John 18:1-14 When Jesus had spoken these words, he went forth with his disciples over the brook Cedron, where was a garden… (Text and 2 Samuel 15:23): — 1. On the eastern side of Italy there is a pretty stream called the Rubicon, falling into the Adriatic. This insignificant river has acquired a name in history and a place among the proverbs of mankind. When Caesar came with his army to its bank, he hesitated and said to his officers, "We can even yet draw back; but if we cross that stream, all must be decided by the sword." The night was passed in anxious deliberation, and at daybreak the legend says, a majestic form appeared to him playing on a flute. As the soldiers drew near, the angel snatched from one of them a trumpet, blew the signal for advance, and then plunged into the river. "The die is cast!" With that exclamation, Caesar boldly passed over the stream followed by his army. That was the decisive act which led to victory and the dictatorship of the Republic. 2. But long ages before we read of an older Rubicon, the crossing of which led to results more momentous. On the morning of the fatal day when Absalom seized the kingdom David passed over Cedron. "Cedron" means blackness or sadness. Some human tragedy must have left its impress upon it. When David passed over it he became a different man. It marked the crisis of his life. He bade adieu for ever to light-heartedness. A broken-hearted, sorrow-stricken man, he went down to the grave. But his inner life became tenderer and more beautiful. 3. And what happened to David happened to David's Son more than one thousand years after. The decisive moment came to Jesus when He passed over Cedron. He was no longer the great Teacher, but the great Sacrifice. 4. In every human life there is a Rubicon to cross, a critical moment in which we have to pass from the old life to the new. It will come in the shape of temptation, sorrow or change, and the way in which this crowning trial will be met will be determined by the training previously received. The best preparation is wrestling with God in prayer like our Lord. (H. Macmillan, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: 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. |
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