Jesus grew up and lived as a young man ‘in the Jewish homeland under Roman occupation,’ during the era of ‘postexilic Judaism.’ He was steeped in the traditions and practices of mature Jewish religious faith, shaped by the vision of the Law and the Prophets — that sweeping understanding of a good world, plagued by evil yet existing wholly under the dominion of God, where goodness, life, and love lie at the centre of the universe.

Because Jesus reigns over all in the kingdom of God, death itself may be faced with calm assurance (Luke 12:4; John 8:51).

All the above grounds and reinforces a striking conviction: that radical self-denial is the true path to genuine and lasting joy (Heb 12:2).