I was recently asked to speak at a church where a deep internal rift had grown much faster and bigger than anyone realized. The Sunday before I spoke, there was a congregational meeting where everything polarized and lines of division emerged.

I did not relish my task, but felt the assignment was from God. My strategy, which I likewise felt was from God, was to clearly present and apply the many “one another” verses in Scripture. I culminated those passages into a crescendo using 1 Corinthians 13:4-8.

I have been around many churches experiencing similar difficulties; it’s always strange to me to see how often people will sacrifice their integrity just to be seen as right! This is a huge but common paradox every Christian must learn to handle in a Christlike fashion!

Study the Text
I encourage you to thoroughly read the text, Luke 23:32-47. Jot down every time someone verbally or physically abuses Jesus. Picture the events in your mind’s eye. Hear those involved making their vicious allegations, and the crowd whispering in the background. Feel the sting of the sweat in Jesus’ eyes and the incredible pain searing his back! (Close your eyes now and imagine what took place.)

At this point Jesus was in incredible physical anguish. I don’t know how he could even think straight. In meditating on the text, you can almost taste his humiliation. Despite living a perfect sinless life, Jesus was feeling as much disgrace as any human being can experience!

Leading up to this, he was humiliated by the chief priests who called for his death and handed him over to Pilate. Insult was added to injury when Pilate gave a “no-brainer” option of releasing Barabbas or Jesus, but the people chose to release Barabbas. The scourging made a mockery of him physically and surely took a huge emotional toll.

The crowds taunted as he was led to the place of The Skull. The rulers sneered as the execution took place. One of the criminals who was crucified with him even mocked him twice, as did the soldiers. Who can imagine the whispering that raged throughout the crowd or the evil thoughts nobody even dared to speak?

Every ounce of emotion and pain Jesus was feeling was unjust, unfair, and wrong! He deserved worship but was receiving the worst venom society could give. He had every right to answer every accusation and could have done so by simply giving the people what they were asking for. Talk about temptation!

How did Jesus overcome this? He chose to overlook his undeserved humiliation for the sake of the integrity of his mission! He chose to willingly lay aside his rights. He kept his focus on the bigger picture, and chose to accept humiliation for the sake of fulfilling God’s bigger plan.

Think About Yourself
Churches, families, and communities are filled with imperfect people. It is very easy to spiritually justify removing a speck from someone else’s eye while missing our own planks of imperfection.

Throughout his 33 years, Jesus never had a speck, let alone a plank, in his eyes. Yet, even under tremendous pain, verbal abuse, and worst of all, humiliation, he did not sacrifice his mission and its integrity to prove his righteousness!

The lesson I see in this passage is to lay aside our rights, even if it means humiliation, for God’s higher purposes. This usually occurs for the sake of relationships. Earlier I mentioned challenging people not to sacrifice their integrity for the sake of seeming right. Read 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 again and learn how Jesus overcame this temptation.

Now reread those verses and substitute Jesus’ name for the words love or it. One can quickly see the perfect fit, and why the Scriptures say, “God is love.”

After you have done the above, please read this passage a third time. Now put your name in place of the word love. When we put our name in the blanks we are confronted by our failings.

This exercise and mirror of Scripture will help us understand this passage better—how Jesus could willingly accept such humiliation and pain. It will also help us identify our shortcomings and areas where our love needs to grow. Then we can follow Jesus’ example and accept suffering, humiliation, and even pain for the sake of God’s higher calling!