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.

Precious in the Sight of God--June 2, 2016


Jesus, when you heard how John the Baptizer died,
you wanted to mourn alone, but you could not.
Did you realize you would be next?
No one knew better than you
how the oppressed suffer,
with no one to comfort them.
If the psalmist is correct that
the sight of the death of his
faithful ones is precious
to God, and I believe
it is so, then how
very precious
was the sight
of your death
to redeem us all!

Lectionary Readings 
Ps. 143; 147:12-20; 81; 116 
Eccl. 3:16-4:3 
Gal. 3:1-14 
Matt. 14:13-21 
       
Selected Verses
Ps. 116:15
Precious in the sight of the LORD
          is the death of his faithful ones. 

Eccl. 4:1a
Again I saw all the oppressions that are practiced under the sun.  Look, the tears of the oppressed--with no one to comfort them!

Gal. 3:13
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us--for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree"…

Matt. 14:13
Now when Jesus heard [of the execution of John the Baptist), he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself.  But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns.

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