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Loneliness in the Solitary Confinement || Distanced from Friends
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Story of a man awakened

I’d like to continue from what I told you last time. You need to know what happened after a rude awakening from my dream of when my wife and I were in Eden walking with God as if HE Who Created All was my friend!

You know of course that I awoke to this day and not a time before Abraham and you may have heard or read my story, but I wanted to tell you how I felt at the time.

A Knock at the Door

We lay intertwined embraced in warmth flowing from fingertips to toe. Our paradise shattered as I awoke to a loud knock on the door…

“David! . . . Lend me three loaves!”

Who is this at this late hour, I thought? Then as I recognized my neighbor’s outcry at our door,

“Shaul, is that you?” I inquired.

“Of course it’s me. Who else would it be at this hour?” my neighbor responded as he continued,

“A friend of mine has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him.”

We had just fallen asleep and I retorted,

“Do not bother me. As you can plainly see the door has already been shut and we are all in bed.”

“Come on, David, I have nothing to eat for my friends who have just arrived,” he replied.

“I cannot get up and give you anything,” I again said even though my wife and I were awake by now.

Shaul again began shamelessly knocking at our door as my wife looked toward me with that look.

“Alright, my friend,” I shouted over his knocks as I headed to the door.

“I will give you your bread.”

A Parable of Separation

You know this story.

Perhaps the characters are purely fictional as in most parables; but like many of Jesus’ parables, He probably retold it in many places to different crowds in various ways.
- Can you identify with the family behind locked doors in the darkness, separated from friends and seeking peace?
- Or perhaps you can imagine that you are the friend of Shaul, who has traveled a day’s journey and arrived unexpectedly late.
Your good friend didn’t even know that you were coming to him in person. And all of you were overjoyed for this personal reunion!

Friends — no longer separated by distance.

AND your friend is even willing to go to his friend and neighbor for something to eat while rejoined in communion with each other.

Picture Paradise when Heaven’s Door | of Separation | is Opened

I have just illustrated Jesus’ parable with names of appropriate symbolism as the Lord occasionally does. [i.e. Lazarus in the bosom of Abraham]

שאול
Shaul

Shaul means, “borrowed.” http://blb.sc/000vVY

“Lend me three loaves,” he begs his beloved friend.

דָּוִד

David

David means, “friend” or “beloved.” http://blb.sc/001ccS

“This is my beloved and this is my friend,
O daughters of Jerusalem.” – Song 5:26b NASB

and behold, a voice out of the heavens said,
“This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.”
says the LORD, the God of Israel – Gospel of Matthew 3:17

The Gospel of Luke 11:

It happened that while Jesus was praying in a certain place, when He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray…

We know it as:

The Lord’s Prayer

Jesus’ Disciples were already isolated ‘in a certain place.’

No show here for church friends

or ritualized rote of memorized obligation.

Father, hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread.
And forgive us our sins…
Gospel of Luke 11:2b-4a NASB

Christ’s application in an isolated place

Jesus, of course, is talking about prayer – petitions of a sinful man to a Father God | separated from man | by holiness.

Here is a man alone secure in his home praying – spirit to Spirit.

Perhaps he does dream of Paradise | personal relationship with the Lord God | as it was in the beginning.

Jesus invites His followers to a place | separated and distanced from others in this world.

The call to prayer is to the Father of His beloved children.

a friend at the door | to a Friend inside

I’ve told you this parable from a perspective of the FRIEND INSIDE.

The Lord Jesus speaks to each SINNER as a friend knocking | adam knocking repeatedly on the DOOR | of Heaven through prayer.

Jesus says of the FRIEND inside who I have just described in this parable:

8 I tell you, even if he will not get up and give him anything just because he is his friend, yet because of his shamelessness he will get up and give him as much as he needs.
- You and I are Shaul, the borrower of bread.
- Our Heavenly Father is David | our beloved friend with the bread of Heaven, which He now has given to us after having answered a knock at His door.
It is His story I have just told!

Our beloved Heavenly Father and Friend invites you to share the Bread that came down from Heaven – the Bread of Life, Christ Jesus Who IS the Son and | Door to eternal life.

Jesus answers disciples asking about prayer with a parable of the Father | who once again desires the Personal Face-to-face fellowship of Eden.

“So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you;
seek, and you will find;
knock, and it will be opened to you.
For everyone who asks receives,
and the one who seeks finds,
and to the one who knocks, it will be opened.
The Good News of Luke 11:9-10 NASB | Jesus on prayer to the Father

NEXT: A look at Social Distancing of the Church in a 1st century world of violent upheaval.
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To be continued...
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January 13, 2021
Witnesses to Jesus Risen! – Peter
“Come and have breakfast,” Jesus told them.
None of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” because they knew it was the Lord.
John 21:12 CSB

3 Questions & more..

As you read previously in Witnesses to Jesus Risen! – Simon Peter this third encounter of the Disciples with the risen Jesus includes John and five others fishing with Peter, but John draws our attention to Jesus’ questions to Simon Peter.

If you have not briefly examined the Lord’s exchange with Simon in Greek or love defined where they converse, you will find if helpful to click on the link above to the previous part of this post about Simon Peter.

Our focus is on just three verses.

John 21:
- 15 So when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these?”
  - He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.”
    He said to him, “Tend My lambs.”
- 16 He said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?”
  - He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.”
    He said to him, “Shepherd My sheep.”
- 17 He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?”
- John now adds his personal understanding of his fellow Disciple, Simon Peter:
  - Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you love Me?” And he said to Him, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.”
    Jesus said to him, “Tend My sheep.
Questions & Answers of Love

Last time we noted from the Greek a mismatch between Jesus’ questions and Simon Peter’s answers.
1. John 21:15 Gr agapao
2. John 21:15 Gr phileo
3. John 21:16 Gr agapao
4. John 21:16 Gr phileo
Furthermore, in the Lord’s first question to Simon He asks him about the others, who Peter ignores in his self-focused reply.

And I pointed out a possible motive for Jesus switching up His third question of love to Simon Peter.

3 Commands – Leading in Love

With all of this as background (to this 2-part post about Simon Peter), now we can view Jesus’ three commands to His Disciple He named, The Rock.

Let’s look at the Lord’s three commands to Simon Peter [Simōn Petros].
1. Tend My lambs.
2. Shepherd My sheep.
3. Tend My sheep.
All three commands of Jesus to Simon are similar. In Jesus’ first question the Lord’s reference to the others suggests to Peter a metaphor. His lambs (the others) require a comparative tenderness, even more so than simply watching vulnerable sheep. (Do not be the hired hand who flees the danger of the one that devours them.)

βόσκω – to feed, portraying the duty of a Christian teacher to promote in every way the spiritual welfare of the members of the church

ποιμαίνω – to feed, to tend a flock, keep sheep; but also to rule or govern

ποιμαίνω – again, the same verb for Shepherd, from the Noun ποιμήν for a herdsman, esp. a shepherd

And in Jesus’ parable, he to whose care and control others have committed themselves, and whose precepts they follow.

This applies metaphorically to any presiding officer, overseers (i.e. bishops, elders), kings and princes, and of course to Christ as head of the church.

“I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.
John 10:14-15 NASB – The Lord Jesus, Son of Man Sacrificed for our sins.

John’s understanding of Peter

Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you love Me?”
John 21:17b – NASB

I asked at the beginning of this two-part post about Simon Peter:
- What does a DEATH have to do with GOOD NEWS?
John tells us that ‘Peter was grieved,’ but as I mentioned before John has a great understanding of Peter’s heart.

For when John writes his Gospel sometime after A.D. 85, Simon Peter has already ‘taken up his cross’ and literally followed their Lord, Shepherd and Master to be crucified on a cross.

John grieves for Peter. He misses his own dear friend as he does his own brother James who also had been martyred for their Master, Christ Jesus.

Matthew confirms their reaction

The Apostle Matthew had used the same description of what all the Disciples felt when Jesus revealed that one of them would betray Him. “Surely not I, Lord?”

John explains Peter’s own grief of rejection for his failures of the flesh, breaking through an apparent hardness of The Rock who cannot answer his Lord directly about his commitment to love.

You will weep & lament.. and you will grieve

“Truly, truly, I say to you, that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; you will grieve, but your grief will be turned into joy.
John 16:20 NASB – Jesus’ prophesy of the Disciples grief, but joy for the world

Grief & Grieving result from things other than death. [see definition]

λυπέω from sorrow – λύπη
- be sorrowful (6x), grieve (6x), make sorry (6x), be sorry (3x), sorrow (3x), cause grief (1x), be in heaviness (1x)
- to affect with sadness, cause grief, to throw into sorrow
- to grieve, offend
- to make one uneasy, cause him a scruple
There’s a relationship between grief and love,

And there is no grief where a soul has not love.

Have YOU ever experienced grief in a loving relationship with another?

Simon Peter had.

John’s heart for their friend Peter (even after Peter’s death) desires to share the Disciple’s grief over his failings of their friend and Lord, Christ Jesus.

Jesus & Peter

NOTE: All these things had taken place in just three years, many events within the weeks just prior to Jesus’ Crucifixion, and now His Resurrection appearances to Peter, John and the Disciples.

Peter follows Jesus

All the Gospel writers except John testify how Simon Peter and others came to follow the Lord. (Many had previously been disciples of John the Baptist who baptized Jesus.)

Luke 5: – an earlier fishing encounter
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MATTHEW 4 & MARK 1 also witness this important event
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Now it happened that while the crowd was pressing around Him and listening to the word of God, He was standing by the lake of Gennesaret.. And He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s.. When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.”

Simon answered and said, “Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing, but I will do as You say and let down the nets.” .. they enclosed a great quantity of fish, and their nets began to break.. their partners in the other boat .. came and filled both of the boats, so that they began to sink.
- Does this sound at all familiar?
  - It was from when Jesus first called His Disciples, which must have been a most memorable moment to both Peter and John.
  - And listen to Simon Peter’s response to Jesus choosing him as His Disciple:
But when Simon Peter saw that, he fell down at Jesus’ feet, saying, “Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man!”
Luke 5:8 NASB

For amazement had seized him and all his companions because of the catch of fish which they had taken; and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon.

And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not fear, from now on you will be catching men.”

These three become Jesus’ inner circle and closest earthly friends. This is the Simon Peter for whom both Jesus and the Apostle John show compassion. “Tend my lambs…” and Simon’s surviving friend witnesses to the Church Peter’s heart for Christ Jesus.

When they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed Him.

Peter’s Confession of Christ

Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”

Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon [Son of Jonah] Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.”

– Matthew 16 excerpt

At The Last Supper

Then Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away because of Me this night, for it is written,
‘I WILL STRIKE DOWN THE SHEPHERD, AND THE SHEEP OF THE FLOCK SHALL BE SCATTERED.’
Matthew 26:31 NASB – note the Lord’s metaphor of the Shepherd & the sheep

“But after I have been raised, I will go ahead of you to Galilee.”
Matthew 26:31 NASB – Jesus to the Disciples of His flock

Peter said to Him, “Lord, why can I not follow You right now? I will lay down my life for You.”

Jesus said to him, “Truly I say to you that this very night, before a rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.”

Peter said to Him, “Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You.” All the disciples said the same thing too.

We unfairly convict Peter but forget that all of the Eleven also promised the same. And after this Matthew witnesses:

And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be grieved and distressed.
Then He said to them, “My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death; remain here and keep watch with Me.”
Matthew 26:37-38 When the Lord was grieved in Gethsemane

Returning to Galilee’s shore
- Capernaum boat slips
- Capernaum
- Sea of Galilee
- “Children, have you any fish?”
And even though the Disciples had met the risen Lord Jesus in Jerusalem behind locked doors, here He fed them once more at dawn on a Galilee beach near Capernaum.

The Disciple Jesus loved testifies the Good News to the Church. It was here that Christ restored The Rock upon which their Living Stones have been built.

Simon, Son of Jonah, was also crucified when he took up our Shepherd’s Cross. The Disciples and Peter live in Christ Jesus!

In Him Christ has restored sinners like Simon — sinners like me, the one Jesus loved would say — and because like Peter you follow Him, sinners like you.

John does give us GOOD NEWS about death, yet most urgently the Gospel of Jesus Christ who died to give sinners like us eternal LIFE.

P.S. – John’s post script

The Apostle closes his Gospel with a brief explanation to Christians who know him and have heard ‘church rumors’ that are untrue. (Have you ever heard something untrue from a fellow saint of your church?)

We will hear John’s clarification of truth next time and briefly mention the importance of truth in our witness for the Lord Jesus.
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To be continued.. 
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December 19, 2020
Witnesses to Jesus Risen! – Simon Peter
The Gospel of John
- What does a DEATH have to do with GOOD NEWS?
Read any obituary of a famous teacher, even a celebrity leader of men and you will discover one thing: They left behind everything. Now the legacy of this body buried or scattered to the dust of the earth must decay.

We memorialize men and women, especially the same many idolize in life. Those who loved any breathing soul speak of the dead in the past. Some ask, ‘IF there is a God, what hope does this departed soul have now?‘

The Apostle John answers these deep longings of the souls of mortal man.

More specifically, the LORD GOD reveals the only Good News about death and life is through the Lord Jesus Christ – born of man, buried like all who must suffer death.

By His words we have hope, but by His death we have redemption from sin and judgment.

For by Jesus’ RESURRECTION in BODY and SPIRIT, followers of the Way of Jesus in life will follow Him to certain resurrection of the body and of our soul.

Do you desire an eternal after-life in the Presence of the LORD our GOD? Find it in the Good News of Christ Jesus.

Witnesses to Jesus’ Resurrection

In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.
The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
The Good News of John 1:4-5 NASB

John presents man as either belonging to one of two things: the darkness or the light. There is no in between. The darkness is associated with death, while the light is associated with life. – BlueLetterBible intro to John

No Gospel addresses ‘LIFE’ more than John and no book of the Bible more than the 150 Psalms.
Roger Harned – talk of Jesus .com

We now return to John’s witness of Jesus in a third appearance to Disciples along the shore of the Sea of Tiberias after His resurrection.

Trusting that you read Witnesses to Jesus Risen! – the Eleven, a Passing Witness, recall the 1st. century A.D. events disciples of the Way of Jesus encountered even before John wrote his Gospel — after A.D. 85 & before A.D. 100.

Remember to see John’s Gospel with eyes of a 1st. century believer who already knows that Peter was martyred for Christ perhaps decades earlier.

Peter’s witness of Jesus’ Resurrection

No Disciple of Jesus impacts the Church more than Simon Peter. After paying little attention to interactions between Peter and Jesus, today we will look closer into this loving relationship of discipleship.

Previously in Witnesses to Jesus Risen! – the Eleven, a Passing Witness. the Apostles had seen Jesus in the flesh twice, except Thomas only once, in Jerusalem. John names five present now and mentions two others, but not by name.

Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” – John 21:3

It’s now close to daylight after a night catching no fish.

John 21:

7 The disciple, the one Jesus loved, said to Peter, “It is the Lord!”

Peter and John who humbly refers to himself as ‘the disciple Jesus loved’, along with his older brother James have been Jesus’ three closest Disciples. During three years of the Lord’s earthly teaching Jesus had often shared understanding He does not reveal to others.

In his Gospel the beloved Disciple speaks of their close friend Simon Peter who has already been martyred for Christ with loving compassion; not eulogizing or elevating Peter in any way, but giving honest witness to Peter’s actions and failings in life.

John’s empathy for Peter’s heart after denying the Lord is clearly evident. The Disciples remembered how Jesus had prophesied Peter’s denials before the cock crowed at dawn that fateful evening prior to His arrest. Peter of course had denied that it could ever happen.

Peter, now with his former boldness, dives into Lake Tiberius and swims to shore (just two hundred cubits, about 100 yd. or 90 m.) away from Jesus who is broiling fish over a fire.

The other six Disciples return in small boats with the catch of ‘the multitude of fishes’ [KJV], which they then account as a total of 153 large fish filling a net that remains untorn by the huge catch.

Three Questions of Restoration

Remember, John witnesses this to Christians after Peter’s faithful death for the Lord Jesus Christ. Here is what John testifies:

15 Now when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these?”

(We will examine Peter’s answers separately.)

16 He said to him again, a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?”

17 He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?”

The common language of the Apostles in addition to their local Aramaic is Greek. English translations lack subtle detail connecting context in these scriptures.

Simon son of Jonas – Σίμων Ἰωνᾶ

Andrew and Simon’s father is John, or Jonas.
- John, Peter’s other friend of Jesus’ inner circle besides his own brother James, calls him Simon Peter or simply Peter.
- however Jesus calls him only Simon or the Lord addresses John & James‘ friend rather formally as: Simon son of Jonas.
  - Could Jesus also be reminding the Disciples of His many prophesies connecting His Resurrection to the Prophet Jonah?
Note what Jesus asks Simon, yet note subtle differences in Simon’s responses which show the depth of wounds of Peter’s guilt before he understands Jesus’ tender requests.

(Again recall that John tells this to readers who already know that Peter has died for his faith in Jesus.)

Jesus’ questions to Simon Peter

English also clouds our understanding of overlapping Greek meanings of love.
1. “Simon, son of John, do you [e] love Me more than these?”
2. “Simon, son of John, do you [g] love Me?”
3. “Simon, son of John, do you [i] love Me?”
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[notes] Here is an instance where NASB & other notes may help.
See the Greek text referenced below.
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1. ἀγαπάω – agapaō – Strong’s G25
  - egō polys hoytos
2. ἀγαπάω – agapaō – Strong’s G25
  - egō
3. φιλεῖς – phileō – Strong’s G5368
  - egō
Three similar questions to Simon from Jesus in John 21: v.15, v.16 & v.17, but not quite the same.
- Do you agapaō me more than these?
- Do you agapaō me? (No comparison this time to the six Disciples who came to shore in the boat with the fish.)
- Do you phileō me?
Is your, “yes Lord” really your “yes?”
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Let's move on to Simon's responses. (Will his responses match?)
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1. “Yes, Lord; You know that I [phileō] love You.”
  - Jesus had asked, “Do you agapaō Me more than these?”
  - Do you [love] Me more than these (six) Disciples love Me?
  - Simon only confirms his phileō for Jesus.
2. “Yes, Lord; You know that I [phileō] love You.”
  - Jesus now focuses on Simon asking simply, “Do you agapaō me?”
  - Simon simply repeats his previous response of “I [phileō] You.”
3. “Lord, You know all things; You know that I [phileō] love You.”
  - Jesus has already asked Simon, “Do you [agapaō] me?”
  - Simon had twice responded, “I [phileō] You.”
  - Perhaps to contrast Simon’s answers to His other two questions the Lord now asks him, “Do you [phileō] me?
What does Jesus mean by “love?”

Having some understanding of the Greek words for LOVE is a pre-requisite for our 21st century understanding.

Let’s begin with Simon Peter’s answer to Jesus.

phileō love:

It is the verb meaning:
- to approve of, like, sanction, treat affectionately or kindly,
- to welcome, befriend
Are you only this to Jesus?

To your fellow followers of Christ who also call Him Lord is your witness mere approval of Jesus?

‘What a ‘friend’ we have in Jesus,‘ we once sang.
- Is that what the Lord asks of Simon Peter?
- Is Christ not so much more than ‘a friend’ to those who follow Him?
‘..All our sins and griefs to bear!” continues the old hymn proclaiming Jesus a friend, but urging us to take everything to God in prayer.

Simon has just witnessed Jesus’ Sacrifice for our sins on the Cross.
- What friend can bear your sins other than Jesus?
“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
John 15:13 KJV – Jesus proclaiming His own death to the Disciples, of agapē love

Simon Peter, once again emboldened by Jesus resurrection, offers no rock of confidence in his measured response to His Lord and Savior.

Jesus was not asking Simon Peter for his renewed friendship. So what was the Lord asking him?

agapē love:

It is the noun for:
- affection, good will, benevolence, brotherly love,
- charity or a feast of charitability (like a generous family meal of Thanksgiving),
All active, rather than passive acceptance of another. Jesus first question asks Peter to stand firm in His love of their friends.

Jesus asks in effect,

“Do you think (Simon), that because you greeted Me first (perhaps with an expected kiss of phileō just as Judas Iscariot had in Gethsemane), — do you therefore believe that you agapē Me more that those who did not jump from your boat to reach Me first?

(And recall what John had witnessed of Peter when they first ran to the empty tomb.) Peter lost that physical race with John, but it did not matter who was first or who came to Jesus last. What did matter was the Lord’s commands.

On the night in which He was betrayed Jesus gave them a new command.

In case you missed it, Church..

from earlier in our series on the Gospel of John, April 29, 2020 A.D.

John 13:

33 “Little children, I am still with you a little longer…

(It is this same endearing greeting of their Master the Disciples have just heard from Peter’s boat.)

34 “I am giving you a new commandment, that you love one another; just as I have loved you, that you also love one another.
- Which LOVE do you suppose Jesus uses in this NEW COMMANDMENT to the Disciples?
agapaō:

It is the verb root of agapē love. Yet its own root may also share in actions associated with the verb phileō. (We won’t take time to dwell on this.)
- of persons
  - to welcome, to entertain, to be fond of, to love dearly
- of things
  - to be well pleased, to be contented at or with a thing
Three times Jesus uses agapaō in His New Commandment to the Apostles and then the Lord continues by applying agapē love as evidence to others that these are His disciples.

“By this all people will know that you are My disciples: if you have love for one another.”
John 13:35 – The New Command of Jesus – agapē

Jesus’ New Commands to Simon Peter

We have examined with some detail the context of Jesus’ questions to Simon that John witnesses in his Good News to believers long after Peter’s own death.

NEXT: We will continue in John 21 with the Lord’s Commands to Peter and hear John’s empathy for Peter shared with saints of the 1st century A.D. Church.
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To be continued...
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December 17, 2020