Palm Sunday is also our great entrance into Holy Week, the week when we cherish the memory of Jesus, who as described in the gospel of John, loved us to the extreme. We hear words from the prophet Isaiah that more closely resemble the messianic mission of Jesus than the storied memory of King David, whose glory is in the minds and hearts of the crowds shouting “hosanna.” Isaiah speaks of a servant who learns by suffering, who gives his back to those who beat him and his cheeks to those who pluck his beard.  It is through these experiences that he has something to say to the weary—“a word that will rouse them.”  He is in solidarity with all the innocent who have been unfairly accused, with prisoners of conscience in all times and places, with those facing the death sentence of a terminal illness, with those whose dignity has been stripped and those who are crowned with the thorns of ridicule and exclusion and those forced to drink the bitter gall of the self-righteous. He is with the crucified in every time and place.