a mystery to add to the list...

All they that see me laugh me to scorn:

they shoot out the lip, they shake the head.

Psalm 22:7 KJV

Reading a devotional this morning... provided another mystery... to add to the list...

... how couldst Thou die for men who treated Thee so ill? ...

---Oswald Chambers, Morning and Evening

Thinking of my own heart... past rejections quickly evoked hate...

No other word will do...

When those I'd said I loved... rejected me... my heart protected itself with hate... it's a bent in my character... I still have to beware of...

But not Him...

He knows how to love... He is love...

We accused Him... rejected Him...
beat Him... mocked Him...
deserted Him... spat on Him...
crucified Him...

Yet... He held Himself to the cross... for love of each one of us...

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills prophets

and stones those sent to it! How often would I have gathered

your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings,

and you were not willing. ..." ---Jesus

Matthew 23:37 ESV

He knew we would do it... and He still came...

How could He...? suffer... die...? for us who rejected Him...? hated Him...?

Father God sent His Son... out of love... for the world...

Jesus... endured... suffered... because He loved...

And still... there are those He loves... who continue to reject... mock...  and scorn Him... to their own demise...

There's another mystery... to add to the list...