Those who love Jesus will keep his commandments.

The words Jesus speaks come from his Father (God) who sent him.

After he leaves this earth, God will send the Holy Spirit to remind his disciples of everything Jesus has told them.

Jesus grants peace to those who follow him and encourages us not to allow our hearts to be afraid or troubled by the cares of this world.

But how can not caring about the world and its people square with Jesus’ constant emphasis on love and unselfish giving?

He was probably talking in a spiritual sense of being ‘in the world but not of it’. The practical challenge for Christians is to do our best at anything to which we set our hand without losing sight of eternal things, which are ultimately more important.

Finally, Jesus acknowledged his obedience to God, humbling himself to the point of death on a cross.

The rest, as the saying goes, is history (cf. Philippians 2:9-11) – which is still ongoing and in which we are all called to play our part.

Philip Eldridge