The Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity - Reflection by Canon Leslie

Today’s Gospel reading from Mark chapter 8 presents Peter’s confession of faith at Caesarea Philippi when he identified Jesus as the Messiah. Peter’s confession of faith is a significant turning point in Mark’s Gospel.  Up to this point the emphasis has been on the hidden and secret nature of Jesus’ Messiahship.  Up to this point only the spirit world has recognised Jesus for who he really is.  Now the secret is out. Peter had been following the clues and putting the pieces together. However, no sooner does Jesus accept the title Messiah than he also qualifies it.  He is not the warrior Messiah, whom some were expecting, but a fully human Messiah who is destined to suffer. 
 
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 following the clues. In today’s picture from their book, Signs and Symbols, Aled and Sian are following the
​clues to discover the ancient castle. 

 Lord Jesus Christ, 
you made yourself known to Peter, 
and Peter recognised you as the Messiah. 
Make yourself known to us, 
when we break bread in your name; 
for we recognise you, 
as our Lord and Saviour. 
Amen. 
 
Next Sunday’s Gospel reading explores Jesus’ teaching on what it means to follow in his footsteps. Those who follow this kind of Messiah have to reshape their ambition. The image to help us prepare for next Sunday’s theme is ambition. 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.

To read more about Signs and Symbols and for more resources for children , you are welcome to follow this link to the relevant page of the St. Mary’s Centre website.
 
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 stream the service on Facebook, follow this link to our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/LiverpoolCathedral. To stream the service on YouTube, follow this link to our YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/user/LiverpoolCathedral/videos.