God waited. Already He was tasting, from a safe distance, the contradiction of sinners that was later to blow full blast against His soul and body, branding Him as a deceiver unfit to live amongst honest folk, and drawing from Him the cry 'How long shall I be with you and suffer you?'

So severe was the sorrow of His soul at the sight of so much obstinate cruelty as to bring Him nigh to rejection of the whole plan upon which He had embarked. It repented Him that He had made man, and filled Him with shocked grief that He must destroy the works of His own hands. Truly the sorrows of Christ began before His ministry in Palestine! Long-suffering means long suffering.