SCRIPTURE READINGS
Seventeenth Sunday, July 26, 2026 

Biblical Readings Online Here 
(Year A in the three-year cycle of readings)  

Matthew 23, with its seven parables (three are in this Sunday’s gospel), instructs his disciples about the one thing necessary (Latin unum necessarium). The chapter instructs us how to live in the hope of future fulfillment, and how to maintain a positive attitude when others give a bad example. King Solomon’s dream in 1 Kings adds another teaching — how to say no to most things in order to say yes to one thing. The situations are examples of wisdom teaching.

King Solomon’s dream in I Kings 3 is a beautifully told prayer of a young and openhearted youth wary of the pitfalls of royal power. Rejecting self-seeking longevity, wealth, and defeat of enemies, which kings normally ambitioned, Solomon asked instead for “an understanding heart,” literally, “a listening mind.” Unfortunately, Solomon forgot his youthful ideals. Predictably, his later years were ruined by enemy attacks and marital folly. I Kings 11-12 tell of his unhappy end.

Matthew’s Gospel tells the parable of the treasure hidden in the field and of the pearl of great price. In an age before banks, people often hid their money and valuables by burying them; it was not unusual to find buried treasure. Regarding the valuable pearl, we are meant to imagine someone who searched all her life for the perfect jewel that might support her old age. Imagine the joy of finding the perfect pearl! Common to both incidents is that neither finder gains immediate possession. There is a distance between discovering and possessing, but the finding delights both and gives them the desire to sell all they have and acquire it. Both parables address the present/future tension characterizing the Kingdom of Heaven. The two brief stories illustrate the drama of Christian spirituality. On the one hand, detachment from the multiple cares and attractions of daily life for something greater in the future, and on the other hand, the joy of entry into a blessed future.

Richard Clifford, S.J., has taught biblical studies for 55 years, most recently at the Clough School of Theology and Ministry, Boston College, and has written many scholarly and popular books and articles.