"Now when Jesus Christ came among men, He found them nearly all revolving in one circle. There was but one center to human life – Self. Mattered not whether it was the merchant peddling his wares, the king in the palace, the thief by the road, or the priest in the temple. Man’s chief end was to glorify himself and enjoy himself forever. Then, as now, by the all but unanimous consensus of the people, this present life and this present world were sanctioned as the legitimate object of all man’s effort and energy. By the whole gravitation of society, Jesus – as a man – must have been drawn to the very verge of this vast vortex of self-indulgence, personal ease and pleasure, which had sucked in the populations of the world since that fateful day in Eden. But He stepped back. He refused absolutely to be attracted. He put everything out of His life that had even a temptation in it to the world’s center. He humbled Himself – there is no place in the world’s vortex for humbleness. He emptied Himself – gravitation cannot act on emptiness. He became of no reputation – there is no place in the world for namelessness. So the prince of this world came, but found nothing in Him. He found nothing because the true center of Christ’s life was not to be seen. It was with God. The unseen and the eternal moved Him. He did not seek His own happiness or gain, but only THE WILL OF THE FATHER. He went about doing good. His object in going about was not gain, but to do good."

https://www.godfire.net/eby/Echoes/echoes03.htm