14-February-21

When I was about your age, I had a friend that I played with almost every day. We knew all kinds of things about each other, but one day she invited me to see her dance recital. I was really surprised. I knew which trees she liked to climb. I knew her favorite thing to do on the playground. (She liked the swings.) But I'd never seen her wear a dress and I'd never seen her dance. (Her recital was ballet.) I wasn't even sure it was her at first. I had to look at the program and look at her several times before I was sure.
The disciples had something like that happen to them, only much, much more so. They went up with Jesus to a very high place to pray. (They'd done that before and they were expecting the same sort of thing.) Only this time, Jesus started shining so brightly, it was like looking at the sun. And they heard a voice saying, "This is my son, whom I love. Listen to him."
From then on, they looked at Jesus a bit differently. They began to understand that he was more than just a good teacher. They began to realize that knowing Jesus was a way for them to know God better. And that changed their lives a lot more than my going to my friend's ballet recital.
Let's pray about that.

Prayer:

God, who gave us Jesus to help us understand you. Help us to get to know Jesus so we can really get to know you. Help us to see Jesus, even in the really different and really surprising ways. And more than that, as we get to know Jesus, help us to be more like him; more like you.
In the name of Jesus, our Christ, AMEN