Psalm 142 – A prayer for God’s help. To Him I bring all my complaints, all my despair. No one seems to care for me, so I cry to God, “you are all I want in this life” (142:5). I hear David's cry for help from his enemies, but it is his cry for freedom from distress that can relate to more.

Psalm 143 – Do not put me on trial, Lord, “for no one is innocent in your sight” (143:2).

He has suffered a defeat from his enemies and is in a dark prison. He remembers the days gone by and “lift up [his] hand in prayer; like dry ground [his] soul is thirsty for his Lord.

“Remind me each morning of your constant love, for I put my trust in you. My prayers go up to you, show me the way I should go” (143:8).

And he asks God to kill his enemies, destroy those who oppress him.

Psalm 144 – My Lord protects me, trains me for battle and is my shelter. “Lord, what are mortals, that you notice them; mere mortals, that you pay attention to us? We are like a puff of wind; our days are like a passing shadow” (144:3-4).

Tear open the sky, Lord, and come down to us. “Reach down from above, pull me out of the deep water, and rescue me; save me from the power of foreigners, who never tell the truth and lie even under oath” (144:7-8).

I will sing to you, Lord. May our children grow up to be an honor to us and to you. “May there be no cries of distress in our streets” (144:14). Happy are the people whose god is the Lord. 

Matthew 20:17-34 - Jesus tells his disciples the third time of the trials ahead.  The mother of the Zebedee boys (James and John) comes to him with her sons and kneels to ask him a favor—to have her sons at his right and left in his kingdom. Jesus tells her she does not know what she is asking.  He asks them if they are able to drink the cup he is about to drink.  They say yes. He tells them they will indeed drink his cup, but it is not for him to say who will be at his right and left. It “is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father” (20:23)

When the other 10 hear about this they are annoyed with the two brothers.  Jesus tries to diffuse their anger by telling them all that in his kingdom “whoever wishes to be great. . .must be your servant”(20:26) “just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many” (20:28).

Leaving Jericho, two blind men by the roadside shout after Jesus to have mercy on them. They call him Son of David. The crowd orders them to be quiet, but they continue.  He goes over to them and asks them what they want.  They tell him they want their eyes to be opened.  He touches their eyes and they see (20:34).