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John 18:1-11  ARRIVING AT GETHSEMANE

Introduction:
	
	Remember that the Jewish day did not begin at midnight
nor at dawn.  It began in the evening at dusk dark.  It
began about 6:00 o'clock in the evening.  Therefore, the
Jewish Passover began about 6:00 o'clock in the evening.  It
was in the evening after dark when Jesus and His disciples
ate the Passover meal together in one of the homes at
Jerusalem.  The Passover Day would continue throughout the
night and throughout the daylight period which would follow.
It would continue until dusk dark the next evening.  After
Jesus and His disciples finished eating the Passover Supper,
Jesus instituted a new supper, The Lord's Supper.
	After the suppers, they left Jerusalem and walked to Mt.
Olives and to the Garden of Gethsemane.  As they walked
Jesus taught them many things which were designed to help
get them face the trauma of His arrest, His trials and His
crucifixion.
	As they neared the Brook Cedron, Jesus stopped and
prayed aloud in the presence of all His disciples.  He
prayed for Himself.  He prayed for those disciples, who had
accompanied Him for the past three and a half years.  Then He
prayed for those who would become His disciples in the
future.  The entire 17th chapter was used to record this
prayer.
	In our text today Jesus closes out His prayer and enters
into the Garden of Gethsemane where He would be arrested.

I.  Jesus and His disciples arriving at Gethsemane

	V. 1, "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." After
Jesus closed out His prayer, He and His disciples crossed
over the Brook Cedron and entered into a garden which was
located there.  The Brook Cedron was somewhat like some of
the creeks in the western part of the United States.  It was
a swift stream during the wet season, but it was a dry creek
bed during the dry summer season.
	John does not tell us the name of the garden, but other
gospel writers call it "The Garden of Gethsemane."  The
word, Gethsemane, means "olive press." This name was given
because an olive orchard was located at this spot and an
olive press had been built there within the orchard to press
the oil out of the olives.  I understand that there are
still a few olive trees at that spot today, although they
are not likely to be the same trees that were there at the
time Jesus was there.
	John tells us that Jesus and His disciples entered the
garden, but he does not tell us what happened in the garden
while Jesus was waiting for the arresting party to arrive.
From the other gospel writers say that once they were inside
the garden, Jesus took the Apostles Peter, James and John
and went deeper into the Garden.  There He asked Peter,
James and John to watch and pray while He went a still
farther and engaged in prayer alone to the Father.  After
His prayer He came back to the three apostles and found them
sound asleep.  He woke them up and told them again to watch
and pray.  Again He went a short distance farther and
prayed.  Once more when He returned He found them asleep.
For a third time He left them to watch and pray and for the
third time He found them asleep.
	It was also there in the Garden that Jesus became so
emotionally distressed in anticipation of the agony of the
cross that He sweat as it were, great drops of blood.
Doctors tell us that His blood pressure went so high that it
forced blood through the tiny blood vessels underneath the
surface of His skin and that blood actually oozed out
through the pores of His skin.  He was in such a weakened
physical condition that God sent angels to minister to Him
to prevent Him from having a stroke and die before He could
go to the cross.  The angels strengthened Him and revived
Him, because when Judas and the officials came to arrest Him
He was strong and alert.  He was well able to meetthemand be
incontrol of the situation.  John does not mention these
things, but other gospel writers do.

II.  The arrival of Judas and the arresting party

	John begins his account of the Gethsemane event with the
arrival of Judas Iscariot and the arresting party.  V. 2,
"And Judas also, which betrayed him, knew the place: for
Jesus ofttimes resorted thither with his disciples."  The
Jewish officials were afraid to arrest Jesus in public.
They were afraid that they would incite a riot and put their
own lives in danger if they were to arrest Him in public.
So what they wanted was an opportunity to arrest Him away
from the crowds.  The problem was that when He would come
out of the temple He would disappear into the huge crowds
that thronged the streets in the Passover season and they
had been unable to discover where He was staying at night.
	But Jesus had been going to the village of Bethany each
night and on His way to Bethany He would always stop off at
the Garden of Gethsemane for a time of private prayer to God
the Father.  So Judas knew that this was where Jesus and His
disciples would be at this time of the night and this was
where He led the arresting party.
	V. 3, "Judas then, having received a band of men and
officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, cometh
thither with lanterns and torches and weapons."  To get
technical, Judas had gone to the Jewish officials at the
temple and it had, no doubt, been the Jewish officials who
had enlisted the aid of the Roman soldiers to accompany them
along with temple guards and others.
	When this large crowd of men, including Jewish
officials, temple guards, Roman soldiers and Judas Iscariot,
arrived Jesus, of course, knew why they were there.  He knew
that they were there to arrest Him.  Jesus would not resist.
But He did want to make sure that He was the only one whom
they would arrest and that His disciples would not be
arrested.  That is why He handled the situation as He did.
	V. 4, "Jesus therefore, knowing all things that should
come upon him, went forth, and said unto them, Whom seek
ye?"  Instead of waiting for them to find Him, Jesus stepped
out away from His disciples and asked them who they were
looking for.
	V. 5, "They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth.  Jesus
saith unto them, I am he..."  When someone in the group
responded by saying that they were looking for Jesus of
Nazareth Jesus immediately said, "I am He."
	(V. 5), "...And Judas also, which betrayed him, stood
with them."  At the head of the group was Judas Iscariot.
He had led the group all the way and He was right up at the
front right at this time.  He had not only agreed to lead
them to the place where Jesus would be, but he had agreed to
identify Jesus to them by kissing Jesus on the cheek.  In
that day it was common for men who were friends to greet one
another with a kiss.
	John does not mention the kiss at all, but the other
gospel writers inform us that Judas did kiss Jesus on the
cheek to identify Him to the Jewish officials and to the
Roman soldiers.  The Roman soldiers would not know Jesus by
sight and even the Jewish officials might have difficulty
picking Him out at night time --- even on a moonlit night.
	None of the gospel writers give us the time sequence of
the kiss.  I have it pictured in my mind that right about
the time that Jesus told the officials that He is Jesus of
Nazareth, Judas was stepping up to Him to place the betrayal
kiss on His cheeks.  So Jesus was well identified to the
arresting party as the one whom they were looking for.
	But before they could arrest Him, a strange thing took
place.  All of the arresting party fell backward to the
ground.  V.  6, "As soon then as he had said unto them, I am
he, they went backward, and fell to the ground." I can
imagine that they were all stunned.
	They were stunned that some mighty power had knocked
them to the ground.  There was some mighty supernatural
power at work.  The power of God or perhaps the power of
angels knocked them down.  It was enough to give evidence
that if Jesus had not been willing to ber arrested there was
no way in the world that they could have done so.  The power
that knocked them to the ground could have killed them just
as easily.
	But they were all spared and as soon as they were
sufficiently recovered from their shock, they got back up
off the ground.  However, they must not have made any move
to lay hands on Him and  He had to call it totheir attention
that the reason they were there was to arrest Him.  V. 7-8,
"Then asked he them again, Whom seek ye?  And they said,
Jesus of Nazareth.  Jesus answered, I have told you that I
am he..."  It was as if to say, "Well, what are you waiting
for?  I have told you that I am He."
	It was at this point that Jesus made His move to keep
them from arresting His disciples.  (V. 8), "...if therefore
ye seek me, let these go their way."  They could hardly
claim at this point that they were also there to arrest His
disciples.  They had twice sztated that the person whom they
were there to arrest was Jesus of Nazareth.  John does not
say so, but the evidence shows that the officials agreed to
His request because they made no effort to arrest any of the
disciples.
	V. 9, "That the saying might be fulfilled, which he
spake, Of them which thou gavest me have I lost none."  In
His prayer earlier in the night He had told the Father that
He had not lost any of the disciples except Judas, and He
did not intent to start loosing them now.
	There was one of the disciples, however, who came very
close to messing things up.  That disciple was Simon Peter.
V. 10, "Then Simon Peter having a sword drew it, and smote
the high priest's servant, and cut off his right ear.  The
servant's name was Malchus."  Simon Peter drew a sword and
stepped up to one the arresting party and took a swing.
John tells us that he cut of the right ear of the servant of
the high priest.  Someone has said that he really wasn't
aiming at the ear.  They said that Simon Peter was aiming at
his neck intending to cut His head off.  Earlier in this
night He had told Jesus that he was willing to die trying to
defend Jesus and he meant it.
	But what he was doing was not only endangering his own
life, it was endangering the lives of every disciple there.
Simon Peter was no match in a battle with skilled swordsmen
of the Roman army.  Even if he somehow were to manage to
kill a few of them, he was badly outnumbered.  It is a
thousand wonders that the soldiers did not hack him down
instantly.
	But once again, Jesus took action to spare his life and
the lives of the other disciples.  V. 11, "Then said Jesus
unto Peter, Put up thy sword into the sheath: the cup which
my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?"  He quickly
told Simon Peter to put away his sword and He reached down
and picked up the man's ear and miraculously put back on his
head as though it had never been chopped off.  This quick
miracle performed by Jesus saved the life of Simon Peter and
the other disciples.  They likely would have all been killed
on the spot.  But Jesus spared their lives.

III.  Our own arrival at Gethsemane

	Today as we sit in this congregation we cannot arrive at
Gethsemane, at least not bodily and physically.  But we can
go there in our minds through the teaching of God's holy
word.  We can go there and witness the things that were
done.  We can go there and hear the things that were said.
	Listen, there is so very much about what Jesus said and
did that we can admire so very much!  We can admire the
great calmness with which He dealt with the situation.  He
did not panic.  He did not run.  He did not plead for mercy.
He did not plead His innocence.  He did not use His mighty
powers to deliver Himself from their grasps.  He did not
seek in any way to hinder or prevent His arrest.  He calmly
willingly submitted to them so that they could arrest Him.
We could admire such bravery and such poise even if He had
been a bad man.
	But we can admire Him all the more in that He was an
innocent man.  He had wronged no man.  He had broken no law.
He had broken no law of man nor law of God.  He was totally
innocent.  He was not worthy of arrest nor trial nor
punishment of any kind.
	Yet He willing yielded Himself to these men, even
identifying Himself to them so that they could know beyond
any reasonable doubt that He was the man whom they had come
to arrest.
	But we have so much more than admiration for Jesus.  We
have thankfulness and gratitude.  You see if Jesus had not
submitted Himself to be arrested and crucified, then we
would have no possibility of being forgiven of our sins.
There would be no way in this world that we could ever be
cleansed from our sins.  There would be no way that we would
ever make it to heaven.  We would never receive one ounce of
mercy from God.  We would have to give account for our every
sin and be punished in eternity for every sin.
	We should not only have admiration for Jesus and
thankfulness for Jesus, but we should have love for Jesus.
We should love the Lord with all our heart, with all of our
soul and with all of our mind.  We should be willing to
worship Him and serve Him as He was willing to die for us.
We should be willing to show up every week for every worship
service.  We should be willing to sacrifice our time and our
efforts in service to Him as He was willing to sacrifice His
life for us.  We should be willing to use our hands and our
feet in His service as He was willing for His hands and His
feet to be pierced for us.

Conclusion:
	
	Listen, I may be speaking to someone here today who is
not yet saved and not prepared to go out of this world into
eternity.  If so, then I am calling upon you to place your
faith in Jesus Christ who willingly went the cross for you
in order that you may spend eternity with God in heaven.
	I am going to ask you to turn to Him and trust your
eternal destiny in His hands.  Turn to Him now.  Call on Him
now.  Ask Him right now to save your soul.  Trust in Him
right now.  He has promised to save you if you will trust
Him.  Will you trust Him right now in this service?  Will
you come and place your destiny in His hands?
	I am also going to ask every Christian who needs to make
some public move this morning to come.  Maybe it is to
rededicate your life to Jesus.  Maybe it is to place your
membership here.  Maybe it is to surrender to a special
call.  Will you come and place your life here in this world
in His hands?