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 Woman Did Not Know--March 19, 2011


The woman asked if you were you were greater than Jacob.
Surely she had no idea how much greater than Jacob you were—
how you loved God, walked in God’s ways, and held fast to God.

She did not know how you learned obedience through suffering,
suffering full of distress and grief, suffering of soul and of body.
She did not know, but we should know, and we should remember.


Lectionary Readings
Ps. 43; 149; 31; 143
Deut. 11:18-28
Heb. 5:1-10
John 4:1-26

Selected Verses
Ps. 31:9
Be gracious to me, O LORD, for I am in distress;
      my eye wastes away from grief,
      my soul and body also.

Deut. 11:22
If you will diligently observe this entire commandment that I am commanding you, loving the LORD your God, walking in all his ways, and holding fast to him…

Heb. 5:8
Although [Jesus] was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered…

John 4:12
“…Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?” [The Samaritan woman to Jesus]
Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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