Twenty One Pilots – Smithereens

Happy Good Friday, friends, and welcome back to the Gospel According to, where we discuss the songs and books and movie quotes we all know and love from a different angle. This week, we’re fangirling over Twenty-One Pilots’ song “Smithereens,” which is super sweet and adorable on its own, but also presents a powerful picture of Jesus’ heart for us as He hung on the cross. Enjoy!

The Horizontal View: Human Devotion

I’m trying out a new segment of these posts, in which we examine the object of our fangirling from the “horizontal”, that is, the human-to-human, angle first. This will give us some perspective as we look at it from the “vertical,” or human-go-God, point of view.

So here’s the gist of “Smithereens” on the surface: a love song, describing Tyler Joseph’s willingness to get beat up in defense of his lady love. “If I’m feeling/ someone steppin’ toward you, can’t describe/ just what I’m feeling… I for one would love to have someone like this in my life. Someone willing to fight a battle that he knows he can’t win, because he values my dignity or my honor (so to speak) above his own. On its own, “Smithereens” is a declaration of selfless love of a man for his wife or significant other. He doesn’t just declare his love, he shows it, sometimes in dramatic ways. So sweet, and a truly admirable quality in a man of God.

The Vertical View: Jesus’ Sacrifice

This verse comes up a lot around this time of year: “He was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.” Isaiah 53:5 Let’s think about this for a moment. Jesus, the only human ever to exist who could keep 100% of God’s law 100% of the time, allowed himself to be pierced, crushed, chastised, and wounded, to the point of death. He was beaten, mocked, disrespected, robbed of every last scrap of human dignity, and subjected to an execution He didn’t deserve.

Why?

And why did Jesus choose to do this? Romans 5:6-8 has the answer. “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” “Smithereens” talks about defending someone who can’t defend themselves, or that the singer wants to spare the trouble of defending themselves. But from a vertical, Biblical angle, this song represents the heart of Jesus’ sacrifice for us on the cross. “For you… I would get beat to smithereens.”

Want to read more about how very loved you are? You’ll swoon over these posts:

• “Imagine Dragons’ Next To Me (This one made me cry a little 🤩😭💖)
• The Gospel According to Coldplay: “Army of One”
• The Gospel According to Maroon 5: “She Will Be Loved”

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Jesus did the same thing that the singer of “Smithereens” did. He didn’t just tell His love for us; He showed it. As a result, He submitted Himself to the torture that we deserved. He took on the punishment, the beating of humans that symbolized the wrath of God for our sin. “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned– every one– to his own way; and the LORD has laid upon him the iniquity of us all.” Isaiah 53:6

but that’s not how the story ends…

We never leave the story there, do we? Jesus, tortured, suffering, dying, dead, buried… Good Friday celebrates this event because it doesn’t end here. Jesus didn’t stay dead. He wasn’t defeated, even by the worst that Roman executions and public harassment and humiliation had to offer. Most of all, He didn’t succumb to the heaviest weight in all the universe, that of God’s eternal justice.

We owed a debt, brought about by our own mistakes and failures. Jesus saw that debt, and what would come of it. He saw our inability to pay, and He paid it all on our behalf. Praise God! We have the victory in Jesus, because He has defeated death, stepped out of the tomb, and brought salvation and peace to our hearts.

The heart of the matter

What does Twenty One Pilots’ “Smithereens” have to teach us about God? It is a love letter from Jesus, reminding us of what He did for us, and would do again a hundred million times. That’s how great His love is for us. As believers, it’s a reminder of how great the suffering Jesus went through really was, and a call to be grateful and give Him the honor He deserves. To love Him in return, as much as we possibly can, and to share this love with everyone we can. And it calls us to the same kind of selfless love that Jesus demonstrates, the kind that will sacrifice everything in order to defend someone we love. Woo! So, so good ☺🙌😎

P. S. – If you’re a skeptic, or if you’d like some more resources, here’s an article I found with excellent scientific evidence for the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus in plain English. You might find this article about Roman crucifixion helpful as well 😸.

Thank you for taking the time to fangirl with me today. If you enjoyed this Good Friday discussion of Twenty One Pilots’ “Smithereens,” please do me a solid and share with all your peeps using the graphic below. And let me know what you think of this new post format!

Happy fangirling!

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