I wish to remind Christians that acknowledging the humanity of the unborn child is at the heart of what it means to follow Jesus.

In the Roman Lectionary for Sunday, September 22, 2024, we encounter what could serve as the signature pro-life passage of the New Testament:

Taking a child, he [Jesus] placed it in their midst, and putting his arms around it, he said to them, “Whoever receives one child such as this in my name, receives me; and whoever receives me, receives not me but the One who sent me.”

—Mark 9:36-37

Scholarly commentators hasten to point out that in the ancient world people did not project onto children our contemporary romantic notions of innocence or purity. On the contrary, children born to common families were unworthy of the attention of adult males. In the social hierarchy against which men measured themselves, children were non-persons, much like most women and slaves.

So Jesus is not recommending what we might today call childlike innocence or simplicity. Instead, he calls his disciples to recognize those not deemed worthy of recognition, including the child Jesus puts before them. To “receive”—that is, to acknowledge and welcome—a child is tantamount to receiving Jesus himself, and the Father who sent him.

Jesus’ exhortation follows an episode in which his disciples had been arguing as to who was the greatest among them. By this they did not mean the tallest man or the foremost preacher or some other competitive achievement not linked to moral value. Such competition, while frivolous, might still be tolerable. Sadly, “greatest” in this context meant “most valuable,” “very important”—more of a person and more worthy of acknowledgment than the others.

Worse yet, the disciples’ argument follows on Jesus’ ongoing instruction concerning what it means for him to be the awaited Messiah. Jesus has been explaining that unlike his ancestor David, he will not straightaway mount a throne and command armies; rather, he will be handed over to wicked men and they will kill him.

When Jesus challenges the disciples about their conversation, they are silent. Presumably they intuit that their desire for worldly recognition goes against what he has taught them about messiahship. Insisting the child be received in his name, Jesus confirms that they are in error. “If anyone wishes to be first,” Jesus continues, “he shall be the last of all and the servant of all.” To be the greatest in Jesus’ estimation does not mean trying to be the Most Important Person but rather going out of one’s way to affirm the personhood of others, even those deemed non-persons, such as the child Jesus embraces.

The recognition of the humanity of the unborn child is perhaps the perfect distillation of Jesus’ gesture. Prolifers might take encouragement from Jesus: Not only because their movement is dedicated to receiving those deemed non-persons, but also because Jesus understands the receiving of the child as something akin to his own mission to save the world via submission to men and death on a cross.

Of course, the unborn child may not be the only “non-person” in the scenarios confronting prolifers. The woman considering abortion feels her dignity is threatened by those who will judge her motherhood. The child’s father, and even those promoting or facilitating an abortion, can also be perceived as unworthy of recognition. The pro-life movement is dedicated to recognizing and protecting the unborn child, but the Christian calling is to recognize and affirm the personhood of all—especially, but not exclusively. the child.

So let Christians remember that to receive the unborn child is to receive Jesus, and that the habit of affirming the dignity and value of other persons is at the heart of Our Lord’s saving work.