Jesus Loves Me – Behind the Music
In the following post from Ed Hird’s blog, he looks at the history behind one of the most famous children’s hymns of all time.
http://edhird.wordpress.com/2009/08/13/jesus-loves-me-this-i-know/
I enjoyed reading it so much, and learning about the history of this simple song, that I thought I would post it here on Dad in the Middle. While I was doing some online research for this article (thinking I might be able to expand on Mr. Hird’s article) I found two things. #1 – There was not a lot of additional information about the song (kudos to Mr. hird for being thorough), and #2 – I found an amazing story about this song, a child and her father. I wish I still had the link, and I am sure I will butcher this paraphrase, but here was story:
One day, a little girl went to see her father to ask him some questions for a class project. She asked him what he thought great astronomers might say to people when they were asked about astronomy. He answered “twinkle, twinkle little star.” She asked him a similar question about what great theologians might say when asked about God. He responded, “Jesus Loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so.”
I think that story reosnated with me because its profound truth. In a simple kids’ hymn that has been sung millions of times in churches all over the world are some of the greatest theological truths of all time. Jesus Love Me, this I know for the Bible tells me so. Jesus loves me. God is love (1 John 4:16) and we love because he first loved us (1 John 4:19). God so loved the world that he came to earth took on human flesh and died on the cross for our sins (John 3:16). And, God doesn’t just love us collectively, he loves me individually and went to extreme measures to prove it (John 15:13). And, how do we know all of this, because the Bible tells us so (John 20:30-31). God’s word endures forever (Psalm 19:19) and every word of it is true (2 Timothy 3:16). Now, that’s a lot of theology packed into one line of a children’s hymn!
The following is my two year old demonstrating that you don’t even need a grasp of the entire English language to appreciate this song (or pants for that matter as this spirited rendition of the song proves!):
And here is a version from Jennifer Knapp which I just found the other day and have fallen in love with. This is definitely worth a listen!
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