PAUSE — for a moment — & look out over the Kidron Valley as the Disciples would have done when Jesus led them from the Holy of Holies in an upper room in Jerusalem to their quiet gathering place at Gethsemane.
Toward Gethsemane
When Jesus had spoken these words, he went forth with his disciples over the brook Cedron, where was a garden, into the which he entered, and his disciples.
John 18:1 KJV
Toward Gethsemane
In the previous few chapters John sums up for us what Jesus had done which leads right up to this moment and will bring us to the Cross.
Now — after just three years of teaching, ministry and miracles — our timeline of witness of the Son of Man compresses into just hours and occasionally into excruciating detail of the last minutes of our Lord’s mortal life.
Let us tarry here for just a while in just this first verse of John 18; for we often view the events leading up to the crucifixion of Christ Jesus much too quickly.
First, in context of John 13-17
It all took place in one day (if you think of in contemporary terms).
From their last time entering Jerusalem with Jesus to returning to it now in the darkness of the same night, John and the ten faithful will follow in fear. These faithful Disciples will now be separated from the prisoner of sin’s Sacrifice, Jesus, who was betrayed by one of their own. Soon the Disciples will into the accusers court of consequence and rejection by the world.
Earlier this evening…
The Lord’s Supper
John 13: Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. During supper, the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, to betray Him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come forth from God and was going back to God…
- Jesus washes the Disciples feet
- The Disciples conversation leads Peter to ask John to ask Jesus for more information about which one will betray our Lord
- Judas leaves to betray Jesus
- The Lord promises the Holy Spirit to disciples who will love Him
- Jesus uses the vine and the branches to connect Father, Son and Holy Spirit to disciples of the Lord Jesus.
- Jesus again tells of His death and resurrection
ALL THIS — on the night on which He was betrayed and prior to leaving the upper room in Jerusalem with His friends.
And in addition to this, after Jesus had taken the cup and the bread, sharing a new covenant with the Disciples, our Lord intervenes as a Perfect High Priest for us in prayer.
Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, “Father, the hour has come…
I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do.
John 17: excerpt from Jesus’ High Priestly prayer
“I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word..
John 17:20 NASB
24 “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, so that they will see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the world’s foundation.
Jesus will later reveal to John and the church much more about this mysterious glory He has willed to those God loved before creation and forever.
From Blessing to the place of Personal Prayer
Jesus, followed by just eleven Apostles
— Jesus, who humbly washed their feet — Jesus, who shared the cup and bread of the new covenant with them
— Jesus, who brought them into the Holy of Holies
— this same Christ,
their beloved friend and Master,
emerging from a Last Supper now completed opens the door and descends some stairs followed by His Disciples.
Jesus then leads them past Jerusalem’s guarded gates, exiting down a path into the Kidron Valley toward a familiar garden where they could gather one last time — a garden known as Gethsemane.
After Jesus had said these things, he went out with his disciples across the Kidron Valley, where there was a garden, and he and his disciples went into it.
John 18:1 CSB
To be continued...
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