The Fourth Sunday of Epiphany - Reflection by Canon Leslie
Join us for worship online and read Canon Leslie's blog post for Sunday, 31 January 2021.
Today is the Fourth Sunday of Epiphany, the season of the Church’s year in which Jesus’ identity is being revealed to the people around him. Last week on the Third Sunday of Epiphany, Jesus was revealed to the guests at the wedding in Cana. Today Jesus is revealed to the people in the synagogue in Capernaum through a major act of healing. In the synagogue at Capernaum an unclean spirit is driven out of a man. Instantly the unclean spirit recognises Jesus as the Holy One of God. The people who witnessed this healing were amazed at what they saw. They asked one another, saying ‘What is this? A new teaching – with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.’ This is the first of four major acts of healing with which Mark opens his Gospel. Throughout these healings Mark is concerned to show how Jesus brings both health and wholeness to those whose lives are fragmented.
For those of you who wanted to do some thinking and preparation for today’s service during the preceding week, I invited you to focus on the image of jigsaw puzzle. In so doing we made the link between fitting the pieces together and the creation of health and wholeness. In today’s picture Tedi Ffrindiau, one of Teddy Horsley’s friends from Wales, is helping Dean Sue to find the pieces of her jigsaw puzzle.
Next Sunday, Liverpool Cathedral is celebrating the Feast of Candlemas, or the Presentation of the infant Christ in the Temple. It was there in the Temple that the elderly Simeon spoke of Jesus as a light bringing God’s salvation to the Gentiles as well as to the Jewish people. The image to help us prepare for that reading is lights. 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 Nelson.Pike@liverpoolcathedral.org.uk.
We warmly invite you to join us in worship today here: https://youtu.be/O4cU-OFv4-E.
Tedi Ffrindiau and Teddy Horsley send their Sunday greetings to all.
Canon Leslie