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.

God, What Had You Against Jesus?--Dec. 30, 2013

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 Dear God, you listened to Elijah and
restored to life the widow's son;
and Jesus healed the dying
son of a royal official.

Yet your Son Jesus was
taunted, insulted, executed.
What did you have against him?
He gave us good to imitate, not evil.

Lectionary Readings

Ps. 93; 145; 89:1-18; 89:19-52
1 Kings 17:17-24
3 John 1-15
John 4:46-54

Selected Verses

Ps. 89:50
Remember, O Lord, how your servant is taunted;
          how I bear in my bosom the insults of the peoples…

1 Kings 17:18, 22
[The mistress of the house] then said to Elijah, "What have you against me, O man of God?  You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance, and to cause the death of my son!"…The LORD listened to the voice of Elijah; the life of the child came into him again, and he revived.

3 John 11a
Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but imitate what is good.

John 4:49-50
The official said to [Jesus], "Sir, come down before my little boy dies."  Jesus said to him, "Go; your son will live."

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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