and his light has pierced through the darkness to save my soul.
In her last formal public address before passing away, Patricia Holland spoke in a devotional to young adults last January. She said, “The Savior told us, ‘I am the light which ye shall hold up.’ The world needs the light of Christ. My young friends, my most earnest prayer tonight, my hope is that you will receive this call as your personal ministry, that you will take the hope of which the Savior spoke and carry it like a torch to those who feel the world is very dark and a very difficult place. You must bear this light in such a way that all the darkness in the world will never extinguish it.”
For many of God’s children, the world really does feel like a dark place. Patricia Holland’s request that we bear Christ’s light is especially important given how many people are doing the work of the adversary. We only need to look around us to see how quickly a love of power and money can corrupt a person. All that greed and selfishness has a ripple effect that causes innocent people to suffer. As Mosiah taught in his seminal discourse on inequality, “these things ought not to be.”
Just after Jesus told his disciples that little children are the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, he said, “But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.” God seems to have a particular brand of condemnation reserved for those who harm, demean, and abuse children.
And yet, people perpetuate the suffering and destruction of children everyday. Greed and gluttony persist throughout the world even as children consistently go to bed hungry. Little lives are lost daily as bombs turn buildings to rubble. And there are countries in which young girls put themselves in harm’s way to pursue an education. “These things ought not to be!” Mosiah would say.
Sometimes it feels like there is never justice for the world’s most innocent victims. Tom Robinson never got a fair shake in Maycomb’s justice system. But things do not end in the Maycomb city justice system. God assures us that the unfairness of this world is not permanent.
When Christ arose from the grave with healing in his wings, he did not just bring about mercy for those who sincerely repent but also eternal justice for those who are wronged. “Fear not, little children,” Jesus says, “for you are mine, and I have overcome the world, and none of them that my Father hath given me shall be lost” (Doctrine and Covenants 50:41–42). Jesus doesn’t forget anybody, and he promises us that his justice will eventually transcend the unfairness we see all around.
With all the evil in the world, it’s impossible to fathom that Jesus could overcome all of it. But we should never lose a sense of awe that he would subject himself to all the evils in the world and then willingly be taken by men who scourged him, beat him, and crucified him. “How could they do it?” we might ask. I don’t know, but they did it. And now, “seems only children weep.”
We are taught to mourn and weep as we reflect on the pain and suffering of our Lord. But maybe such mourning and weeping is intended to lead us to greater gratitude, joy, and peace. We remember his suffering with reverence and mourning while also celebrating the miracle that “unto us a child is born.”
Jesus, through suffering, pierced through the darkness so that we can see past the sins, conflicts, and injustices that beset us in this world. He pierced through the darkness so that we can look forward to a day in which “the wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them” (Isaiah 11:6).
This is wonderful. Thank you for sharing this. This paragraph was particularly moving: "Sometimes it feels like there is never justice for the world’s most innocent victims. Tom Robinson never got a fair shake in Maycomb’s justice system. But things do not end in the Maycomb city justice system. God assures us that the unfairness of this world is not permanent."
Beautiful!