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Hi, everyone! (Let them respond.) I have a story for you today. It’s about one day when Jesus and three of his disciples went on a short trip. And it was quite a trip! Are you ready to hear my story? (Let them respond.) Okay, great!
One morning, Jesus got up and found three of his disciples, Peter, James, and John, and told them they were going for a hike. They had all been busy helping Jesus teach and heal all of the people who had been coming to see them, so they were all ready to go away for a little bit and relax. But Jesus had another big surprise for them. Can anyone guess what it was?” (Let them respond.)
Well, they walked along the road for a while until Jesus turned and started leading them on a trail that went up the side of a mountain. They went higher, and higher, and higher. Have any of you ever climbed a mountain before? (Let them respond.) I’ll bet they were getting tired. But when they finally got to the top of the mountain they could look around and see all of the places around them. While they were all looking around, something really strange happened. One of the disciples looked at Jesus and noticed that his face looked kind of funny — like it was glowing. It looked like there was a big flashlight shining right on Jesus' face, but there wasn’t any flashlight around. Then, all of a sudden, two other people appeared and started talking to Jesus. The disciples recognized that one of them was a man called Elijah and the other was Moses.
Well, the disciples knew that those two guys had been dead for a long time, but there they were standing and talking with Jesus. That was weird. How do you think the disciples felt? (Let them respond.) Yeah, they were scared. I think I probably would be too if I was up there, don’t you? (Let them respond.) And then, all of a sudden, a cloud came down and covered them, like a heavy fog, and they all heard a voice say, “This is my Son. I love him. Listen to him.” And when the cloud floated away all that was left was the three disciples and Jesus. The other two guys were gone.
Peter was so excited that he had heard God’s voice and had seen Elijah and Moses that he didn’t want to go back down from the mountain. He asked Jesus if he could just build them little houses so they could stay there and not have to go back down where everyone had lots of problems that they wanted Jesus and his disciples to fix. The disciples wanted to stay up there where everything felt really good, and not go back where bad things sometimes happened.
Did Peter build the houses so they could stay up there? (Let them respond.) Nope. Jesus started back down the trail and they followed him, and they went back to town and started helping people again. That’s pretty cool, isn’t it? (Let them respond.)
Now I want to show you something. (Show the map.) This is a map of where Jesus was in the Holy Land. Jesus and the disciples were living in the town of Capernaum, up here by the Sea of Galilee (point to Capernaum, the X on the included map.) Now, do you have any idea where that mountain was they all climbed up in the story? (Let them respond.) Well, some people believe it was here (point to 1), a place called Mt. Tabor. But some people think it was here (point to 2), a mountain called Gamala. But some other people think it was here (point to 3), Mt. Hermon a great big mountain up North. Others think it was here (point to 4), called the Horns of Hattin, and some think it was here (point to 5), Mt. Meron, and some think it was here (point to 6), Mt. Nebo, and some believe it was a place called Mt. Sinai that is (point to 7) all the way down here in Egypt.
And you know what, some of those people get into really big arguments about where they think that mountain is. Really big arguments. But I have a question for you — do you think it matters where that mountain is that Jesus and his disciples climbed that day? Is that what is important about the story? (Let them respond.) No, I don’t think so either. I think what matters is that the disciples saw and heard things that showed them who Jesus really was; God’s own son. And Jesus reminded them that if they were his disciples, they weren’t going to hide from people who needed their help, but they were going to go back and help those people because God loved everyone one of them. I think that’s what is important about the story and is what Jesus wants us to remember, don’t you? (Let them respond.)
Sometimes I think we are like the disciples and get confused about what is really important, don’t we? We argue about all kinds of things and forget what really matters. We forget that God loves every one of us, no matter who we are, or where we are, or what we look like, or anything else like that. God loves all of us because we are God’s children. And God wants us to take care of each other. That’s what matters.
Let’s say a prayer to ask God to help us remember what is really important, and help us do the things God wants us to do to take care of each other.
Prayer:
Dear God, thank you for reminding us how much you love us. Please help us remember what is important in our lives so we can let the people around us know that we love them just like Jesus loves us. Amen.
