He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
~Isaiah 53:3
…looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
~Hebrews 12:2
Jesus didn’t care what anyone thought or said or did. It mattered not to Him how He was perceived in the public’s wrongful accusations. He cared nothing for the reputation they were errantly forming for Him, hanging there in THEIR shame.
Because they didn’t know, they didn’t really know…
They had no right, position, or authority to speak anything of lasting value or prominence over Him. Jesus endured, silently and obediently. He endured focused, impassioned, undeterred, with His sight firmly set on only one thing: seeing Himself on a cross and all of our sin ON Him there. It looked like joy to Him.
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image by ben vaughn on unsplash