I am an emeritus professor from Cornell University and was a Commissioned Lay Preacher in the Presbyterian Church (USA). For many years I have followed the Daily Lectionary as printed in the Mission Yearbook of my church. For each day of a two-year cycle, the lectionary lists four psalms and three other scriptural passages--usually one from the Old Testament and two from the New Testament. My practice is to copy down a verse or two from one of the psalms and from each of the other three passages. After I have written out all four selections, I reflect upon them, rearrange their order, and incorporate them into a meditation. Sometimes I retain much of the original wording; sometimes all that remains of a selection is an idea that was stimulated when I read the original words. All selections are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible. For the Daily Lectionary, see the link below.

What Have You to Do with Us, Jesus?--Sept. 26, 2014


What have you to do with us, Jesus?
Why do you interfere with our profits?
Let us alone! Must you always take the side
of people who suffer calamity and destruction--
of those who are shut in so that they cannot escape?

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 88; 148; 6; 20
Esth. 8:1-8, 15-17
Acts 19:21-41
Luke 4:31-37

Selected Verses
Ps. 88:8b-9a
I am shut in so that I cannot escape;
        my eye grows dim through sorrow. 

Esth. 8:6
"…For how can I bear to see the calamity that is coming on my people?  Or how can I bear to see the destruction of my kindred?"  [Queen Esther to the king]

Acts 19:27
"…And there is danger not only that this trade of ours may come into disrepute but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be scorned, and she will be deprived of her majesty that brought all Asia and the world to worship her."  [Demetrius inciting others who profited from silver shrines]

Luke 4:33-34a
In the synagogue there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice, "Let us alone! What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?  …"
Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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