Nineteenth Sunday after Trinity- Reflection by Canon Leslie

​Today’s Gospel reading, chosen by the Church of England to focus our attention on God’s generosity and on our response, is an intriguing narrative from Luke’s Gospel that is in neither Mark nor Matthew. As Jesus was making his way to Jerusalem (where he knew that he would be put to death), he was met by ten lepers. All ten lepers were healed, but just one returned to give thanks to Jesus. The one who returned was a Samaritan, a foreigner. Jesus’ reply to the Samaritan, ‘Your faith has made you well’ can mean more than simply healed from leprosy. All ten had been healed from leprosy, but returning to give thanks was of added benefit. The Greek could also be translated, ‘Your faith has saved you’. Bringing healing and salvation to the Samaritan prefigured in Luke’s Gospel opening the Kingdom of God to the Gentiles.
 
For those of you who wanted to do some thinking and preparation for today’s service during the preceding week, I invited reflection on the image of saying thank you. In today’s picture from the book, Harvest Thanksgiving, Aled and Sian are coming to the harvest thanksgiving service in their church to say ‘thank you’ to God for God’s generosity.
 
Generous God,
we receive your gifts with gratitude,
and we return with songs of thanks and praise.
Now stir our hearts to show our gratitude
by dedicating our lives and our resources
to your service;
today and everyday.
Amen.
 
Next Sunday’s Gospel reading returns to our systematic journey through Mark’s Gospel. Earlier in chapter 10 we have heard Jesus’ third prediction of his passion and death. Now Jesus explains clearly what it means to be Messiah. He came not to be served but to serve. The image to help us prepare for next Sunday’s theme is servant leader. You can find out more about that theme here https://www.prayerforliverpool.org/prayer-resources.html. We would really appreciate you letting us know how you are using these materials.
 
You are warmly invited to join us in worship online. We are livestreaming our 10:30am service on both our Facebook and YouTube pages. To access the service on Facebook, follow this link to our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/LiverpoolCathedral. To access the service on YouTube, follow this link to our YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/user/LiverpoolCathedral/videos.