Exclusively published to the Touchstone website each week, these Daily Reflections are brief commentaries on the lectionary readings contained in the St. James Daily Devotional Guide. The reflections are penned by Patrick Henry Reardon, editor of the Daily Devotional Guide and a senior editor of Touchstone. Father Reardon provides here a very brief directional clue for one of the readings each day. Long-time readers of the Daily Devotional Guide will find these reflections an additional help to their reading of Holy Scripture which they can print and keep with their Guide.

The Daily Reflections will be updated weekly.

Sunday, March 10

Matthew 18:10-14: This parable of the lost sheep, found both here and in Luke 15:3-7, carries a quite different emphasis in each setting. In Luke’s setting the parable serves to illustrate God’s compassion toward sinners and answers the challenge thrown at Jesus in Luke 15:2, "This man receives sinners." Accordingly, in Luke the parable of the lost sheep is followed by two other parables illustrating the identical theme of the divine compassion, the account of the woman and her lost coin and the story of the father and his lost son. In Matthew, on the other hand, the parable of the lost sheep is placed in an ecclesiological setting. If we omit Matthew 18:11 (which a scrutiny of the earliest manuscripts really obliges us to do), the Matthean setting of this parable has to do with the proper care of the "little ones" who, as we saw in 11:25, are the Christians. To establish this theme the parable is introduced by Matthew 18:10 (found only in Matthew), a saying of our Lord about the angelic care of the "little ones," who must not, therefore, be despised. In Matthew, then, the parable concerns the care that Christians must have for one another within the Church (a word that will appear again in the next few verses). Thus, the parable is preceded by warnings against scandal (18:6-9) and followed by an exhortation about erring brethren (18:15-17). The message is that Christians must not permit one another to perish.

Monday, March 11

Matthew 18:15-20: These verses continue the theme of life in the Church, specifically what to do respecting those members of the congregation who give the sorts of offenses covered in verses 6-10. That is to say, these verses illustrate how Christians are to fulfill the mandate implied in verse 14 – God’s will that no one of the little ones should perish. From rabbinical literature we know that the progressive procedure of fraternal correction elaborated here in Matthew was common in the synagogues of that day. We also find a specific application of it in 1 Timothy 5:19. The burden of these verses is not that we should expose sinners, but that we endeavor to save them. The message, then, is identical to the parable of the lost sheep. It is particularly to be noted that, of the three times that the word "Church" appears in Matthew (and in no other of the four gospels), two are contained in these verses. For Matthew the Church is preeminently the house of reconciliation and forgiveness (cf. 9:6-8).

Tuesday, March 12

Matthew 18:21-35: The parable of the unforgiving servant, which continues the theme of reconciliation that has dominated this chapter, is introduced by Peter’s question (found only in Matthew) about how often he is to forgive his brother. The Lord’s response (found also in Luke 17:4) that the offender is to be forgiven "seventy times seven" effectively reverses the dynamics of sin and vengeance documented in Genesis 4:23f. (This detail was noted about the year 200 by an African writer, Tertullian, On Prayer 7.) To illustrate this theme there follows the parable of the forgiven but unforgiving servant (found only in Matthew), which ends with the warning, given earlier in 6:15, that our failure to forgive one another puts us in jeopardy of losing the forgiveness of our Father in heaven.

Wednesday, March 13

Matthew 19:1-12: His third dominical discourse now finished, Matthew returns to narrative for four chapters. This lengthy narrative once again stresses the authority of Jesus in the face of mounting opposition (thus extending the earlier concern in chapters 8—10) and contains a final invitation to belief. Matthew 19 contains doctrine on marriage (and the related subjects of celibacy and divorce), children, and household (or economics), all subjects that are treated together likewise by St. Paul (cf. Ephesians 5:22–6:9; Colossians 3:18-25). This similarity of order between Matthew and Paul suggests these dominical sayings have been organized according to a standard and recognizable format. Verse 9 is not an exception to the prohibition against divorce; the words "except for sexual immorality" is not a reference to adultery, but to fornication. It means that the Lord is talking here about a true marriage, not an illicit cohabitation. The reference to making oneself a eunuch should be taken, by way of hyperbole, as a reference to consecrated celibacy, which from the beginning has been appreciated as an honored state in the Church.

Thursday, March 14

Matthew 19:13-22: From a discussion about marriage Jesus passes to the subject of children, repeating the injunction indicated in 18:1-4. The subsequent encounter with the rich young man, following so closely after the metaphor for consecrated celibacy, may be understood here as referring to consecrated poverty. (The literary and theological relationship between these two passages in Matthew was noted back in the 4^th century by St. John Chrysostom, On Repentance 6.3.12-13.) While neither celibacy nor poverty is commanded to all Christians, their double consecration indicates a special calling extended to some Christians whose charismatic way of life will stand as a prophetic witness to the Church and to the world. As a point of history, therefore, it is no exaggeration to say that this chapter of Matthew is one of the biblical texts most responsible for the institution of Christian monasticism. It was on hearing this text read in his parish church in Egypt back in the 3^rd century that young Anthony, being determined not to follow in the footsteps of the rich young man, sold all his possessions and went into the desert to spend the rest of his life in celibacy, poverty, and prayer.

Friday, March 15

Matthew 19:23-30: Because the Lord speaks so forcefully about the spiritual dangers of material riches, the apostles wonder who can be saved, since virtually all men, if they have their choice in the matter, would prefer wealth to poverty. The Lord answers that salvation is, after all, God’s work, not man’s, and that God can do all things. To inspire His followers to ever greater generosity with God, however, the Lord goes on to promise that whatever is relinquished for His sake will be restored a hundredfold. Those who have left all things and followed Him will be acknowledged in the "regeneration" (palingesia), when Christ sits upon His throne in manifest glory. This is apparently the same reference as in 25:31.  

Saturday, March 16

Matthew 20:1-16: The parable about the day-workers is probably found in this place because it tells a story about the last called being the first paid, thus illustrating, as it were, the final verse of Chapter 19: "But many who are first will be last, and the last first." It is obvious, nonetheless, that this parable, found only in Matthew, is easily separable from that verse. The parable of the day-workers was doubtless remembered among the early Christian because it did, in fact, address one of their early theological questions – How to regard the Gentiles who were "late-comers" to the Church. The earlier comers to the field are all given a work contract, which may be interpreted as God’s established covenant with His people. Those that come last, however, work without a contract; that is to say, they have been promised nothing specific. They are outside the ancient covenant (Ephesians 2:12) and must rely solely on grace. But God’s generosity proves true. The grumblers, who are reprimanded at the end of the parable, are not rebuked for dissatisfaction with what they have received, but for their dissatisfaction with what the other people received. These grumblers are also the enemies who have already commenced plotting against the Son of the field’s Owner (21:33-46).

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