The “This I Know People”

For God so loved the world that he gave His only Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.  John 3:16 RSV

For more than 15 years, I enjoyed coauthoring children’s sermons with my friend, Anne.  Anne lived in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia where she attended a small country church.  She was responsible for giving the children’s sermon once a month (sometimes more often if her pastor requested it).  

I was so delighted when one month in 2017, she chose the children’s song, “Jesus Loves Me,” as her topic.  “Jesus Loves Me” was the first hymn I ever learned and it has remained my favorite for 80+ years. 

So many interesting stories surround the history of “Jesus Loves Me.”  One such story is that the famous Swiss Reformed theologian, Karl Barth, was asked if he could explain Christianity in a few words.  He replied, “Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so.” 

However, the story behind this hymn is really a tale of two sisters.  Anna and Susan Warner lived in New York in the 1800’s and when their father lost most of his money in the depression of 1837, the family moved to what had been their summer home on Constitution Island in the Hudson River across from West Point, the US Military Academy.  It became their permanent residence.

At that time, Anna and Susan’s uncle, The Reverend Thomas Warner, was the chaplain at West Point.  Both the girls began teaching Sunday school classes to the cadets, and they continued teaching for 50 years.  Neither of the girls ever married. 

Anna and Susan used their writing skills to supplement the family income.  Anna wrote poetry and Susan wrote novels.  While Susan was writing a novel entitled, “Say and Seal,” she asked Anna to write a poem that the father in her story could read to his young son, who was terminally ill, to allay his fear of dying.  The poem Anna wrote contained three verses, just twelve lines.  She based her poem on John 3:16. 

During America’s Civil War, the poem, “Jesus Loves Me,” was prayed in homes, in churches, and on battlefields.  In 1861, William Bradbury, a music publisher and choir director, added music to the poem.  He also added a four-line chorus to be sung between the verses.  Since that time, many changes have been made to the original song but the original song can be found on Wikipedia. 

However, my favorite story about “Jesus Loves Me, “is the one about the missionaries in China in the 1940’s.  In 1949, they were being persecuted by the communists and they wanted to tell Christians outside China’s borders that they were OK.  They wrote a letter using the words, “The this I know people are well.”  The censors allowed it to go through because they thought the phrase meaningless and nonsensical. 

The next time you hear or sing this song, just think how many ways it has helped to teach the gospel of God’s love.  Do you consider yourself to be one of the “This I Know People”? 

Prayer: Heavenly Father, We praise and thank You for the talents of poetry, writing and music You have given to people who spread in simple but beautiful ways the good news that indeed, Your Son, Jesus Christ, loves us.  Help each of us to use whatever talent that you have given us to spread Your love.  It’s in Jesus’ holy name we pray.  Amen. 

Judy Welch