Other comments on this day's readings can be found here.
Reading 1 - Deu 18:1,2
"The priests, who are Levites -- indeed the whole tribe of
Levi -- are to have no allotment or inheritance with Israel. They shall live on
the offerings made to the LORD by fire, for that is their inheritance" (Deu
18:1).
And so Christ, the true priest, in offering himself... as the
true sacrifice, asserted: "The Lord is my portion, or inheritance" (Psa
16:5,6,10,11). He had no other.
"They shall have no inheritance among their brothers; the LORD
is their inheritance, as he promised them" (v 2).
This was truly fulfilled, also, in the life of the Son of
God... who said: "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son
of Man has no place to lay his head" (Mat 8:20; Luk 9:58).
Reading 2 - Ecc 10:2
"The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but the heart of
the fool to the left" (Ecc 10:2).
"For the heart to be at the right hand means that all our
affections and emotions shall be well placed, helping and supporting us in the
work of life. For the heart to be at the left hand means that feelings are
wrongly placed, entangling and hindering, preventing good work and possibly even
dragging down to destruction. Emotions which are quite good in themselves may be
a hindrance if they are not properly guided. They may run counter to our life's
work, they may throw us out of balance just when a sober poise is most urgently
needed, they may warp our judgment or vitiate our reasoning. They may even lead
us to forsake the path of duty altogether. In all such faults whether the evil
influence is great or small, the heart is at the left hand" (Islip Collyer,
"Principles and Proverbs" 220).
Reading 3 - Acts 9
"The conversion of Saul was like that of a second Abraham: he
journeyed from south to north on the same route Abraham had travelled in the
opposite direction, the 'glory of God' appearing to him (cp Acts 7:2). He left
his family, his nation, his land. He travelled into new lands -- ever a stranger
and a pilgrim (Acts 7:3-5)" (Conybeare and Howson, "The Life and Epistles of St
Paul" 68).