The Seventh Sunday after Trinity – Reflection by Canon Leslie

Matthew’s Gospel presents five very distinctive blocks of Jesus’ teaching. The first block (beginning in chapter 5) is best known as the Sermon on the Mount. Currently our Sunday lectionary journey through Matthew’s Gospel has taken us to the third block of teaching (chapter 13) that is sometimes known as the Book of Parables.
 
In his little Book of Parables Matthew begins by bringing together two parables rooted in agriculture, the Parable of the Sower and the Parable of the Weeds. Next Matthew presents two parables about growth, the Parable of the Mustard Seed and the Parable of the Yeast. Then Matthew presents two parables about priorities and values, the Parable of the Hidden Treasure and the Parable of the Precious Pearl.
 
Each of these parables is able to stimulate deep thought and to unlock serious revelation and insight into how God works and into what really matters in life. Parables are not intended to be read one after the other, but to be read one at a time. We need to allow each parable the time and space to do its individual work.
 
So to prepare for this Sunday’s service, I invited those of you who want to do some thinking beforehand to focus primarily on one idea, hidden treasure, and on recognising what is of real value. In today’s picture Betsy Bear is gazing at one of the treasures brought to Jesus by the Magi.
 
Next week the image to help us prepare for participation in the Sunday service, whether offline in the Cathedral or online at home, is Picnic, when the Gospel reading is Matthew’s account of the Feeding of the Five Thousand. 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. Please send us your ideas and photos of the things you may create; email them to [email protected].
 
We warmly invite you to join us in worship online by watching our pre-recorded service video that will go live at 10:30am on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/LiverpoolCathedral/videos/383545979285775/.
 
Betsy Bear sends her Sunday greetings to all.
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Canon Leslie