His love was totally free from any of those private, selfish, ulterior motives which invade and spoil our love for God.

He did not come to receive attention, or, as he put it, “…to be served…”; “…but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (RSV, Mark 10:45).

He did not come to win popularity, but to be rejected and condemned to a shameful death by the ruling class and the city mob as one unfit to live among them.

Nor honour and esteem – but the sneers of the chief priests, the insults of the passers-by, and the curses of the dying thief.

Nor riches – he was stripped of what little he had.  Even his clothes were parcelled out as the perquisites of the soldiers on guard.

Nor comfort – his first bed was a manger, his deathbed the Cross.

No, there was no self-love in his love for you.  For remember, it was all for you, and all for love of God in obedience to whom he came to save you.