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.

The Punishments of Solomon and Jesus--Sept. 3, 2015


You were angry with Solomon--
who had betrayed all your
kindness to him and disobeyed
all your commands--but for
the sake of his father you
punished not him, but his son.

You were not angry with Jesus,
whom we worship as your Son--
he was pure, peaceable, gentle,
willing to yield, full of mercy
and good fruits, without a
trace of partiality or hypocrisy--
but for our sake you allowed
him to be punished most cruelly.

What shall we return to you
for all your bounty to us?

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 116; 147:12-20; 26; 130
1 Kings 11:1-13
James 3:13-4:12
Mark 15:12-21

Selected Verses
Ps. 116:12
What shall I return to the LORD
          for all his bounty to me? 

1 Kings 11:12
"…Yet for the sake of your father David I will not [tear your kingdom from you] in your lifetime; I will tear it out of the hand of your son. …"  [The LORD to Solomon]

James 3:17
But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. 

Mark 15:20
After mocking [Jesus], [the Roman soldiers] stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him.  Then they led him out to crucify him.

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