Transfiguration Sunday

Year 1: March 3, 2019

Preaching Text: Matthew 16:24–17:8

Should I Share My Ice Cream? by Mo Willems

(Written for ages 4-8)

Comment: In Matthew, as Jesus nears the cross, he begins to give more predictions and warnings to his disciples of what is to come. In this passage he particularly warns them that people who want to follow him as disciples will have to do as he does. He tells them that those who want to keep their lives will lose them, but those willing to lose their lives will gain them. Jesus is willing to give up his life, to let things go, and his disciples will have to be willing to do that as well. In Should I Share My Ice Cream Gerald has an ice cream cone and knows that his good friend Piggie would enjoy sharing that ice cream. But he debates with himself, dithering about whether to share his ice cream, and by the time he decides, the ice cream has melted. Gerald was keeping the ice cream, but ended up losing it. Jesus is asking us not to dither, like Gerald about hanging on, not to continue trying to keep what should be set free, because, like Gerald, we will end up losing it anyway. Instead, if we want to be his followers, we choose to let go, and end up gaining more in the process.

Thanks to Union Presbyterian Seminary alumna Sara Anne Berger for writing the Year 1 Narrative Lectionary Links this year.

Lectionary Links (NL): March 3, 2019 by Storypath is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.