A Reflection on the Feast of the Transfiguration

To help explain the Transfiguration to your children, offer the following brief message.  You'll need two linen napkins from the same set, one dirty and crumpled and the other clean and neatly pressed.

First is a reading you can do with your child, then a message you can use to talk to them about it.

Message

In this reading, we heard how three disciples saw Jesus in away they had never seen Him before.  They had been with Jesus on the fishing boat.  They were with Him when He ate, slept, traveled, and talked to people.  They had seen Jesus perform miracles, but He still appeared to be an ordinary man. He may have had power that no other man had, but it didn't show when you looked at Him.

On this mountaintop they saw Jesus in a splendor they had never dreamed of.  His face shone like the sun.  Even His garments became radiantly white.  A short time later, Jesus again appeared to them as He always had -- as a regular man.  They must have wondered which was the real Jesus.

Maybe we can understand this by looking at these two pieces of cloth.  See this one, it is a beautiful napkin.  You could put it on the table for the most fancy dinner party you ever had.  It is clean and beautiful.

But look at this old rag.  It is a mess.  You might either keep it with the cleaning supplies or into the garbage.

But wait!  Take a closer look at it.  This old rag is exactly the same cloth as this fine napkin.  They come from the same set.  One is ready for use.  The other has been used. Which one is the real napkin? 

Both of them are.  The one ready to be used will be messed up.  The one that is messed up will be cleaned and ironed. 

Which is the real Jesus?  The Jesus whom the Disciples knew in their everyday life was the real Jesus -- the Jesus who was a man in the same way that they were men.  But the Jesus whom they saw transfigured on the mountain was also the real Jesus -- the Son of God, who became a man and yet remained God.

He was the Savior, who did not always show His rightful glory as the Son of God but who nevertheless had it all the time.

Christ still comes to us in everyday, simple, sometimes even dull ways.  Yet in each coming there is a glorious, exciting, beyond-our-understanding event.  In ordinary water and simple words written and spoken in our own language, He comes during a baptism. 

In a book, His words come printed in ordinary ink on the same paper as any other book, yet it brings a message of God's eternal love for you in Christ. 

In a Sunday School class where you squirm and daydream like in any other class, something special occurs; for there you find that your are a child of God, created by Him, redeemed by Him, and loved by Him.

Sometimes we get tired of the commonplace things in our religion.  Sometimes we wonder if the great moments are really true or if we imagined them.  But see them together.  Only God can make such great news so simple that even we can understand it.