“Suffer the little children to come unto me”

“Suffer the little children to come unto me” is the principle Reverend Hopkins uses to defend the Herdman family’s right to take part in the Christmas pageant. Its decisive force in the story is practical: it answers complaints not with a judgment of the children’s behavior, but with the claim that the church’s welcome must include them.

Meaning and Application

The saying is invoked as Jesus’ instruction that all children may come to him. Reverend Hopkins makes the scope explicit: “all the little children, including Herdmans.” The final inclusion matters because the Herdman family is treated as an exception by some members of the congregation; the principle denies that their reputation makes them ineligible for the pageant or the church’s welcome.

The Pageant Dispute

The immediate occasion is a dispute over who will run the Christmas pageant. The Narrator's Mother resolves to make it the best pageant she can, with the Herdman family included because its children raised their hands when nobody else volunteered. Nobody else wants the responsibility, and Reverend Hopkins has grown tired of the complaints. Rather than directly insulting Mrs. Wendleken, he reminds the congregation of the saying’s inclusive reach. His appeal silences the objections, including those of Alice Wendleken’s mother, and rehearsals begin the following Wednesday.

What Inclusion Makes Possible

The principle’s consequence is not simply that the Herdman family is allowed to appear in the pageant: it puts them in a position to encounter the Christmas story. At rehearsal, they reveal that they know Christmas is Jesus’ birthday but are unfamiliar with the shepherds, Wise Men, star, stable, and crowded inn. The Narrator's Mother begins by reading the story from the Bible, while the children’s questions interrupt the congregation’s routine familiarity with it. Their astonishment that there was no room at the inn, and their questions about the manger as a place to put a baby, bring the story’s hardship into sharper focus.

Narrative Significance

The saying establishes an ethical standard that the pageant’s events test and fulfill: welcome is offered before the children understand the story, and their participation changes how the familiar story is heard. The narrator later recognizes that the Herdman family’s unfamiliarity helped make the wonder of Christmas newly intelligible. The principle therefore links the congregation’s decision to include the children with the story’s larger reversal: those whom the community expects to disrupt the pageant become the means through which its meaning is reconsidered.