Finding security and comfort in the good news amidst anxiety
During our changing times, let Jesus’ promise in John 14 bring you comfort and joy.
It was Tobias who started it.
We began our time together by singing Colin Buchanan’s John 14:1-4. As we sang the refrain Tobias shouted out, “It sounds like you’re singing ‘John 14 is wonderful’”.
“Hah!” I laughed, “so it does. Should we sing that instead?”
“Yes!!” the kids chorused in response.
So we did. (Apologies Colin.)
In the early days of 2020, the coronavirus was a serious—but largely removed—epidemic affecting mainland China. Around the same time, our children’s ministry leaders were putting together our Kids Church curriculum for the year.
With no human forethought, but delightfully under God’s sovereign ordination, I happened to have the great gift of teaching about John 14:1-6 on what ended up being our last Sunday morning children’s group for the foreseeable future.
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“'Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.” – John 14:1 - 3
As my primary aged group read through the passage together, we asked the following questions:
What were the disciples worried about?
What does Jesus promise them in this passage?
Why is this promise good news to their troubled hearts?
After a short discussion, we were able to find the first two answers in the text and explore together possible response to the third.
Jesus tells his disciples that his leaving is good news because this means that he is preparing a place for them in his Father’s house. This promise of a sure and secure eternity in the Father’s house is a comfort to Jesus’ disciples in the anxiety of their current moment.
Having understood the application then, we then turned to the application now.
What do we worry about?
What does Jesus promise us from this passage?
Why is this promise good news to our troubled hearts?
In the few short months since planning this curriculum and walking through the lesson, coronavirus has gone from a localised epidemic to a global pandemic.
These primary children were very aware that this virus was seemingly the only thing on people’s minds. Their teachers were preparing them for online learning. Their parents were talking about working from home. Their grandparents were concerned about whether they should leave their homes. The news was telling them that thousands of people were sick and some of these people were dying. And their friends are playing “coronavirus tip” in the playground and joking about no toilet paper in the shops, as they try to process adult anxiety in a developmentally relevant way.
What do we worry about? We worry about coronavirus. The whole world is worried about this pandemic and the health, social, economic, and political ramifications that it will have on our hyper-connected globe. And our kids are certainly not immune.
Just as Jesus’ words are a comfort to his disciples in their hour of anxiety, the promise of a sure and secure eternity is good news for us as well. Jesus has not yet returned to “take us to be with him,” so we know that he is still preparing his Father’s house for us.
There are very real uncertainties that we and our children face in this season. Many in our communities, and likely in our families and churches, will get sick from this coronavirus. Some may even die. Many will be stretched financially. Some may even lose their jobs. Many will be confined to homes as work, learning and social places in our communities close.
Jesus’ promise of a room in his Father’s house is good news in these uncertain times.
Zach in my group noticed the most obvious connection. “Well… the worst that can happen is that we die. But then, that’s not terrible is it? Cause we’ll be with Jesus.”
Yes, absolutely!
However, Jesus’ promise is not just good news for our eternity, it’s also good news for us right now.
Because of our security in the Father’s house, we can live amongst our anxious neighbours with the “peace of God which surpasses all understanding” (Philippians 4:7). We can be generous to our neighbours because our security is not in how many packets of pasta we can stockpile (Matthew 6:19-21). We can be peaceable and patient with our shopkeepers, chemists and teachers as they struggle with unexpected pressures (Galatians 6:22). We can befriend the lonely and vulnerable in our street, apartment building and community because our concerns are directed outward, knowing Jesus will supply our every need (Matthew 6:11). We can love, because Jesus first loved us (John 13:34).
How can we and our children have this security and live this Gospel-shaped life?
The answer, as all Kids Church children know, is Jesus.
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life.”
You were right Tobias; John 14 is wonderful.
