Paul put down his pen. Rubbed his temples. The pain kept getting worse. The sleepless nights were felt. Endless meetings. Conversations. Controversies. There was no time to eat. Sometimes there was nothing to eat. Without sleep. And the news from Corinth brought deep sadness instead of the expected joy. Paul took a deep breath. Wiped away the tears. Prayers. And an anxious pounding in the chest. Corinth, Corinth!
The peoplewho gathered were very different. As they say, every creature in pairs. The traders were there and the teachers. Housewives and prostitutes. Sailors and infantrymen. They brought with them all their rich life experience. Each thought of himself as a strategist. Everyone knew exactly how to act. On the one hand, no one recognized any authority, but on the other hand, everyone was his own authority. The novelty that attracted more and more people to the church soon wore off. The characters of the people stood out more clearly, revealing the carnal truth. And the truth was bitter. The divided congregation waged war among themselves, competing in eloquence and proving their superiority with miraculous gifts—unintelligible speeches that sounded like the language of angels. Behind these outwardly very spiritual phenomena, it was no longer possible to hide carnal character, strife and nepotism. In the absence of spiritual guidance, conflicts began to increase in families. While the men, as is often the case, pondered over who was more spiritual, the women began to set things in order. Some returned to the temples they knew from childhood, to the idols of their ancestors.
Paul seemed to see the faces of his brothers and sisters. Dear and sweet united family united by the Blood of Christ. As if together with them he breaks the bread – the Body of the Lord, trembling with his whole being from the consciousness of the agony of death, from the horror of abandonment that Jesus experienced on the cross. And receiving the cup, not wine at all and not an earthen vessel, but the cup of sorrow, suffering and human sins, receiving it together with the Church and Jesus the atonement of His New Blood Testament, united in Him into an invisible body…
How can they do that?! How can they not love their brothers? Don’t you love church? Don’t you love Jesus?
Love! This is important! Love! And without love, everything is meaningless. Neither miracles nor tongues are worth anything. Nothing is worth anything without love! It was like a volcano that exploded in Paul’s heart. Love appeared as a bundle of virtues that has no hint of garbage, rottenness or corruption. Compilation of Perfection.
Love does not boast, it is not proud
What does boasting mean? “Boast – to become proud, haughty and arrogant.” We can say that boasting and pride are synonymous. Elevating others is a natural manifestation of pride. The holy law of God condemns both pride and arrogance equally. I observe that these evils are often increased by the flattering of the humblest flatterers, the saints, for flattery, as you know, is the great weapon of the evil one. Lev Tolstoy said this: “If the enemy would want to destroy a person, instead of getting him drunk, he would praise him.” Flattery is the other side of arrogance and pride, but in fact it is the same vice.
In the pages of the Bible, there are many terrible stories of children rebelling against their parents, brother against brother, man against man, and all these bloody and deadly battles are caused by the passionate desire of one man to elevate himself above another. The history of human civilization is actually a rise to power, might, superiority, which step by step throws the world into the abyss of hell. And now the world has become a hostage in the hands of these raging people, for whom the passion for aggrandizement has become an obsession, and who are ready to turn the earth into nuclear ash just to prove their superiority. The roar of guns has become familiar to the inhabitants of the land. The fires of war that consume thousands of people do not inspire awe or fear. Monuments to the victors are erected over the graves of the slain, which turn the murderers into heroes and awaken a passion for exaltation in more and more people. For a medal, for a line in the news, for a letter on a tombstone, columns of murderers go, sowing death, accompanied by the sound of flatterers, which incites pride. The pride of a damaged minds paint false pictures of possible victories. But God’s Word says, “Pride goes before destruction, and haughtiness before a fall.” (Proverbs 16:18) And again: “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” This revelation clearly shows that proud people are God’s enemies.
Love does not boast, it is not proud
Boasting is characteristic of little and bustling creatures. Boasting, like pride, is a struggle and a competition. The passion for aggrandizement is really a low and vile passion. It is the desire to crush the neighbor. Humiliate him. Emphasizing his lowly position. So a cruel tyrant, demonstrating his power in every possible way, oppresses his subjects. So in the office, among employees, in the fight for the first place, recognition, reward, title, the petty nature “rises up”. “Me!” he exclaims inappropriately and at an inopportune moment, declaring his importance over and over again floating his superiority over colleagues. And where is the place for love? There is no place even for friendship, here jealousy, betrayal and deception reign.
Bossy yelling within the family, pretensions with the aim of achieving superiority destroys the love of spouses. The exaltation of a proud heart breaks family ties, turning the fireplace of love with the menacing hiss of former lovers into a snake nest. Even the church people, whose walls and pictures, posters and lips have the name of Christ, succumb to this passion of pride. And now the timid attempt to publicly honor one’s parents has been replaced by a mandatory and vile hierarchy. Rulers appeared. Fathers. Eminences. His holiness. And tributes. And kissing hands. There is a hierarchy. There are tributes. But the love is gone. But all this without love is like a sound of brass. Without love there is nothing. The Scriptures invite us to understand and feel the love of Christ: “…and know the love of Christ, which surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God” (Eph 3:19).
I try to find at least a hint of boasting in Jesus. Wanting to know and understand the love of Christ, I follow Jesus in the pages of the Gospel. He humiliated himself. He didn’t scream. Like a sheep, He was led to the slaughter. And in arguments. And in detention. And when false oaths were spoken against Him. And during whipping. And on the cross. There wasn’t even a hint of boasting in Him. None! “Oh, a perfect picture of love and purity! Savior! Humble King! You are my eternal role model!” – we sing with all our hearts.
If boasting is considered a negative quality, then humiliation becomes a positive. But the very idea that humiliation is a highly moral quality creates resistance in the soul. The humiliated does not command respect. The humiliated does not even evoke sympathy. “Am I a trembling creature, or am I right?” – the well-known antithesis, which has become a classic, does not even cause controversy. The conclusion comes naturally. Who in their right mind would give up their rights? Who agrees to be demoted? And now the ax has already been raised above the old lady’s head. And the proud man rises to his full height, the indignant mind boils, and the brother’s hand raises a stone against his brother.
I was thinking. History is ancient. Cain – Abel. Two brothers. One winner. Another loser. One is alive. Another is killed. Who would I rather be? Honestly. I know it’s just an imagination. A tough choice. Abel pleased God! God accepted his sacrifice, in fact he approved his life and ministry. Oh! This is a brilliant definition. I would like to receive God’s approval. But Abel is dead. But could Abel do anything to protect himself? I could bring a gun with me, just in case.
Love does not boast, it is not proud
So love humbles itself? Is love willing to be scorned? There is a dilemma here. It is clear that pride and boasting are not very moral qualities. But admitting that humiliation is a virtue, how is that possible?! How can you agree to suffer injustice and slander?!
“My angry mind boils and I am ready to fight to the death” … Oh, what am I? This is pride and boasting. Pride wrapped in the dress of piety. He reminded: “Know that in the last days difficult times will come. Because people are self-loving, money-loving, proud, arrogant, they appear to be pious but deny its power.”
No, it doesn’t work that way. I return to Jesus. His beloved disciple left us this immortal sentence: “Before the Passover, knowing that His hour had come to depart from this world to the Father, Jesus showed by His actions that, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end” (John 13:1 ). Demonstrated it in practice… His love is independent of circumstances. Timeless. Until the end means until the last moment, until the last breath. And He just—washed the disciples’ feet.
Love doesn’t boast. There is no rejection in love. There is no humiliation in love. “You call me Master and Lord, and you speak rightly, for I am He. So, if I, the Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you must also wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you” (John 13:13-15).
And does not turn away from suffering. And does not say disparaging words with contempt. And does not walk past the victim. Love does not boast means that love serves regardless of faces. “Do as I have done to you!” is the commandment of the Lord.
We hear a lot of good advice. But often mentors teach one thing but live another way. Here Jesus is the unsurpassed Teacher. He showed it in practice! His life is an act of love! A life worth living. But here is death! Such an end cannot be imagined. Just terrible! He served everyone. He did good deeds. Healed. Fed. Didn’t claim anything. Didn’t build a house. Didn’t make a career. Friends also left Him. And the enemies mocked with all their heart, laughed at Him as they could, and finally condemned Him to the cross of shame. You wouldn’t wish that kind of ending on your enemy either. What is the reward of humble love?
Years have passed. Centuries. And now we have a Pilate here. A coward. Despicable person. The priests who accused Jesus. Liars and careerists. A miniature world. Cross. The crowd. And above all, the focus of this passion is Jesus. Above time, which is vile and vain – Jesus, exalted by the Father. Above betrayal, above lust for power – Jesus, pure, humble, who went from the cross to the Father. Above the death of our false ideals is Jesus, the ideal of love, who asks the Father for forgiveness for us, the slaves of sin.
Pilate’s exaltation turned to shame.
The humiliation of Jesus, the unquenchable light of life!
Amen!
Author: Yurii Sipko.
Source: Любовь не превозносится, не гордится… , Eвангельские проповеди (ysipko.ru)
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