17 March 2027 · Syro-Malabar Rite
Open in the Daily Word appAlso: Syro-Malankara Rite · Latin Rite · മലയാളം
“For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.” Matthew 18:20
John writes as an old man to children in the faith, and he says something that sounds like a riddle: “Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you have had from the beginning.” And then, almost at once: “Yet I am writing you a new commandment.” The commandment of love is old, because it was given at the beginning and is written in every human heart. It is new, because in Christ it has been lived to the end, “because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.” Then John draws a line no one can argue with: “Whoever says, ‘I am in the light,’ while hating a brother or sister, is still in the darkness. Whoever loves a brother or sister lives in the light, and in such a person there is no cause for stumbling.” Hatred blinds: “whoever hates another believer is in the darkness, walks in the darkness, and does not know the way to go, because the darkness has brought on blindness.” Many Kerala families carry old quarrels, over a boundary wall, a share of family property, a wedding where someone was not honoured. They can last for generations, and people still come to the same church on Sunday and sit apart. John's word is plain: no amount of fasting puts us in the light while such a quarrel is kept alive by our own choice.
The Gospel gives the way out, step by step. “If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone.” Not gossip first, not a public scene, but a quiet word face to face. “If the member listens to you, you have regained that one.” The goal is not to win an argument but to win back a brother or sister. Only if that fails do others become involved, and then the Church; and the Church receives the power to bind and to loose, which the Lord exercises above all in the sacrament of reconciliation. Then Jesus speaks of prayer: “if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.” Notice the order: first reconciliation, then agreement in prayer, then his presence. Two people who were not speaking, and who come together again in his name, become a place where Christ stands. The Latin Church today remembers St Patrick, who returned as a missionary to the land where he had been a slave, and made of his former captors a people gathered in Christ's name.
Theme: “For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.”
The old and new commandment of love, the Lord's way of reconciliation, and his presence among those gathered in his name.
“For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light.” Psalm 36:9
“Whoever loves a brother or sister lives in the light, and in such a person there is no cause for stumbling.” 1 John 2:10
Apply: Examine your heart for any resentment you have chosen to keep, and offer it to God today.
“You shall not hate in your heart anyone of your kin; you shall reprove your neighbor, or you will incur guilt yourself.” Leviticus 19:17
“If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to you, you have regained that one.” Matthew 18:15
Apply: Go privately and gently to one person with whom you have an unresolved quarrel.
“How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity!” Psalm 133:1
“For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.” Matthew 18:20
Apply: Agree with a family member on one intention and pray for it together each night until Easter.
Love is the old commandment made new in Christ; hatred keeps us in darkness however much we fast.
Go to your brother or sister, win them back, and pray together: Christ will be among you.
Take-home resolution: Before Pesaha, take one step of reconciliation and begin one shared prayer.
Dear friends, John says that the commandment of love is old, given from the beginning, and also new, because in Christ the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining (1 John 2:8).
He is blunt: whoever says he is in the light while hating a brother or sister is still in the darkness (1 John 2:9). We can fast, pray and come to church every day, and still walk in darkness if we keep a quarrel alive.
Jesus shows the way: if someone sins against you, go and speak to them alone. If they listen, you have regained that one (Matthew 18:15). The aim is not to win an argument but to win back a brother or sister.
Then he promises: where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them (Matthew 18:20). Before Pesaha, let us take the first step toward someone we have been avoiding. Amen.
Children, Jesus said that when two or three people pray together in his name, he is right there with them. If you have quarrelled with a brother, sister or friend, make peace today, and then pray together. Jesus will be with you!
Lord Jesus Christ, true light already shining, drive the darkness of hatred from our hearts. Give us courage to go to those who have wronged us, not to win, but to win them back. Gather us in your name, so that we may agree in prayer and know that you are among us. Amen.
Today’s readings look at life inside the community of believers. John says that nobody can claim to be in the light while hating a brother or sister. Matthew gives Jesus’ patient steps for winning back one who has sinned, and promises his presence where two or three gather in his name. Love in the Church is not a mood. It has a practice, and the Lord himself stands in the middle of it.
Setting.
1 John has no greeting and names no author; tradition links it with the apostle John, and it clearly comes from the same world as the Fourth Gospel. Many scholars date it to the end of the first century. A group has left the community (2:19), and the writer gives his readers tests of true faith: do you keep his commandments, and do you love one another? Just before this passage he says that whoever claims to abide in Christ “ought to walk just as he walked” (2:6).
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.” (2:8)
It is a picture of early dawn. The writer does not claim that all is bright. He says which way the day is moving.
“Whoever says, “I am in the light,” while hating a brother or sister, is still in the darkness.” (2:9)
Fine words about faith cannot cover hatred. The NRSV’s “brother or sister” represents the Greek “brother”, a member of the Christian family, and the Gospel of the same tradition shows God’s love reaching the whole world (John 3:16).
“Whoever loves a brother or sister lives in the light, and in such a person there is no cause for stumbling.” (2:10)
The verb is “abides”, a key word of this letter. Love is more than an act. It is where a person lives.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism teaches that Jesus makes charity the new commandment, and that by loving his own to the end he shows the Father’s love (CCC 1823). St Augustine preached ten homilies on this letter, and for him its one subject is charity (in substance). In the Great Fast the question is direct: is there someone I will not speak to? My fast and my prayer should begin there.
Setting.
Chapter 18 is the fourth of the five great discourses in Matthew, on life in the community. Just before this, the shepherd goes after one lost sheep (18:12–14). Just after, Peter asks how often he must forgive, and Jesus tells the parable of the unforgiving servant (18:21–35). The steps of today’s passage stand between mercy and mercy, and must be read in that light.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone.” (18:15)
The first step asks for two things: courage and discretion. It is easier to tell others than to tell the person. A note on the text: some important old manuscripts lack “against you” (the NRSV notes this), and the POC follows that shorter wording.
“let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.” (18:17)
This is the last step, and it should be read with care. In Matthew Jesus eats with tax collectors (9:10–11) and calls one of them to be an apostle (9:9). It marks a real break, and it also says where the Church must begin again: with a call to come back.
“Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” (18:18)
“Bind” and “loose” were terms used by Jewish teachers for forbidding and permitting, and for imposing or lifting a ban. Here “you” is plural. The authority given to Peter (16:19) is also given to the apostles with him.
“For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.” (18:20)
Matthew’s Gospel is framed by this promise: “God is with us” (1:23) and “I am with you always” (28:20). A Jewish saying in the Mishnah speaks of God’s presence resting on two who study the Law together; Jesus says this of himself.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism teaches that the office of binding and loosing given to Peter was also given to the college of the apostles united with its head (CCC 1444), and it links this power to reconciliation with the Church (CCC 1445). Among the ways Christ is present to his Church, it names the gathering in his name, and above all the Eucharistic species (CCC 1373; Sacrosanctum Concilium 7).
Why does the English say “sins against you” while the Malayalam only says “does wrong”?
Some important old manuscripts of Matthew do not have the words “against you” (the NRSV notes this), and the POC follows that shorter wording. With them, the passage is about a personal injury. Without them, it is about any serious sin we notice in a fellow believer. In both, the first step is the same: go quietly, in love.