For you
The notion that God exists is not necessarily good news. Nor is it good news that he is powerful, majestic, or just. None of these things are good news in and of themselves. He could be against you. You could be in the wrong. Good thing God hasn’t left us there—guessing at the edge of the volcano while we wonder what to throw in to please him!
God has revealed himself to us—no guessing, no pilgrimage, no chicken in the volcano. God gave us his Son, Jesus, to show us what he’s really like and to know his love and forgiveness for us. God is a lover and Jesus shows God’s love for us at our worst. The good news is that God is laser-focused on revealing his Son to you. Jesus alone shows us that God is for us.
I would like to share six vignettes from our summer Bible study with curious parents and daughters. The illustrations are the kids’. These are the six resurrection appearances recorded in the Gospel of John chapters 21 and 22 that show God is for you in Jesus. Though anxiety, loss, uncertainty, and stress were familiar to each parent and child, there was laughter when we told the stories of God’s grace in Jesus. It began with Sean and I using Barbies to tell the story of Mary Magdalene at Jesus’s tomb. But it very quickly became a group effort where all the girls became actors in the story. Amidst giggles and spontaneous dramatic brilliance, they all heard that Jesus is for them. And God is for them in Jesus.
God is for you too. Just hear God’s serenade to you in Jesus…
I
John 20:1-18 My Father and your Father
Mary Magdalene was so sad at Jesus’ tomb that she couldn’t even recognize her familiar friend who had delivered her to sanity from those seven wicked, evil voices in her head. When he appeared to her, alive—after three days of being dead—she thought he was the gardener. She was convinced Jesus had failed when he died. She was convinced she was alone… again to face her struggles. She couldn’t recognize Jesus until he called her by name.
“Mary,” Jesus said. It shot through her grief and gave her hope that she was not alone after all. Jesus had not failed when he died. He had done just what he meant to do—kill those evil voices, rejection, loneliness, and even death itself by taking them in his own body on the cross, and then rising to new life. It was so hard to believe that even the first eye witness couldn’t until Jesus called her by name. He did it for her. But that’s not all. He did it for you too. Jesus finds us all in the shock of grief and calls us by name to himself.
Jesus made Mary his messenger to his disciples. He broke all the social norms by making a woman the first witness to his resurrection. His disciples did too as they preserved this story in writing. Jesus gave her this message for his scared friends: “Tell them I am ascending to my Father and your Father, my God and your God” (John 20:17). She did. Now here we all are - gathered close to Jesus and his Father. Our Father too.
Art response: We imagined that it was dawn and we were in the garden outside his tomb where it was wet and dark. Jesus called us by name, gave us this promise, made us part of his family that can never be broken. What would your dawn look like? What are you hoping he would do in your life?
Answers: “I want fun this summer;” “Help with new friends at camp;” “I want to get into stories—writing and reading.”
II
John 20:19-23 – The Gift
When were you the most afraid?
Later that day, Jesus’ friends were so afraid they had locked themselves in a room. They were afraid that the people who killed Jesus might come to kill them. They also heard rumors, from Mary Magdalene and John and Peter, that Jesus was alive again! But would he be mad at them? They had all deserted him when he was being falsely accused and put to death—when he needed friends the most. Would he condemn them? Disown them?
Suddenly, Jesus appeared to them (despite the locked door!). He was not mad. He said, “Peace be with you.” He knew what they had done. He had come to forgive them. He had come to make peace between sinners and his Father. Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” He gave them his own Spirit to share the forgiveness they received with others.
He called them to “bind sin” – not pretend it’s not there, but rather to call a thing what it is, to name and face the sin and bring it into the light of Jesus. He gave them the grace to forgive—only by the power of his Spirit. If you have ever had something big to forgive, you know you cannot “just do it.” These disciples would not have been able to forgive until they had first been forgiven by the Lord. He finds you in your locked room, when you have deserted those you love, and says, “Peace.” As the prophet Isaiah said, “By his wounds we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5). The grace to forgive comes from the grace received. He will always give it.
“Peace,” Jesus says to those of us in a locked room. I am with you.
Our art response was to decorate balloons (the breath of Jesus giving the Holy Spirit) and make our own tattoos (the Spirit is God’s “seal” on our heart to keep his promise to forgive us). It was fun and fairly chaotic. One child drew this tattoo; I was very touched. I would never have combined these two symbols; I’m so glad she did.
III
John 20:24-31: Doubting Thomas
Thomas had not been there that day when Jesus appeared to his friends in a locked room. He did not believe Jesus was alive again. He knew all the details of his death (John 20:25). I can only imagine his trauma over it. He needed something he could touch. Objective. Tangible. In his world. He needed Jesus to come to him. Seven days later, Jesus appeared again to his disciples—miraculously through a locked door again. This time Thomas was with them.
Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you.” Then he singled Thomas out. Not to shame Thomas, to save him. “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve but believe” (John 20:27). Thomas did. He was both sorry and overjoyed at once and he proclaimed with faith, “My Lord and my God!” Then Jesus blessed all of us who were not alive when he walked on earth. He said, “Blessed are those who have not seen me and yet have believed.” That’s you and me. Thomas would be pleased.
Thomas knew all about Jesus’ death, but he did not know Jesus died for him until Jesus gave Thomas grace. Jesus has come to you now, through the Word written down, through my telling it to you, through his Spirit making it real. Jesus’ wounds are for you too, so that you might know his peace where you knew only doubt, regret or fear.
Fun fact: “Doubting” Thomas would go on to be Jesus’s messenger of grace… tradition has it that India heard the Gospel because of him.
Art response: Trace your own hand touching Jesus’ wounds for you. Add whoever else you want. Enjoy coloring all the shapes in different colors. Some children hung these in their window… “Sharpie Stained-Glass” ;)
IV
John 21:1-14: A Peace Meal
Jesus appeared again to his disciples by the Sea of Tiberias. They were discouraged, going back to their familiar patterns, which weren’t working. Jesus showed up at sunrise (just like he did with Mary). He told them where to catch fish. The catch was so abundant that it was a miracle – John recognized him saying, “It is the Lord!” Peter, the close friend who had denied knowing Jesus three times on the night Jesus died, jumped out of the boat and hurried to Jesus. Jesus welcomed them all. He had cooked them breakfast! He was really alive again – he ate with them to prove it. These men had gone back to a familiar, discouraging pattern. Jesus had broken into it to give them grace—loads of it. Life with Jesus did not even compare to life without him. Jesus fed them as a sign of the peace between them. The meal Christians eat in Communion (“This is my body broken for you; this is my blood shed for you”) is a sign of this peace between God and us. Take, eat, this meal is for you.
V
John 21:15-17 (referencing John 18:15-27) - Rooster love
Jesus took Peter aside after breakfast. Jesus asked Peter if he loved him three times. A time for each one of Peter’s denials. He did not minimize or deny Peter’s sin; he helped Peter own it, grieve it. Indeed, the third time he asked Peter, Peter was “grieved” (John 21:18). It was a good grief, the kind that leads you into forgiveness, into Jesus’ love for you when you’ve been wrong. Jesus had already forgiven him. Peter knew Jesus’ forgiveness was for him. Now Peter was ready to “feed” others by telling them that Jesus’s forgiveness was for them too. Jesus’ love for him would make him brave. He would become so brave he would even suffer for Jesus’ sake. But it would be worth it. Jesus forgives you too; he makes you brave.
Art Response: Jesus knew Peter would betray him. Jesus knew a rooster would crow when Peter had denied knowing Jesus three times. The rooster was a sign of Peter’s weakness but became a symbol of his forgiveness. Christian churches sometimes put a rooster on their church steeple to remember that they are sinners, like Peter, and also forgiven, like Peter.
Color in your own rooster. Jesus is for you when you blow it. He doesn’t deny it; he walks you through it into his forgiveness.
VI
John 21:18-25 Hope in Comparison
Jesus had reinstated Peter as his friend and partner in sharing God’s grace. Right then, Peter compared himself to John! Peter wondered if John would have to go through the same trials that Peter would? Peter wondered if Jesus loved him the same?
We all compare ourselves to others. That’s why John ended his Gospel with this story! Jesus refocuses Peter on Him. Jesus was for Peter. Jesus convicted Peter of his comparison and reassured Peter that he had his own plan for Peter and a different one for John. He did not need to focus on or worry about another person’s story. Jesus had his own good plans specifically made for Peter to walk in. He was for Peter.
Art Response:
Color in your own eyes.
Then color in your eyes when you are worried, anxious, and comparing yourself to someone else.
Color in your eyes when you are at peace, when you are hearing Jesus’ promise for you.
I have made “my Father your Father, my God your God” (John 20:17).
“Come to me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).
“Peace be with you” (John 20:19).
“Let the children come to me for to such belongs the kingdom of God” (Mark 11:14).
Now color in your anxious eyes looking up to Jesus. What is his gaze towards you?
Jesus is for you.
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