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Betrayed.
Humiliated.
Stripped.
Mocked.
Spat on.
Despised.
Neglected.
Abandoned.
Grief-stricken.
Subdued.
Nailed.
Bartered.
Indicted.

Wounded.
Abused.
Ripped to shreds.
Killed.
Jesus knew pain.
In the center of the worst of it, though, he refused to wallow.
He insisted on putting other people first.
They don’t know what they’re doing, he told his Father in heaven. Forgive them, won’t you?
I am doing so now. Even while they ridicule me, I will serve them with all that I have, all that I am.
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How determined are you
to love
to accept
to embrace
to forgive
the ones least likely to warrant it, right in the midst of your worst, worst pain?