When Vince Lombardi, the eminently successful professional football coach in the 1960s, was asked how he produced winning teams, he declared that any group of naturally endowed athletes could win more games than they lost if they concentrated on the "little things" of the game — the fundamentals. After a close game won by his Green Bay Packers, Lombardi called a special session for Monday morning because he felt his players were losing sight of the small details that guarantee victory. Appearing before his players, he held a football above his head and announced: "Men, we need to review the basics of the game. This is a football." Max McGee, so the story goes, drawled, "That's a little fast, coach. Go over that again."

In the passage we read from the gospel according to Matthew this morni…