13 January 2027 · Syro-Malankara Rite
Open in the Daily Word appAlso: Syro-Malabar Rite · Latin Rite · മലയാളം
“Why do you see the speck in your neighbor's eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye?” Matthew 7:3
Paul asks Timothy for a Church that prays for everyone: “supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, for kings and all who are in high positions.” Why everyone? Because God “desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God; there is also one mediator between God and humankind, Christ Jesus, himself human.” The Church's prayer is as wide as God's desire to save.
Jesus forbids the opposite attitude: “Do not judge, so that you may not be judged.” With humour he describes a man with a log in his eye trying to remove a speck from his brother's. This is not a ban on all discernment; it is a ban on condemning, on the harsh eye that sees others' faults and never its own. Intercession and judging cannot live in the same heart: we cannot pray sincerely for someone while condemning him.
Theme: “Do not judge, so that you may not be judged.”
Prayer as wide as God's will to save; judgement replaced by intercession.
“But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.” Jeremiah 29:7
“First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, for kings and all who are in high positions, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity.” 1 Timothy 2:1–2
Apply: Pray daily this week for our leaders by name.
“There is no umpire between us, who might lay his hand on us both.” Job 9:33
“For there is one God; there is also one mediator between God and humankind, Christ Jesus, himself human,” 1 Timothy 2:5
Apply: Thank Jesus for standing between you and the Father.
“But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the LORD does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.”” 1 Samuel 16:7
“Why do you see the speck in your neighbor's eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye?” Matthew 7:3
Apply: Pray for the person you most often criticise.
Intercession and condemnation cannot live in the same heart.
Let our prayer be as wide as God's love.
Take-home resolution: Replace one criticism each day with a prayer.
Dear friends, Paul tells Timothy: I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, for kings and all who are in high positions (1 Timothy 2:1–2). Even for rulers who were persecuting Christians.
The reason: God desires everyone to be saved. There is one God; there is also one mediator between God and humankind, Christ Jesus, himself human (1 Timothy 2:4–5). Our prayer must be as wide as God's love.
Jesus warns us against judging. Why do you see the speck in your neighbor's eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? (Matthew 7:3). We can be very sharp about others and blind about ourselves.
We cannot pray sincerely for someone and condemn him at the same time. Let us replace judgement with intercession: pray today for one person you find hard to bear. Amen.
Children, Jesus told a funny story about a man with a log in his eye! Before we say someone is bad, let us look at ourselves. And let us pray for everyone.
Lord Jesus, one mediator between God and humankind, you desire all to be saved. Widen my prayer to include everyone, and free me from judging others, so that I may first see my own faults. Amen.
Today's readings take in two directions of the heart. Paul asks that prayer be made “for everyone”, since God “desires everyone to be saved”. Jesus says, “Do not judge.” The two go well together. A person cannot go on condemning those for whom he is truly praying.
Setting.
The letter is addressed to Timothy, left at Ephesus to care for the Church there (1:3). It gives instructions for Church life, and prayer comes first. It bears Paul's name. Many scholars think a later disciple wrote the Pastoral Letters in his name, while others hold that Paul is the author in some way. The Church reads it as inspired Scripture in either case.
The kings and rulers in view were not Christians. The Church was small, and could suffer at their hands. Even so she is told to pray for them, as Jeremiah had told the exiles to pray for the city of their exile (Jeremiah 29:7).
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone,” (2:1)
The word “everyone” or “all” keeps returning in the passage (vv. 1, 2, 4, 6). The Church's prayer is meant to be as wide as God's will to save.
“who desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (2:4)
The verse sets out God's own desire. Truth and salvation go together here.
“For there is one God; there is also one mediator between God and humankind, Christ Jesus, himself human,” (2:5)
Note the stress on his humanity. The one who brings us to God has walked in our condition.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism quotes these verses to show that God wills the salvation of all and that the Church is sent because of it (CCC 74, 851). It also applies them to our duty of prayer for those in authority (CCC 2240), and to Christ's unique mediation in his sacrifice (CCC 618). The Holy Qurbono obeys this command in the intercessions it makes for the whole Church and the world.
Setting.
We are near the end of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5–7). Jesus has spoken of the Law, of prayer and of trust in the Father. He now turns to the way disciples treat one another. Luke gives a related saying in his Sermon on the Plain (Luke 6:37–42).
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
““Do not judge, so that you may not be judged.” (7:1)
The passive “be judged” is a reverent way of saying “God will judge you”. The final verdict on a person belongs to God.
“Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye?” (7:3)
The fault that we most easily see in others is often our own.
“You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor’s eye.” (7:5)
Jesus does not say the speck should stay. Correction is a work of love (compare 18:15), but it can only be done after looking at oneself first, and with clear sight.
““Do not give what is holy to dogs; and do not throw your pearls before swine,” (7:6)
The verse is hard. It does not license calling people animals. It asks for care with holy things. The Didache, a very early Christian writing, applies it to the Eucharist, which is for the baptized (Didache 9:5).
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism warns against rash judgment, and asks everyone to put the most favourable interpretation on another's words and actions (CCC 2477–2478). It distinguishes the act from the person: we may judge that an act is grave, but we must entrust the judgment of persons to the justice and mercy of God (CCC 1861). St Augustine, on this very passage, says that deeds whose motive is uncertain should be taken in the better sense (in substance).
“One mediator”: then why do we ask Mary and the saints to pray for us?
Their prayer does not compete with Christ's mediation; it depends entirely on it. The Council teaches that Mary's role “in no way obscures or diminishes this unique mediation of Christ, but rather shows its power” (Lumen Gentium 60; CCC 970). Paul himself, in this very passage, asks Christians to pray for one another. All such prayer is a sharing in the one prayer of Christ (CCC 2634–2635).