I gotta have my orange juice.

Twice in the last few months I have checked myself when quoting Psalm 8:

Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants
You have ordained strength,
Because of your enemies,
That you may silence the enemy and the avenger.

The word “avenger” feels out of place. Why would it be necessary for infants to silence the kinsman redeemer-avenger? As it turns out, the word for avenger here is a more general term, possibly even conveying the idea of self-vengeance.

Jesus quotes Psalm 8 in Matthew 21:

But when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple and saying, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant and said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?”

And Jesus said to them, “Yes. Have you never read, ‘​Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants you have perfected praise’? ”

Jesus leaves off the latter part of the verse, but we cannot avoid hearing its echo. Jesus is accusing the chief priests and scribes of having become God’s enemies, of seeking to avenge themselves against him and his people.

Likewise those who bar little ones from Jesus’s table. Many of them do so heedlessly rather than high-handedly. But there is still a rightful sting and shame they ought to feel as these little ones otherwise participate fully in Jesus’s worship.