Brad & Pray Reh's Story - An Easter Reflection
Every week we begin our time at Reading Circle by reading the Jesus Storybook bible. Now for most younger children, the beautiful illustrations are enough to captivate their attention and for the others, the fact that the story is condensed down to a few pages makes it easier to understand, but for my student, things are different – Pray Reh is a high schooler.
You might think to yourself, “Why are you even reading the storybook bible with him?” Sure, we could jump over to the Bible and begin to ‘exegete the scripture’ together, but I’ve found something beautiful in the simplicity of the stories we read. Simply put, we find Jesus in the stories together. Time and time again after our reading, I ask Pray Reh:
“Who else does this remind you of in the Bible?”
It isn’t a surprise to him that the answer is always “Jesus,” but sometimes the connections are subtle – nuanced in a way that if we didn’t stop to reflect, we’d miss out on the opportunity to see Jesus. One early example was when Adam and Eve sinned against God and ate the fruit of the forbidden tree. In the story, Adam and Eve attempted to clothe themselves (to hide their shame), but their coverings were insufficient – resulting in God providing them with “garments of skin” to clothe them in.
In reflecting on the story with Pray Reh, I asked, “Did you see what God did there?” Buried within the “garments of skin” reference is the deeper realization that something had to give up its life to provide covering for another. God sacrificed something in order to provide for his children.
Just a few weeks later, we read the story of Noah and the Ark (an all-time favorite in our household; what kid doesn’t like animals and rainbows?!). We learn that the sins of man had become so great that God “regretted” his creation; “grieving him to his heart.” He condemns the people of the world to death, sparing only Noah (who found favor with God), his family, and samplings of each kind of animal. If you’ve grown up in the church or read Genesis, you know what happens next – the flood, the olive branch, and the rainbow (a reminder of God’s promise to never flood the earth again).
“Pray Reh, can you find any signs of Jesus in this story?” Answers are there, but they’re hard for him to find on the surface. I ask him about the ark. What did it do in the story? He looks back over the pages and summarizes how it “protected Noah, his family, and the animals” from the flood. I then go on to describe how the ark absorbed God’s judgment (the flood) and saved Noah (and the other passengers) from the consequences (death) resulting from the sin of the world. Jesus can be found in the imagery of the ark.
Finally, just last week, we read the story of Jonah and the big fish. In it, God commands Jonah to go to Nineveh to “call out their evil” and to preach a message of repentance. Instead, Jonah goes in a different direction, defying God’s commands. A storm comes and Jonah, recognizing he’s the cause, tells the others on the ship to “throw him overboard” to spare themselves. They reluctantly agree, and to Jonah’s surprise, he doesn’t drown but is “swallowed whole” by a large fish. There he finds himself in the belly of the fish (surrounded by darkness) for three days and nights before being “spat up” onto dry land (God had delivered him to Nineveh). Jonah goes to Nineveh proclaiming God’s message and the people of Nineveh repent and turn to God.
“Where is the connection to Jesus in this story, Pray Reh?” Now obviously Jonah’s disobedience is not at all congruent with the actions of Jesus, but if we look at the story closer, we can draw some important correlations. We know that when Jesus died on the cross, he took on the full weight of sin for the entire world (including our disobedience), proclaiming aloud “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” He fully succumbed to God’s punishment for sin (death) and was separated from God in the darkness of the tomb for three days before rising and proclaiming a message of salvation. Jonah, through his sin of disobedience faced the literal storm of God’s judgment and was cast into the darkness of the fish’s belly (like a tomb) only to rise a few days later to declare a message of repentance to the people of Nineveh. God, seeing the people repent, restores their favor and has mercy on them.
Each of these three stories invokes an emotional response to the time we call Easter, and all that God has done for us in the person of Jesus. Jesus is the only worthy covering of our sin, He absorbs God’s just judgment of our sin when we “abide in Him,” and He provides salvation to us through the cross when we give our life to Him.
When I’m with Pray Reh, I don’t see a young boy simply learning how to read, I see a young man learning who God is and what he has done for us through his son, Jesus. I see how something as simple as a children’s storybook Bible can be a tool for unpacking some of the deepest connections in scripture to the person of Jesus. I see how often I complicate God’s story by focusing on the rules and laws that I prop up in my own life to find salvation in myself rather than Jesus.
In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus tells us that “unless you become like children you will not enter the Kingdom of God.” When I spend time at Reading Circle working with children like Pray Reh, I’m reminded of what it is like to “become like a child” and to simply look for Jesus in the stories I read. I pray that as you embark on this Easter weekend, you are able to reflect on Jesus and all that he has done for us through his life, death, and resurrection.
Written by: Brad Blanchard