Last Sunday was Trinity Sunday, and we are now back into that phase of the Church’s year known as ‘ordinary time’. The Gospel reading for today, the First Sunday after Trinity, resumes this year’s systematic reading through Mark’s Gospel.
Today Mark’s narrative is picked up in chapter 2 at a point where there is a growing conflict between Jesus and the Pharisees. The Pharisees are concerned to maintain the proper and strict observance of the Jewish law. In these verses from Mark’s Gospel, Jesus is seen to break the sabbath law in two ways, by encouraging his disciples to pluck heads of grain and by healing the man who had the withered hand. Jesus’ reply that ‘the sabbath was made for humankind and not humankind for the sabbath’ stands at the heart of the debate concerning the Christian attitude to keeping Sunday special.
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 Sundays. In today’s picture taken from his book Teddy Horsley feasts with Jesus, Teddy Horsley is making Sunday special by going to his local church where he meets with his friends.
Lord Jesus Christ,
you made Sunday special
when you rose from the tomb.
Help us to give you special place
in the Sundays throughout our lives,
that others may see the power of your resurrection;
for you are our God, now and always.
Amen.
Next Sunday, the Second Sunday after Trinity, the Gospel reading takes us into Mark chapter 3 where Jesus faces further trouble with the religious leaders. The image to help us prepare for next Sunday’s theme is conflict. You can find out more about that theme by looking at the Educational Resources and the Preparation Resources.
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Exploring the Sunday Gospel – Trinity Sunday