will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:6, 7). In the context of the Farewell Discourse, however, Jesus’ encouragement to the disciples is designed to meet a specific situation. Not only have the painful incidents of the Last Supper—the footwashing, the departure of Judas, the prediction of Peter’s cowardice—caused malaise in these men; worse, Jesus has specifically told them he is about to go away and leave them. “My children,” he said, “I will be with you only a little longer.
Pages 19–20