John 18:1-14 When Jesus had spoken these words, he went forth with his disciples over the brook Cedron, where was a garden… Jesus went "over the brook Cedron." I. IN THE MIDNIGHT AND ALONE. The disciples were with Him; but He was none the less alone for that. They did not share His purpose, or understand it; He always trod the wine-press alone. Sooner or later, every one who helps this race of ours must cross a Cedron with a Gethsemane beyond it; and this he will probably have to do in the midnight and unattended, in the soberness of a secret unshared. II. UNDER PRESSURE OF A PROFOUND AND INTELLIGENT CONVICTION, He once told His disciples: "I know whence I came, and whither I go." His life was fashioned on a purpose. This is always essential to great achievement. An aged captain once said:" Where I could not be honest, I was never valiant." No man can ever do a worthy deed, who has not a conviction bestowed by his God. III. DIRECTLY AFTER IMFORTUNATE PRAYER. No supplication ever left human lips so intense as that final intercession. He was going to His Father. Through the garden, the judgment-hall, Calvary, the grave, the mountain, the sky, He kept going to His Father. And it was the prayer that lifted Him; and He kept praying, and He is praying now at the Father's right hand. IV. IN AN UNWAVERING COURAGE AND AN UNFALTERING TRUST. Why should He fear after a self-surrender so complete? It was His Father's responsibility for an anxious hour of peril and pain; no longer His own any more. Not long after this midnight priests were frightened, Judas dead, Roman guards prostrate, Satan baffled, the grave rended, the earth trembling, the skies parted, heaven ringing with triumph because of the Prince returned to His Father's love, and shining with glory. Oh ye who pause frightened and irresolute upon the brink of your Cedron, think of this Lord of ours in His dauntless decision then! Via crucis, via lucia! The call of duty is unyielding; but the reward of duty is reached when He, who went "over the brook Cedron" that night, says to you and me, "Well done." (C. S. Robinson, 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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