John 18:1

GETHSEMANE

‘Jesus … went forth with His disciples over the brook Cedron, where was a garden.’

John 18:1

I. Sorrow experienced.—The agony and bloody sweat (Matthew 26:36; Luke 22:44).

II. Indignity suffered.—The traitor’s kiss (Matthew 26:49) and the soldiers’ assault (John 18:3; John 18:12).

III. Majesty displayed.—Christ’s advance towards the band (John 18:4) and announcement of Himself (John 18:5).

IV. Power exerted.—The hurling of the band to the ground (John 18:6) and the restraining of them while the disciples escaped (John 18:8).

V. Love manifested.—Christ’s care for His own. ‘Let these go their way’ (John 18:8).

VI. Mercy extended.—The healing of the servant’s ear (Luke 22:51).

VII. Submission rendered.—The drinking of the Father’s cup (John 18:11).

Illustration

‘A great painter, who painted the Man of Sorrows, as an act of the highest worship, showed at once his genius and his reverence by hiding the marred visage, leaving the less noble parts to reveal the agony that had broken His heart. So to us Gethsemane ought ever to be a veiled holy of holies, to be visited, if at all, only at moments when we can look with purified eyes, and allow the meaning of the Saviour in His Passion to steal softly into our minds. We are here on holy ground, and must stand, as it were, in spirit, bareheaded and barefooted, reverent while inquiring.’

(SECOND OUTLINE)

THE SHADOWED GARDEN

From Bethlehem to Calvary Christ’s way was one long Via Dolorosa—the shadow of the Cross was flung before each onward step—but here is agony and bloody sweat indeed, and we may well believe that

‘Weeping angels stood confounded

To behold their Maker thus.’

I. Gethsemane speaks to those who have been led by grace to feel the sinfulness of sin.—It is here and at the Cross that we do indeed see sin in its true colours. Here we see the sinless Christ bowed down with horror to the ground—no sorrow is like unto His sorrow—exceeding great and bitter are His cries. If He were only an example, a hero, a martyr, He showed less heroism than many a martyr. Socrates, Polycarp, Huss, displayed greater courage. But Christ and His unexampled sorrow, Christ and His unknown agony, what does it all mean? It means that ‘Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us.’ (Galatians 3:13).

II. Gethsemane speaks to the lonely.—It may be you feel desolate and sad. The desire of your eyes has been taken from you, and you are alone. You try to keep up before the world, but often bitter tears fall down your cheeks. Now, if you are a disciple of Jesus, remember the disciple is not above his Master. Go and sit among the shadows of Gethsemane, and as you hear the wind moaning through the trees look around and let your eyes fall on Christ. He was there before you. He knows what it is to be desolate and low. When your heart is overwhelmed think of that prostrate Form beneath the olives of Gethsemane. In His agony your Lord prayed there three several times. And herein He set you an example: Go and pray, for you are never so near Christ as when you are drawing near to Him in prayer. ‘Could you not watch with Him one hour?’ (Matthew 26:40). Go and pray, and you will realise the joy and strength and peace of prayer. Go and pray, and you will know in very deed the Christ of Gethsemane can comfort the lonely and sad. Go and pray, and you will find that what begins in prayer will end in praise.

III. Gethsemane speaks to the tempted.—All God’s children pass through the furnace of temptation; all true gold must feel the fire; all good wheat must be threshed; all diamonds must be cut. But the Lord Jesus is able to sympathise with His tempted people, for ‘He knows what sore temptations mean.’ If you were very ill, would you care to be nursed by one who never felt a thrill of pain? Job’s friends could not comfort him, because they were utterly unable to understand his sufferings. But Christ possesses an ability to succour, arising out of knowledge gained by experience. ‘For in that He Himself hath suffered being tempted, He is able to succour them that are tempted’ (Hebrews 2:18). The Lord Himself knows the power of Satan; and it is a mercy indeed that He has bruised the head of the serpent, and that He will give His children strength to tread on the lion and adder, and to trample the dragon under their feet.

—Rev. F. Harper.

Illustration

‘Oh, what wonders love has done!

But how little understood!

God well knows, and God alone,

What produced that sweat of blood.

Who can thy deep wonders see,

Wonderful Gethsemane?

Here’s my claim, and here alone;

None a Saviour more can need.

Deeds of righteousness I’ve none;

No, not one good work to plead.

Not a glimpse of hope for me,

Only in Gethsemane.

Saviour, all the stone remove

From my flinty, frozen heart;

Thaw it with the beams of love,

Pierce it with a blood-dipped dart.

Wound the heart that wounded Thee,

Melt it in Gethsemane.’