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.

Psalm 145 – “I will thank you forever and ever. Every day I will thank you; I will praise you forever and ever” (145:2). What you have done will be praised throughout the generations. “The Lord is loving and merciful, slow to become angry and full of constant love” (145:8). The Lord is faithful to his promises and helps those in trouble. He “lifts those who have fallen” (145:14).

Psalm 146 – “Don’t put your trust in human leaders” (146:3). When they die, they are dust. Happy are those who depend on our God; “he judges in favor of the oppressed. . .sets prisoners free and gives sight to the blind” (146:7-8).

Psalm 147 – “It is good to sing praise to our God; it is pleasant and right to praise him. The Lord is restoring Jerusalem; he is bringing back the exiles. He heals the broken-hearted and bandages their wounds” (147:1-3). He has set the number of stars; he raises the humble and crushes the wicked. He does not take pleasure in strong horses or delight in brave soldiers. He just takes pleasure in those who honor him. The beauties of nature are celebrated – the snow, the frost and hail, the wind, the water. He gives the Law to his people, and he has not done this for everyone.

Psalm 148 – The angels of heaven also should praise the Lord - the sun, the moon, the highest heavens and waters above the sky – all should praise the name of the Lord. And all people should praise him – kings, princes, young men and women, old people and children.

Psalm 149 – Another praise psalm. Praise the Creator with song and dancing, with drums and harps. And then - oh, pain in my heart - another rather aggressive section that says God’s people should rejoice in the triumph the Lord has given them. Let them shout aloud with sharp swords in their hands to defeat the nations and punish the people, bind their kings in chains as God has commanded.

Psalm 150 – Praise God for the mighty things he’s done. Praise him with harps, lyres, drums and dancing. Praise the Lord.

Matthew 21:1-17 – Jesus and his disciples come near Jerusalem, to Bethphage and the Mount of Olives.  He sends two of his disciples into the village to get a donkey “and a colt with her” (21:2). They are to get them and tell anyone who asks that the Lord needs them. This instruction is seen as a fulfillment of the prophecy in Zechariah 9:9 that the king will come to them “triumphant and victorious, but humble and riding on a donkey -- on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” Matthew makes sure he mentions both donkey and colt unlike the other gospel writers; Matthew has a tendency to “double” when it comes to stories of Jesus. In Matthew 8:28, he heals 2 men with demons, not just one as in Mark 5:1 and Luke 8:26 and in Matthew 20, he also recounts Jesus’ healing of two blind men, not just one as in Mark 10:46 and Luke 18:35 – not sure why he does this.

Matthew also changes the sense of the sentence in 21:3 where he addresses the question of what they’ll say if anyone asks them about taking the animals. Mark says that if someone asks them why they are taking the donkey, the disciples should reassure them and tell them the Lord will return it immediately (Mark 11:3).  Matthew just flows from this question into a kind of mysterious assent once they say, “The Master needs them” (21:3). Luke leaves the confrontation out entirely.

Jesus enters the city greeted like a king (in 2 Kings 9, Jehu is greeted in the same fashion). Jesus finds the city in “turmoil” when he gets there. People ask who he is, and the crowds say it is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth. Jesus goes to the Temple where he drives out all who are buying and selling (in Mark he goes there and just looks around). He accuses people of turning it into a den of thieves. The blind and lame come to him in the Temple, and he cures them. The chief priests and scribes are appalled at how people are addressing him. Then he goes to Bethany to spend the night.