John 18:1-14 When Jesus had spoken these words, he went forth with his disciples over the brook Cedron, where was a garden… I. THE MORAL MAJESTY OF RIGHT. This is seen in two particulars. 1. In the heroic manner in which Christ, single handed, met His enemies. Jesus, instead of fleeing, or manifesting the slightest purturbation, goes forth magnanimously to meet them. 2. In His tender consideration for His friends. "Touch not Mine anointed." The question comes up, What was it that made Jesus so calm and powerful in this terrible hour? (1) It was not ignorance of His perilous position. (2) It was not stoical insensibility. (3) It was the consciousness of rectitude. II. THE MORAL FORCE OF RIGHT. The incident is not necessarily miraculous, because — 1. Christ's miracles were, with one exception, miracles of mercy. 2. We never find Him elsewhere putting forth His hand to resist. 3. It is not necessary to account for this phenomenon, for — (1) Violent and sudden emotions always tend to check the current of life. (2) These men must have known that they were doing wrong, and this ever makes men timid. "Conscience doth make cowards of us all." (3) They expected resistance, and so were taken aback. It was the force of right that struck them down. Learn then — (a) The supreme importance of being right. This gives value to everything else. Apart from this, wealth, social influence, life itself, are worthless. Our great want is a "right spirit within us."(b) The Divine method of promoting right. How are men to feel its power? Not by force, but by a calm display of itself. (c) The ultimate triumph of right. The incident prefigures this. Right is Divine might, and the wrong in science, literature, government, religion, must fall before it. (d) The folly of opposing the right. Priests' opinions may rise up against it, intrigue and violence may be employed to put it down; but the triumphal Car of Right must roll over the dust of the Herods, Neroes, &c., of the world. (D. Thomas, 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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