John 18 commentary

JOHN 18 COMMENTARY
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
Jesus Arrested
1 When he had finished praying, Jesus left with
his disciples and crossed the Kidron Valley. On
the other side there was a garden, and he and
his disciples went into it.
BARNES, "The brook Cedron - This was a small stream that flowed to the east
of Jerusalem, through the valley of Jehoshaphat, and divided the city from the
Mount of Olives. It was also called Kidron and Kedron. In summer it is almost dry.
The word used here by the evangelist - χειµάሜምου cheimarrou - denotes properly a
water-stream (from χεሏρµα cheimōn, shower or water, and ምέω reō, ምόος roos, to
flow, flowing), and the idea is that of a stream that was swollen by rain or by the
melting of the snow (Passow, Lexicon). This small rivulet runs along on the east of
Jerusalem until it is joined by the water of the pool of Siloam, and the water that
flows down on the west side of the city through the valley of Jehoshaphat, and then
goes off in a southeast direction to the Dead Sea. (See the map of the environs of
Jerusalem.) Over this brook David passed when he fled from Absalom, 2Sa_15:23. It
is often mentioned in the Old Testament, 1Ki_15:13; 2Ch_15:16; 2Ch_30:14; 2Ki_
23:6, 2Ki_23:12.
Where was a garden - On the west side of the Mount of Olives. This was called
Gethsemane. See the notes at Mat_26:36. It is probable that this was the property of
some wealthy man in Jerusalem - perhaps some friend of the Saviour. It was
customary for the rich in great cities to have country-seats in the vicinity. This, it
seems, was so accessible that Jesus was accustomed to visit it, and yet so retired as to
be a suitable place for devotion.
CLARKE, "Over the brook Cedron - Having finished the prayer related in the
preceding chapter, our Lord went straight to the garden of Gethsemane, Mat_26:36,
which was in the mount of Olives, eastward of Jerusalem. This mount was separated
from the city by a very narrow valley, through the midst of which the brook Cedron
ran: see 1 Maccabees 12:37; Joseph. War, b. v. c. 2, s. 3. xii. 2. Cedron is a very small
rivulet, about six or seven feet broad, nor is it constantly supplied with water, being
dry all the year, except during the rains. It is mentioned in the Old Testament: 2Sa_
15:23; 1Ki_15:13; 2Ki_23:4. And it appears the evangelist only mentions it here to
call to remembrance what happened to David, when he was driven from Jerusalem
by his son Absalom, and he and his followers obliged to pass the brook Cedron on
1

foot: see 2Sa_15:23. All this was a very expressive figure of what happened now to
this second David, by the treachery of one of his own disciples. This brook had its
name probably from ‫קדר‬ Kadar, he was black; it being the place into which the blood
of the sacrifices, and other filth of the city, ran. It was rather, says Lightfoot, the sink,
or the common sewer, of the city, than a brook. Some copyists, mistaking Κεδρων for
Greek, have changed του into των, and thus have written των Κεδρων, of cedars,
instead of του Κεδρων, the brook of Cedron: but this last is undoubtedly the genuine
reading.
A garden - Gethsemane: see on Mat_26:36 (note).
The Jewish grandees had their gardens and pleasure grounds without the city even
in the mount of Olives. This is still a common custom among the Asiatics.
St. John mentions nothing of the agony in the garden; probably because he found
it so amply related by all the other evangelists. As that account should come in here,
the reader is desired to consult the notes on Mat_26:36-47 (note). See also Mar_
14:30-36 (note), and Luk_22:40-44 (note).
GILL, "When Jesus had spoken these words,.... Referring either to his
discourses in Joh_14:1, in which he acquaints his disciples with his approaching
death; comforts them under the sorrowful apprehension of his departure from them;
gives them many excellent promises for their relief, and very wholesome advice how
to conduct themselves; lets them know what should befall them, and that things,
however distressing for the present, would have a joyful issue: or else to his prayer in
the preceding chapter, in which he had been very importunate with his Father, both
for himself and his disciples; or to both of these, which is highly probable:
he went forth with his disciples over the brook Cedron; the same with
"Kidron" in 2Sa_15:23; and elsewhere: it had its name, not from cedars, for not
cedars but olives chiefly grew upon the mount, which was near it; and besides the
name is not Greek, but Hebrew, though the Arabic version renders it, "the brook" ‫אל‬
‫,ארז‬ "of Cedar": it had its name either from the darkness of the valley in which it ran,
being between high mountains, and having gardens in it, and set with trees; or from
the blackness of the water through the soil that ran into it, being a kind of a common
sewer, into which the Jews cast everything that was unclean and defiling; see 2Ch_
29:16. Particularly there was a canal which led from the altar in the temple to it, by
which the blood and soil of the sacrifices were carried into it (m). This brook was but
about three feet over from bank to bank, and in the summer time was quite dry, and
might be walked over dry shod; and is therefore by Josephus sometimes called the
brook of Kidron (n), and sometimes the valley of Kidron (o): in this valley were corn
fields; for hither the sanhedrim sent their messengers to reap the sheaf of the
firstfruits, which always was to be brought from a place near to Jerusalem (p); and it
is very likely that willows grew by the brook, from whence they might fetch their
willow branches at the feast of tabernacles; for the Jews say (q), there is a place below
Jerusalem called Motza, (in the Gemara it is said to be Klamia or Colonia,) whither
they went down and gathered willow branches; it seems to be the valley of Kidron,
which lay on the east of Jerusalem, between that and the Mount of Olives (r); it had
fields and gardens adjoining to it; see 2Ki_23:4. So we read of a garden here, into
which Christ immediately went, when he passed over this brook. The blood, the filth
and soil of it, which so discoloured the water, as to give it the name of the Black
2

Brook, used to be sold to the gardeners to dung their gardens with (s). It was an
emblem of this world, and the darkness and filthiness of it, and of the exercises and
troubles of the people of God in it, which lie in the way to the heavenly paradise and
Mount of Zion, through which Christ himself went, drinking "of the brook in the
way", Psa_110:7; and through which also all his disciples and followers enter into the
kingdom of heaven: it may also be a figure of the dark valley of the shadow of death,
through which Christ and all his members pass to the heavenly glory. And I see not
why this black and unclean brook may not be a representation of the pollutions and
defilements of sin; which being laid on Christ when he passed over it, made him so
heavy and sore amazed in the human nature, as to desire the cup might pass from
him. Once more let it be observed, that it was the brook David passed over when he
fled from his son Absalom; in this David was a type of Christ, as in other things:
Absalom represented the people of the Jews, who rejected the Messiah, and rebelled
against him; Ahithophel, Judas, who betrayed him; and the people that went with
David over it, the disciples of our Lord; only there was this difference; there was a
father fleeing from a son, here a son going to meet his father's wrath; David and his
people wept when they went over this brook, but so did not Christ and his disciples;
the sorrowful scene to them both began afterwards in the garden. This black brook
and dark valley, and it being very late at night when it was passed over, all add to that
dark dispensation, that hour of darkness, which now came upon our Lord; yet he
went forth over it of his own accord, willingly and cheerfully; not being forced or
compelled by any; and his disciples with him, not to be partners of his sufferings, but
to be witnesses of them, and to receive some knowledge and instruction from what
they should see and hear:
where was a garden into which he entered; and his disciples: there were no
orchards nor gardens within the city of Jerusalem, but rose gardens, which were
from the times of the prophets (t); all others were without; and this was a very proper
place for gardens, where so much dung was near at hand. Whether this garden
belonged to one of Christ's friends, is not certain; but since he often resorted hither,
no doubt it was with the leave, and by the consent of the proprietor of it. However, so
it was, that as the first Adam's disobedience was committed in a garden, the second.
Adam's obedience to death for sin, began here; and as the sentence of death, on
account of sin, was passed in a garden, it began to be executed in one.
HENRY 1-2, "The hour was now come that the captain of our salvation, who was
to be made perfect by sufferings, should engage the enemy. We have here his
entrance upon the encounter. The day of recompence is in his heart, and the year of
his redeemed is come, and his own arm works the salvation, for he has no second.
Let us turn aside now, and see this great sight.
I. Our Lord Jesus, like a bold champion, takes the field first (Joh_18:1, Joh_18:2):
When he had spoken these words, preached the sermon, prayed his prayer, and so
finished his testimony, he would lose no time, but went forth immediately out of the
house, out of the city, by moon-light, for the passover was observed at the full moon,
with his disciples (the eleven, for Judas was otherwise employed), and he went over
the brook Cedron, which runs between Jerusalem and the mount of Olives, where
was a garden, not his own, but some friend's, who allowed him the liberty of it.
Observe,
1. That our Lord Jesus entered upon his sufferings when he had spoken these
words, as Mat_26:1, When he had finished all these sayings. Here it is intimated, (1.)
That our Lord Jesus took his work before him. The office of the priest was to teach,
and pray, and offer sacrifice. Christ, after teaching and praying, applies himself to
make atonement. Christ had said all he had to say as a prophet, and now he
3

addresses himself to the discharge of his office as a priest, to make his soul an
offering for sin; and, when he had gone through this, he entered upon his kingly
office. (2.) That having by his sermon prepared his disciples for this hour of trial, and
by his prayer prepared himself for it, he then courageously went out to meet it. When
he had put on his armour, he entered the lists, and not till then. Let those that suffer
according to the will of God, in a good cause, with a good conscience, and having a
clear call to it, comfort themselves with this, that Christ will not engage those that are
his in any conflict, but he will first do that for them which is necessary to prepare
them for it; and if we receive Christ's instructions and comforts, and be interested in
his intercession, we may, with an unshaken resolution, venture through the greatest
hardships in the way of duty.
2. That he went forth with his disciples. Judas knew what house he was in in the
city, and he could have staid and met his sufferings there; but, (1.) He would do as he
was wont to do, and not alter his method, either to meet the cross or to miss it, when
his hour was come. It was his custom when he was at Jerusalem, after he had spent
the day in public work, to retire at night to the mount of Olives; there his quarters
were, in the skirts of the city, for they would not make room for him in the palaces, in
the heart of the town. This being his custom, he could not be put out of his method
by the foresight of his sufferings, but, as Daniel, did then just as he did aforetime,
Dan_6:10. (2.) He was as unwilling that there should be an uproar among the people
as his enemies were, for it was not his way to strive or cry. If he had been seized in
the city, and a tumult raised thereby, mischief might have been done, and a great deal
of blood shed, and therefore he withdrew. Note, When we find ourselves involved in
trouble, we should be afraid of involving others with us. It is no disgrace to the
followers of Christ to fall tamely. Those who aim at honour from men value
themselves upon a resolution to sell their lives as dearly as they can; but those who
know that their blood is precious to Christ, and that not a drop of it shall be shed but
upon a valuable consideration, need not stand upon such terms. (3.) He would set us
an example in the beginning of his passion, as he did at the end of it, of retirement
from the world. Let us go forth to him, without the camp, bearing his reproach,
Heb_13:13. We must lay aside, and leave behind, the crowds, and cares, and
comforts, of cities, even holy cities, if we would cheerfully take up our cross, and keep
up our communion with God therein.
3. That he went over the brook Cedron. He must go over this to go to the mount of
Olives, but the notice taken of it intimates that there was something in it significant;
and it points, (1.) At David's prophecy concerning the Messiah (Psa_110:7), that he
shall drink of the brook in the way; the brook of suffering in the way to his glory and
our salvation, signified by the brook Cedron, the black brook, so called either from
the darkness of the valley it ran through or the colour of the water, tainted with the
dirt of the city; such a brook Christ drank of, when it lay in the way of our
redemption, and therefore shall he lift up the head, his own and ours. (2.) At David's
pattern, as a type of the Messiah. In his flight from Absalom, particular notice is
taken of his passing over the brook Cedron, and going up by the ascent of mount
Olivet, weeping, and all that were with him in tears too, 2Sa_15:23, 2Sa_15:30. The
Son of David, being driven out by the rebellious Jews, who would not have him to
reign over them (and Judas, like Ahithophel, being in the plot against him), passed
over the brook in meanness and humiliation, attended by a company of true
mourners. The godly kings of Judah had burnt and destroyed the idols they found at
the brook Cedron; Asa, 2Ch_15:16; Hezekiah, 2Ch_30:14; Josiah, 2Ki_23:4, 2Ki_
23:6. Into that brook the abominable things were cast. Christ, being now made sin
for us, that he might abolish it and take it away, began his passion by the same brook.
Mount Olivet, where Christ began his sufferings, lay on the east side of Jerusalem;
mount Calvary, where he finished them, on the west; for in them he had an eye to
4

such as should come from the east and the west.
4. That he entered into a garden. This circumstance is taken notice of only by this
evangelist, that Christ's sufferings began in a garden. In the garden of Eden sin
began; there the curse was pronounced, there the Redeemer was promised, and
therefore in a garden that promised seed entered the lists with the old serpent. Christ
was buried also in a garden. (1.) Let us, when we walk in our gardens, take occasion
thence to meditate on Christ's sufferings in a garden, to which we owe all the
pleasure we have in our gardens, for by them the curse upon the ground for man's
sake was removed. (2.) When we are in the midst of our possessions and enjoyments,
we must keep up an expectation of troubles, for our gardens of delight are in a vale of
tears.
5. That he had his disciples with him, (1.) Because he used to take them with him
when he retired for prayer. (2.) They must be witnesses of his sufferings, and his
patience under them, that they might with the more assurance and affection preach
them to the world (Luk_24:48), and be themselves prepared to suffer. (3.) He would
take them into the danger to show them their weakness, notwithstanding the
promises they had made of fidelity. Christ sometimes brings his people into
difficulties, that he may magnify himself in their deliverance.
6. That Judas the traitor knew the place, knew it to be the place of his usual
retirement, and probably, by some word Christ had dropped, knew that he intended
to be there that night, for want of a better closet. A solitary garden is a proper place
for meditation and prayer, and after a passover is a proper time to retire for private
devotion, that we may pray over the impressions made and the vows renewed, and
clench the nail. Mention is made of Judas's knowing the place, (1.) To aggravate the
sin of Judas, that he would betray his Master, notwithstanding the intimate
acquaintance he had with him; nay, and that he would make use of his familiarity
with Christ, as giving him an opportunity of betraying him; a generous mind would
have scorned to do so base a thing. Thus has Christ's holy religion been wounded in
the house of its friends, as it could not have been wounded any where else. Many an
apostate could not have been so profane, if he had not been a professor; could not
have ridiculed scriptures and ordinances, if he had not known them. (2.) To magnify
the love of Christ, that, though he knew where the traitor would seek him, thither he
went to be found of him, now that he knew his hour was come. Thus he showed
himself willing to suffer and die for us. What he did was not by constraint, but by
consent; though as man he said, Let this cup pass away, as Mediator he said, “Lo, I
come, I come with a good will.” It was late in the night (we may suppose eight or nine
o'clock) when Christ went out to the garden; for it was not only his meat and drink,
but his rest and sleep, to do the will of him that sent him. When others were going to
bed, he was going to prayer, going to suffer.
JAMISON 1-3, "Joh_18:1-13. Betrayal and apprehension of Jesus.
over the brook Kedron — a deep, dark ravine, to the northeast of Jerusalem,
through which flowed this small storm brook or winter torrent, and which in
summer is dried up.
where was a garden — at the foot of the Mount of Olives, “called Gethsemane;
that is, olive press (Mat_26:30, Mat_26:36).
CALVIN, "1.When Jesus bad spoken these words. In this narrative John passes
by many things which the other three Evangelists relate, and he does so on
purposej as his intention was to collect many things worthy of being recorded,
5

about which they say nothing; and, therefore, let the reader go to the other
Evangelists to find what is wanting here.
Over the brook Kedron. In the Greek original there is an article prefixed to
Kedron, which would seem to intimate that the brook takes its name from the
cedars; (130) but this is probably an error which has crept into the text; for the
valley or brook Kedron is often mentioned in Scripture. The place was so called
from its being dark or gloomy, because, being a hollow valley, it was shady, (131)
on that point, however, I do not dispute: I only state what is more probable.
The chief thing to be considered is, the intention of the Evangelist in pointing out
the place; for his object was, to show that Christ went to death willingly. He
came into a place which, he knew, was well known to Judeas. Why did he do this
but to present himself, of his own accord, to the traitor and to the enemies? Nor
was he led astray by inadvertency, for he knew beforehand all that was to
happen. John afterwards mentions also that he went forward to meet them. He
therefore suffered death, not by constraint, but willingly, that he might be a
voluntary sacrifice; for without obedience atonement would not have been
obtained for us. Besides, he entered into the garden, not for the purpose of
seeking a place of concealment, but that he might have a better opportunity, and
greater leisure, for prayer. That he prayed three times to be delivered from
death, (Matthew 26:44,) is not inconsistent with that voluntary obedience of
which we have spoken; (132) for it was necessary that he should contend with
difficulties, that he might be victorious. Now, having subdued the dread of death,
he advances to death freely and willingly.
BARCLAY, "THE ARREST IN THE GARDEN (John 18:1-11)
18:1-11 When Jesus had said these things he went out with his disciples across
the Kedron Valley to a place where there was a garden, into which he and his
disciples entered; and Judas, his betrayer, knew the place for Jesus often met
with his disciples there. So Judas took a company of soldiers, together with
officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, and went there with lanterns and
torches and weapons. Jesus knew the things which were going to happen to him,
so he came out and said: "Who are you looking for?" They answered: "Jesus of
Nazareth." Jesus said to them: "I am he." And Judas, his betrayer, stood there
with them. When he said to them: "I am he," they stepped back and fell on the
ground. So Jesus again asked them: "Who are you looking for?" They said:
"Jesus of Nazareth." Jesus said: "I told you that I am he. If it is I for whom you
are looking, let these go, so that the word which scripture said may be fulfilled--I
have lost none of those whom you gave me." Now Simon Peter had a sword and
he drew it; and he struck the high priest's servant and cut off his right ear. The
servant's name was Malchus. Jesus said to Peter: "Put your sword in its sheath.
Shall I not drink the cup which my Father gave me?"
When the last meal was finished and when Jesus' talk and prayer with his
disciples were ended, he and his friends left the upper room. They were bound
for the Garden of Gethsemane. They would leave by the gate, go down the steep
valley and cross the channel of the brook Kedron. There a symbolic thing must
have happened. All the Passover lambs were killed in the Temple, and the blood
6

of the lambs was poured on the altar as an offering to God. The number of lambs
slain for the Passover was immense. On one occasion, thirty years later than the
time of Jesus, a census was taken and the number was 256,000. We may imagine
what the Temple courts were like when the blood of all these lambs was dashed
on to the altar. From the altar there was a channel down to the brook Kedron,
and through that channel the blood of the Passover lambs drained away. When
Jesus crossed the brook Kedron it would still be red with the blood of the lambs
which had been sacrificed; and as he did so, the thought of his own sacrifice
would surely be vivid in his mind.
Having crossed the channel of the Kedron, they came to the Mount of Olives. On
its slopes lay the little garden of Gethsemane, which means the oil-press, the
press where the oil was extracted from the olives which grew on the hill. Many
well-to-do people had their private gardens there. Space in Jerusalem was too
limited for private gardens, for it was built on the top of a hill. Furthers there
were ceremonial prohibitions which forbade the use of manure on the soil of the
sacred city. That was why the wealthy people had their private gardens outside
the city on the slopes of the mount of Olives.
They show pilgrims to this day a little garden on the hillside. It is lovingly tended
by the Franciscan friars, and in it there are eight old olive trees of such girth that
they seem, as H. V. Morton says, more like rocks than trees. They are very old; it
is known that they go back to a time before the Moslem conquest of Palestine. it
is scarcely possible that they go back to the time of Jesus himself; but certainly
the little paths criss-crossing the Mount of Olives were trodden by the feet of
Jesus.
So to this garden Jesus went. Some wealthy citizen--an anonymous friend of
Jesus whose name will never be known--must have given him the key of the gate
and the right to use it when he was in Jerusalem. Often Jesus and his disciples
had gone there for peace and quiet. Judas knew that he would find Jesus there
and it was there that he had decided it would be easiest to engineer the arrest.
There is something astonishing about the force which came out to arrest Jesus.
John said that there was a company of soldiers, together with officers from the
chief priests and Pharisees. The officers would be the Temple police. The Temple
authorities had a kind of private police force to keep good order, and the
Sanhedrin hid its police officers to carry out its decrees. The officers, therefore,
were the Jewish police force. But there was a band of Roman soldiers there too.
The word is speira (Greek #4686). Now that word, if it is correctly used, can have
three meanings. It is the Greek word for a Roman cohort and a cohort had 600
men. If it was a cohort of auxiliary soldiers, a speira (Greek #4686) had 1,000
men--240 cavalry and 760 infantry. Sometimes, much more rarely, the word is
used for the detachment of men called a maniple which was made up of 200 men.
Even if we take this word to mean the smallest force, the maniple, what an
expedition to send out against an unarmed Galilaean carpenter! At the Passover
time there were always extra soldiers in Jerusalem, quartered in the Tower of
Antonia which overlooked the Temple, and men would be available. But what a
7

compliment to the power of Jesus! When the authorities decided to arrest him,
they sent what was almost an army to do it.
THE ARREST IN THE GARDEN (John 18:1-11 continued)
Few scenes in scripture so show us the qualities of Jesus as does the arrest in the
garden.
(i) It shows us his courage. At Passover time it was fun moon and the night was
almost like daylight. Yet the enemies of Jesus had come with lamps and torches.
Why? They did not need them to see the way. They must have thought that they
would have to search among the trees and in the hillside nooks and crannies to
find Jesus. So far from hiding, when they arrived, Jesus stepped out. "Who are
you looking for?" he demanded. "Jesus of Nazareth," they said. Back came the
answer: "I am he." The man they had thought they would have to search for as
he skulked in the trees and the caves was standing before them with glorious
defiance. Here is the courage of the man who will face things out. During the
Spanish Civil War a city was besieged. There were some who wished to
surrender, but a leader arose. "It is better," he said, "to die on our feet than to
live on our knees."
(ii) It shows us his authority. There he was, one single, lonely, unarmed figure;
there they were, hundreds of them, armed and equipped. Yet face to face with
him, they retreated and fell to the ground. There flowed from Jesus an authority
which in all his loneliness made him stronger than the might of his enemies.
(iii) It shows us that Jesus chose to die. Here again it is clear that he could have
escaped death if he had so wished. He could have walked through them and gone
his way. But he did not. He even helped his enemies to arrest him. He chose to
die.
(iv) It shows his protective love. It was not for himself that he took thought; it
was for his friends. "Here I am," he said. "It is I whom you want. Take me, and
let them go." Among the many immortal stories of the Second World War that of
Alfred Sadd, missionary of Tarrawa, stands out. When the Japanese came to his
island, he was lined up with twenty other men, mostly New Zealand soldiers who
had been part of the garrison. The Japanese laid a Union Jack on the ground
and ordered Sadd to walk over it. He approached the flag and, as he came to it,
he turned off to the right. They ordered him again to trample on it; this time he
turned off to the left. The third time he was compelled to go up to the flag; and
he gathered it in his arms and kissed it. When the Japanese took them all out to
be shot, many were so young that they were heavy-hearted, but Alfred Sadd
cheered them up. They stood in a line, he in the middle, but presently he went
out and stood in front of them and spoke words of cheer. When he had finished,
he went back but still stood a little in front of them, so that he would be the first
to die. Alfred Sadd thought more of others' troubles than his own. Jesus'
protecting love surrounded his disciples even in Gethsemane.
(v) It shows his utter obedience. "Shall I not drink," he said, "the cup that God
has given me to drink?" This was God's will, and that was enough. Jesus was
8

himself faithful unto death.
There is a figure in this story to whom we must do justice, and that is Peter. He,
one man, drew his sword against hundreds. As Macaulay had it:
How can man die better
Than facing fearful odds?
Peter was soon to deny his master, but at that moment he was prepared to take
on hundreds all alone for the sake of Christ. We may talk of the cowardice and
the failure of Peter; but we must never forget the sublime courage of this
moment.
COFFMAN, "This chapter records the betrayal and seizure of Jesus (John
18:1-11), the arraignment before Annas (John 18:12-14), Peter's first denial
(John 18:15-18), questioning by Annas (John 18:19-24), Peter's second and third
denials (John 18:25-27), Jesus' appearance before Caiaphas and before Pilate
(John 18:28-32), Pilate's questioning of Jesus (John 18:33-38) and vain efforts of
Pilate to release Jesus (John 18:38-40).
John emphasized the regal bearing and demeanor of the Lord even in the hours
of his humiliation; and from this some have alleged that he omitted the agony in
the garden as unbecoming the impression of Jesus he wished to portray, but that
view is illogical in the light of his record of the Lord's being slapped by an officer
in the presence of Annas. The logical and obvious reason for the many omissions
of details like the agony is found in the widespread knowledge of such details
already recorded in the synoptics.
Another alleged difficulty derives from Peter's denial having occurred before
Annas in John, and in the palace of Caiaphas in the synoptics. This is fully
resolved by the fact that Annas and Caiaphas occupied the same palace, and the
courtyard where Peter denied the Lord was in front of both apartments, that of
Annas and that of his son-in-law, Caiaphas. (See my Commentary on Matthew,
Matthew 26:57.)
That Annas and Caiaphas occupied the same palace, or different portions of the
same edifice, solves the chief difficulty. Annas held his preliminary unofficial
inquiry in his department of the building.[1]
The other difficulty, not the "chief" difficulty mentioned by Reynolds, regards
the use of the title "high priest" for Annas (John 18:19); but this is not a
difficulty at all in view of the prevailing prejudice of the Jews who still regarded
Annas as the real high priest. John's acquaintance with the high priest (Annas)
which surfaces in this chapter would certainly have inclined him to use this title
in speaking of him; and this also explains the somewhat derogatory designation
of Caiaphas as "high priest that year" (John 18:13). The officer who struck
Jesus (John 18:22), being one of Annas' retainers, would certainly not have
referred to his boss otherwise than as "high priest." Thus, like all so-called
difficulties in the Bible, these alleged problems disappear in the light of a little
9

study.
ENDNOTE:
[1] H. R. Reynolds, The Pulpit Commentary (Grand Rapids: William B.
Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1962), Vol. 17, II, p. 385.
When Jesus had spoken these words, he went forth with his disciples over the
brook Kidron, where was a garden which he entered, himself and his disciples.
(John 18:1)
These words ... refer to the entire farewell discourse just concluded.
The brook Kidron ... This was a "winter torrent" (English Revised Version
margin), meaning that it was dry most of the year. It flowed by the southeast
wall of the city, and between it and the Mount of Olives.[2] It was down this little
valley that David fled from the rebellion of his son Absalom (2 Samuel 15:23);
here Asa burned the abominable image (1 Kings 15:3); and near here, Josiah
caused the idolatrous vessels to be burned (2 Kings 23:4). In the reign of
Hezekiah, the Levites carried the unclean things to this valley (2 Chronicles
29:16); and Jeremiah called it "the valley of the dead bones and of the ashes"
(Jeremiah 31:40), adding that this valley should be "holy unto the Lord."
There was a garden ... It was in the garden of Eden that Paradise was lost, and
now it would be recovered in another garden where Jesus was strengthened
through tears and blood to pay the price of human redemption. There an angel
helped him to prepare for the ordeal of Calvary (Luke 22:43). Contrasting with
the garden in Eden, this one was situated in the valley of Kidron with its
overtones of shame and uncleanness; but this one was "holy unto the Lord," for
here he found supernatural help through the angelic messenger who aided him
to overcome through tears and blood.
ENDNOTE:
[2] William Hendriksen, Exposition of the Gospel according to John (Grand
Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1961), II, p. 375.
PINK 1-11, "Below is an Analysis of the passage which is to be before us: —
1. Jesus and His disciples cross the Cedron, verse 1.
2. Judas’ knowledge of this place of retirement, verse 2.
3. Judas conducting the Lord’s enemies there, verse 3.
4. Christ’s challenge and their response, verses 4, 5.
5. Christ’s power and their lack of discernment evidenced, verses 6, 7.
6. Christ protecting His own, verses 8, 9.
7. Peter’s rashness and Christ’s rebuke, verses 10, 11.
The eighteenth chapter begins a new section of our Gospel. Chapter 1 is
introductory in its character; 2 to 12 record our Lord’s ministry in the world; 13
to 17 show Him alone with His disciples, preparing them for His departure; 18 to
21 is the closing division, giving us that which attended His death and
10

resurrection. Here, too, everything is in perfect accord with the distinctive
character of John’s delineation of Christ. The note struck here is in quite a
different key from the one heard at the end of the Synoptics. That which is
prominent in the closing scenes of the fourth Gospel is not the sufferings of the
Savior, but the lofty dignity and Divine glory of the God-man.
"As the last section (13 to 17) involved His death, it must take place. He has given
in His record to Him who sent Him, whose counsels had determined before what
was to be done, and whose prophets showed before that Christ should suffer
(Acts 2:23; Acts 3:18; Acts 4:28); and now that must be which makes all these
assertions true. Without these two chapters (18, 19), therefore, none of the
precious things which have thrilled the heart in the previous chapters could be
possible; nay, more, none of His own assertions as to what He would be and do,
of giving eternal life, of having any of the world, of coming again for them, of
sending the Holy Spirit, of preparing a place for them, of having them in the
glory with Him, or of having that glory at all; there would be no assembly of
God, no restoration of Israel, no gathering of the nations, no millennium, no new
heavens and new earth, no adjustment in righteousness of the ‘creation of God’
of which He is the beginning, no display of grace, no salvation, no revelation of
the Father—all these and much more were contingent on His death and
resurrection. Without these all things in this book drop out and leave a blank,
the blackness of darkness" (Mr. M. Taylor).
John 18 opens with an account of the Savior and His disciples entering the
Garden, but in recording what took place there nowhere is the presiding hand of
the Holy Spirit more evident. Nothing is said of His taking Peter and James and
John into its deeper recesses, that they might "watch with him." Nothing is said
of His there praying to the Father. Nothing is said of His falling upon His face,
Of His awful agony, of the bloody sweat, of the angel appearing to strengthen
Him. Perfectly in place in the other Gospels, they are passed over here as
unsuited to the picture which John was inspired to paint. In their place other
details are supplied—most appropriate and striking—which are not found in the
Synoptics.
"Into that Garden, hallowed by so many associations, the Lord entered, with the
Eleven; and there took place the Agony related in the Synoptics, but wholly
passed over by John. Yet he was very near the Lord, being one of the three taken
apart from the rest by Christ, and asked to watch with Him. The rest were told
to sit down a little way off from the Master. If any of the Evangelists then could
have written with authority of that solemn time John was the one best fitted to
do it. Yet he is the one who omits all reference to it! It might be thought that
what the others had written was sufficient. Why, then, did he describe so
minutely circumstances connected with the Lord’s apprehension! The special
line of his Gospel, presenting the Lord as a Divine Person, will alone explain this.
As Son of God incarnate he presents Him, and not as the suffering Son of man.
We shall learn, then, from him that which none of the others mention, though
Matthew was present with Him, how the Lord’s personal presence at first over-
awed Judas and the company with that traitor" (Mr. C. E. Smart).
In each of the Synoptics, as the end of His path drew near, we find the Savior
speaking, again and again, of what He was to suffer at the hands of men; how
that He would be scourged and spat upon, be shamefully treated by Jew and
Gentile alike, ending with His crucifixion, burial and resurrection. But here in
11

John, that which is seen engaging His thoughts in the closing hours was His
return to the Father (see John 13:1; 14:2; 16:5; 17:5). And everything is in
perfect accord with this. Here in the Garden, instead of Christ falling to the
ground before the Father, we behold those who came to arrest the Savior falling
to the ground before Him! Nowhere does the perfect supremacy of the Lord
Jesus shine forth more gloriously: even to the band of soldiers He utters a
command, and the disciples are allowed to go unmolested.
"When Jesus had spoken these words, he went forth with his disciples over the
brook Cedron" (John 18:1). The "these words" refer to the paschal Discourse
and the High Priestly prayer which have engaged our attention in the previous
chapters. Having delivered His prophetic message, He now prepares to go forth
to His priestly work. The "Garden" is the same one mentioned in the other
Gospels, though here the Holy Spirit significantly omits its name—Gethsemane.
In its place, He mentions the "brook Cedron," identical with "Kidron," its
Hebrew name, which means "dark waters"—emblematic of that black stream
through which He was about to pass. The Cedron was on the east side of the city,
dividing Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives (Josephus). It was on the west side
of the city that He was crucified: thus did the Son of Righteousness complete His
atoning circuit!
What, we may ask, was our Lord’s design and purpose in entering the "Garden"
at this time? First, in accord with the typical teaching of the Day of Atonement.
The victim for the sin-offering (unlike the burnt offering) was destroyed
"without (outside) the camp" (see Leviticus 4:12, 21; Leviticus 16:27); so the
Lord Jesus offered Himself as a sacrifice for sin outside of Jerusalem:
"Wherefore Jesus also that he might sanctify the people with his own blood,
suffered without the gate" (Heb. 13:12). Therefore, as His atoning sufferings
began here, He sought the Garden, rather than remain in Jerusalem.
Second, in crossing the brook Cedron, accompanied by His disciples, another
Old Testament type was most strikingly fulfilled. In 2 Samuel 15 (note
particularly verses 23, 30, 31) we read of David, at the time of his shameful
betrayal by his familiar friend Ahithophel, crossing the same brook; crossing it
in tears, accompanied by his faithful followers. So David’s Son and Lord, crossed
the Cedron while Judas was betraying Him to His foes.
Third, His object was to afford His enemies the more free scope to take Him. The
leaders of Israel had designed to lay hands on Him for some time past, but they
feared the common people; therefore, that this impediment might be removed,
the Savior chose to go out of the city to the Garden, where they might have full
opportunity to apprehend Him, and carry Him away in the night, quietly and
secretly. In addition to these reasons, we may add, His arrest in the solitude of
the Garden made it the easier for His disciples to escape.
The entrance of Christ into the Garden at once reminds us of Eden. The
contrasts between them are indeed most striking. In Eden, all was delightful; in
Gethsemane, all was terrible. In Eden, Adam and Eve parleyed with Satan; in
Gethsemane, the last Adam sought the face of His Father. In Eden, Adam
sinned; in Gethsemane, the Savior suffered. In Eden, Adam fell; in Gethsemane,
the Redeemer conquered. The conflict in Eden took place by day; the conflict in
Gethsemane was waged at night. In the one Adam fell before Satan; in the other,
the soldiers fell before Christ. In Eden the race was lost; in Gethsemane Christ
announced, "Of them which thou gavest me have I lost none" (John 18:9). In
12

Eden, Adam took the fruit from Eve’s hand; in Gethsemane, Christ received the
cup from His Father’s hand. In Eden, Adam hid himself; in Gethsemane, Christ
boldly showed Himself. In Eden, God sought Adam; in Gethsemane, the last
Adam sought God! From Eden Adam was "driven"; from Gethsemane Christ
was "led." In Eden the "sword" was drawn (Gen. 3:24); in Gethsemane the
"sword" was sheathed (John 18:11).
"Where was a garden, into which he entered and his disciples" (John 18:1).
Christ did not dismiss the apostles as they left the upper-room in Jerusalem, but
took them along with Him to Gethsemane. He would have them witness the fact
that He was not seized there as a helpless victim, but that He voluntarily
delivered Himself up into the hands of His foes. He would thereby teach them,
from His example, that it is a Christian duty to offer no resistance to our
enemies, but meekly bow to the will of God. He would also show them His power
to protect His own under circumstances of greatest danger.
"And Judas also, which betrayed him, knew the place" (John 18:2). "Our Lord
and Savior knew that He should be taken by Judas, and that this was the place
appointed by His Father wherein He should be taken; for the 4th verse tells us
‘Jesus therefore, knowing all things that should come upon him,’ etc. He knew
that Judas would be there that night, and, therefore, like a valiant champion, He
cometh into the field first, afore His enemy. He goeth thither to choose, and
singles out this place on purpose" (Mr. Thomas Goodwin).
"For Jesus ofttimes resorted thither with his disciples" (John 18:2). This was the
Savior’s place of prayer during the last week—a quiet spot to which He
frequently retired with His apostles. In Luke 21:37 we read, "And in the daytime
he was teaching in the temple; and at night he went out, and abode in the mount
that is called the mount of olives." In Luke 22:39 we read, "And he came out,
and went, as he was wont to the mount of olives; and his disciples also followed
him." This was Christ’s place of devotion, and the place, no doubt, where many
precious communications had passed between Him and the disciples; it is
mentioned here to show the obduracy of the traitor’s heart—it also aggravated
his sin.
The Savior knew full well that the treacherous apostate was well acquainted with
this spot of holy associations, yet did He, nevertheless go there. On previous
occasions He had avoided His enemies. "Then took they up stones to cast at him;
but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple" John (John 8:59). These
things spoke Jesus, and departed, and did hide himself from them (John 12:36).
But now the hour was come; therefore did He make for that very place to which
He knew Judas would lead His enemies.
"Judas then, having received a band of men and officers from the chief priests
and Pharisees, cometh thither with lanterns and torches and weapons" (John
18:3). The "band" which Judas "received" evidently signifies a detachment of
Roman soldiers, which Pilate had granted for the occasion; the Greek word
means the tenth part of a legion, and therefore consisted of four or five hundred
men. Some have questioned this, but the words of Matthew 26:47, "a great
multitude with him"—strongly confirms it. The "officers from the chief priests
and Pharisees" refer to the servants of Israel’s leaders. Luke 22:52 shows that
the heads of the Nation themselves also swelled the mob" Then Jesus said unto
the chief priests, and captains of the temple, and the elders, which were come to
him, Be ye come out, as against a thief, with swords and staves?" As Christ was
13

to die for sinners both of the Jews and Gentiles, so God ordered it that Gentiles
(Roman soldiers) and Jews should have a hand alike in His arrest and in His
crucifixion!
"Cometh thither with lanterns and torches and weapons" (John 18:3). What an
anomaly! Seeking out the Light of the world with torches and lanterns!
Approaching the Good Shepherd with "weapons!" As though He would seek to
hide Himself; as though He could be taken with swords and staves! Little did
they know of His readiness to be led as a lamb to the slaughter. Significant too is
the general principle here symbolically illustrated: attacks upon the Truth were
made by artificial lights and carnal weapons! It has been thus ever since. The
"light of reason" is what men depend upon; and where that has failed, resort has
been had to brute force, of which the "weapons" speak. How vain these are,
when employed against the Son of God, He plainly demonstrated in the sequel.
"Jesus therefore, knowing all things that should come upon him" (John 18:4).
With this should be compared John 13:3, which presents a most striking
comparison and contrast: "Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things
into his hands"; the comparison is between our Lord’s omniscience in either
reference; the contrast between the subjects of His knowledge there and here. In
John 13:3 Christ spoke of "all things" being given into His hands; here in John
18:4 He anticipates the moment when "all things" were to be taken from Him,
when He was to be "cut off" and "have nothing" (Dan. 9:26). His foreknowledge
was perfect: for Him there were no surprises. The receiving of "all things" from
the Father’s hands was not more present to His spirit than the loss of "all
things" by His being cut off. In John 13 He contemplates the glory; here the
sufferings, and He passed from the one to the other in the unchanging
blessedness of absolute perfection.
"Jesus therefore, knowing all things that should come upon him." These were
the "all things" decreed by God, agreed upon by the Son in the eternal covenant
of grace, predicted in the Old Testament Scriptures, and foretold, again and
again, by Himself; namely, all the attendant circumstances of His sufferings and
death.
"Jesus therefore, knowing all things that should come upon him, went forth"—
not out of the Garden as John 18:26 plainly shows, but from its inner recesses,
where He had prayed alone. "Went forth," first to awaken the sleeping three
(Matthew 26:46), then to rejoin the eight whom He had left on the outskirts of
the Garden (Matthew 26:36), and now to meet Judas and his company. This
"went forth" shows the perfect harmony between John and the Synoptics.
"And said unto them, Whom seek ye?" (John 18:4). Our Lord was the first to
speak: He did not wait to be challenged. His reason for asking this question is
indicated in the "therefore" of the previous clause—"Jesus therefore, knowing
all things that should come upon him, went forth, and said unto them, Whom
seek ye?" That which the Holy Spirit has here emphasized is the willingness of
Christ to suffer, His readiness to go forth to the Cross. He knew full well for
what fell purpose these men were there, but He asks the question so that He
might solemnly and formally surrender Himself to them. Once, when they
wanted to take Him by force and make Him a king, He departed from them
(John 6:15); but now that He was to be scourged and crucified, He boldly
advanced to meet them. This was in sharp contrast from the first Adam in Eden,
who, after his sin, hid himself among the trees of the garden. So, too, Christ’s act
14

and question here bore witness to the futility and folly of their "lanterns and
torches and weapons."
"They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus said unto them, I am" (John
18:5). Why did they not answer, "Thee!"? Jesus of Nazareth stood before them,
yet they did not say, "Thou art the one we have come to arrest." It is plain from
this circumstance that they did not recognize Him, nor did Judas, who is here
expressly said to have "stood with them." Despite their "lanterns and torches"
their eyes were holden! Does not this go far to confirm our thought on the closing
words of John 18:3—the Holy Spirit designedly intimated that something more
than the light which nature supplies is needed to discover and discern the person
of the God-man! And how this is emphasized by the presence of Judas, who had
been in closest contact with the Savior for three years! How solemn the lesson!
How forcibly this illustrates 2 Corinthians 4:3, 4: "But if our gospel be hid, it is
hid to them that are lost: in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds
of them which believe not." Even the traitor failed now to recognize the Lord: he
too was stricken with dimness of vision. The natural man is spiritually blind: the
Light shone in the darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not (John 1:5)! It
is only as the light of God shines in our hearts that knowledge is given us to
behold the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 4:6)!
"And Judas, also, which betrayed him, stood with them" (John 18:5). Only a few
hours previous he had been seated with Christ and the Eleven, now he is found
with the Lord’s enemies, acting as their guide. Some have argued that there is a
discrepancy here between John’s account and what we read of in the Synoptics.
In the latter we are told Judas had arranged with the soldiers that he would give
them a sign, identifying the One they should arrest by kissing Him. This he did,
and they laid hands on Him. But here in John 18 he is viewed as failing to
recognize the Savior, yet there is no discrepancy at all. John does not relate what
Matthew and the others give us, but instead, supplies details which they were
guided to omit. John tells us what took place in the Garden before the traitor
gave his vile sign. If the reader will compare Luke’s account he will see that the
kiss was given by Judas at a point between what we read of in John 18, verses 9,
10.
"As soon then as he had said unto them, I am, they went backward, and fell to
the ground" (John 18:6). Another reason why notice is taken of Judas at the dose
of the preceding verse is to inform us that he, too, fell to the ground. Observe the
words "they went backward." They were there to arrest Him, but instead of
advancing to lay hands on Him, they retreated! Among them were five hundred
Roman soldiers, yet they retired before His single "I am." They fell back in
consternation, not forward in worship! All He said was "I am"; but it was fully
sufficient to overawe and overpower them. It was the enunciation of the ineffable
Name of God, by which He was revealed to Moses at the burning bush (Ex. 3:14).
It was a display of His Divine majesty. It was a quiet exhibition of His Divine
power. It was a signal demonstration that He was "the word" (John 1:1)! He did
not strike them with His hand—there was no need to; He simply spoke two
monosyllables and they were completely overcome.
But why, we may ask, should our Lord have acted in such a manner on this
occasion? First, that it might be clearly shown He was more than "Jesus of
Nazareth": He was "God manifest in flesh," and never was this more
unmistakably evidenced. Second, that it might appear with absolute dearness
15

that He voluntarily delivered Himself up into their hands—that it was not they
who apprehended Him, but He who submitted to them. He was not captured, for
He was not to (passively) suffer merely, but to (actively) offer Himself as a
sacrifice to God. Here is the ultimate reason why it is reCorded that "Judas also,
which betrayed him, stood with them": the traitor’s perfidy was needless and the
captor’s weapons useless against One who is giving up Himself unto death and
was soon to give Himself in death. If none had power to take His life from Him
(John 10:18, 19), none had power to arrest Him. He here showed them, and us,
that they were completely at His mercy—helpless on the ground—and not He at
theirs. How easy for Him then to have walked quietly away, unmolested! First,
they failed to recognize Him; now they were prostrate before Him. What was to
hinder Him from leaving them thus? Nothing but His Father’s will, and to it He
submissively bowed. Thus did the Savior give proof of His willingness to offer
Himself as a sacrifice for sin. In the third place, it left these men without excuse.
Every detail in connection with our Lord’s passion had been determined by the
Divine counsels, yet God did not treat those who had a hand in it as mere
machines, but as responsible moral agents. Before Pilate sentenced Christ to
death, God first gave him a plain intimation that it was an innocent Man who
stood before him, by warning his wife in a dream (Matthew 27:19). So here with
these Roman soldiers, who may never have seen Christ before. They cannot
plead in the Day of judgment that they were ignorant of the glory of His person:
they cannot say that they never witnessed His miraculous power, and had no
opportunity given them to believe on Him. This exhibition of His majesty, and
their laying hands on Him afterwards, makes their condemnation just!
It is very striking to observe that the Lord Jesus had uttered the same words on
previous occasions, but with very different effects. To the woman at the well He
had said "I am" (John 4:26), and she at once recognized Him as the Christ (John
4:29). To the disciples on the storm-lashed sea He had said, "I am" (John 6:20—
see Greek), and we are told "they willingly received him into the ship." But here
there was no conviction wrought of His Messiahship, and no willing reception of
Him. Instead, they were terrified, and fell to the ground. What a marvelous
demonstration that the same Word is to some "a savor of life unto life," while to
others it is "a savor of death unto death"! Observe, too, that His Divine "I am"
to the disciples in the ship was accompanied by "Be not afraid" (John 6:20); how
solemn to mark its omission here!
Vividly does this forewarn sinners of how utterly helpless they will be before the
Christ of God in a coming Day! "What shall He do when He comes to judge, who
did this when about to be judged? What shall be His might when He comes to
reign, who had this might when He was at the point to die?" (Augustine.) What,
indeed, will be the effect of that Voice when He speaks in judgment upon the
wicked!
"As soon then as he had said unto them, I am, they went backward, and fell to
the ground." This was a remarkable fulfillment of an Old Testament prophecy
given a thousand years before. It is recorded in the 27th Psalm, the whole of
which, most probably, was silently uttered by the Savior as He journeyed from
the upper-room in Jerusalem, across the brook Cedron, into the Garden. "The
Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength
of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked, even my enemies and my
foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell" (verses 1, 2). Let
16

the reader pause and ponder the remainder of this Psalm: it is blessed to learn
what comforted and strengthened the Savior’s heart in that trying hour. Psalm
27 gives us the musings of Christ’s heart at this time, Godwards. Psalm 35
recorded His prayers against His enemies, manwards: "Let them be confounded
and put to shame that seek after my soul: let them be turned back and brought
to confusion that devise my hurt" (verse 4). Still another Psalm should be read in
this connection, the 40th. That this Psalm is a Messianic one we know positively
from verses 7, 8. verses 11-17 were, we believe, a part of His prayer in
Gethsemane, and in it He asked, "Let them be ashamed and confounded together
that seek after my soul to destroy it; let them be driven backward and put to
shame that wish me evil" (verse 14). Thus was both Messianic prophecy fulfilled
and prayer answered in this overwhelming of His enemies.
"Then asked he them again, Whom seek ye?" (John 18:7). "This second question
carries a mighty conviction, a mighty triumph with it over their conscience as if
He had said, I have told you I am; and I have told it you to purpose, have I not?
Have you not learned by this who I am, when your hearts are so terrified that
you all fell down before Me! They had been taught by woeful experience who He
was, when He blew them over, flung them down with His breath; and it might
have turned to a blessed experience had God struck their hearts, as He did their
outward man" (Mr. Thomas Goodwin).
"And they said, Jesus of Nazareth" (John 18:7). They would not own Him as the
Christ, but continued to speak of Him according to the name of His
humiliation—"Jesus of Nazareth." How striking and how solemn is this after
what has been before us in John 18:6—such an exhibition of Divine majesty and
power, yet their hard hearts unmoved! No outward means will soften those who
are resolved on wickedness. No miracles, however awesome, will melt men’s
enmity: nothing will suffice except God works directly by His Word and Spirit.
Another signal proof of the desperate hardness of men’s hearts in the case of
those who were appointed to guard the Savior’s sepulcher. While keeping their
watch, God sent an earthquake, and then an angel to roll away the stone from
the grave’s mouth, and so awful were these things to the keepers that they
"became as dead men." And yet, when they reported to their masters and were
offered a bribe to say His disciples stole the body of Christ while they slept, they
were willing parties to such a lie. O the hardness of the human heart: how
"desperately wicked"! Even Divine judgments do not subdue it. In a coming day
God will pour out on this earth the vials of His wrath, and what will be the
response of men? This: "They gnawed their tongues for pain, and blasphemed
the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of
their deeds" (Rev. 16:10, 11). Nothing but a miracle of sovereign grace, the
putting forth of omnipotent power, can bring a blaspheming rebel out of
darkness into God’s marvelous light. Many a soul has been terrified, as were
these men in the Garden, and yet continued in their course of alienation from
God.
"Jesus answered, I have told you that I am" (John 18:8). The dignity and
calmness of our Lord are very noticeable here. Knowing full well all the insults
and indignities He was about to suffer, He repeats His former declaration, "I
am"; then He added, "if therefore ye seek me, let these go their way." "Christ
was about to suffer for them, and therefore it was not just that they should suffer
too; nor was it proper that they should suffer with Him, lest their sufferings
17

should be thought to be a part of the price of redemption. These words then may
be considered as an emblem and pledge of the acquittal and discharge of God’s
elect, through the surety-engagements and performances of Christ who drew
near to God on their behalf, substituting Himself in their room, and undertaking
for them in the counsel and covenant of peace, and laid Himself under obligation
to pay their debts. Now, as there was a discharge of them from eternity, a non-
imputation of sin to them, and a secret letting of them go upon the surety-
engagements of Christ; so there was now an open discharge of them all upon the
apprehension, sufferings, death and resurrection of Him" (Mr. John Gill).
"If therefore ye seek me, let these go their way" (John 18:8). In John 13:1 we are
told of Christ that "having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them
unto the end." How blessedly this is seen here. Christ’s first thought is not of
Himself and what He was about to suffer, but of His disciples. It was the
Shepherd protecting His sheep. "The tender sympathy and consideration of our
great High Priest for His people came out very beautifully in this place, and
would doubtless be remembered by the Eleven long afterwards. They would
remember that the very last thought of their Master, before He was made a
prisoner, was for them and their safety" (Bishop Ryle). And how the Savior’s
majesty here shines forth again! He was about to be taken prisoner, but He acts
as no helpless captive, but rather like a king. "Let these go their way" was a
command. Here am I, take Me; but I charge you not to meddle with them—touch
not Mine anointed! He speaks as Conqueror, and such He was; for He had
thrown them to the ground by a word from His lips. They were about to tie His
hands, but before doing so He first tied theirs!
"If therefore ye seek me, let these go their way." There is much for us to learn
here. First, it supplied another proof of how easily He could have saved Himself
had He so pleased: He that saved others could have saved Himself; He who had
authority to command them to let these go, had authority to command them to
let Himself go. Second, Christ only was to suffer: in the great work before Him
none could follow—"And there shall be no man in the tabernacle of the
congregation when he goeth in to make an atonement" (Lev. 16:17). He was to
tread the winepress alone. Third, Christ had other work for them yet to do, and
until that work was done their enemies should and must leave them alone. So
long as God has something for His servants to do the Devil himself cannot seize
them. "Go," said Christ, when warned that Herod would kill Him, "and tell that
fox, Behold, I cast out demons, and I do cures today and tomorrow" (Luke
13:32). I will do those things in spite of him; he cannot prevent Me. Fourth, here
we see grace, as in the previous verse Divine power, exercised by this One who so
perfectly "declared the Father" (verse 18). Fifth, Christ would thus show His
disciples how fully competent He was to preserve them amid the greatest
dangers. We have no doubt but that these Roman soldiers and Jewish officers
intended to seize the apostles as well—Mark 14:51, 52, strongly indicates this—
but the Word of power went forth, "let these go their way," and they were safe.
We doubt not that the coming day will make it manifest that this same word of
power went forth many times, though we knew it not, when we were in the place
of danger.
"That the saying might be fulfilled, which he spake, Of them which thou gavest
me have I lost none" (John 18:9). This "saying" refers not to an Old Testament
prophecy but to that part of His prayer recorded in John 17:12—"While I was
18

with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I
have kept, and none of them is lost." Though this has a peculiar respect unto the
apostles, it is true of all God’s elect, who are given to Christ, and none of them
shall be lost, neither their souls nor their bodies; for Christ’s charge of them
reaches to both: both were given to Him, both are redeemed by Him, and both
shall be saved by Him with an everlasting salvation; He saves their souls from
eternal death, and will raise their bodies from corporeal death; therefore, that
His care of His disciples, with respect to their temporal lives as well as eternal
happiness, might be seen, He made this agreement with those who came to take
Him, or rather laid this injunction upon them, to dismiss them and which it is
very remarkable they did, for they laid hands on none of them, even though
Peter drew his sword and struck off the ear of one of them. Thus did Christ give
another signal proof of His power over the spirits of men to restrain them; and
thus did He again make manifest His Deity.
"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" (John 18:10). Peter
exercised a zeal which was not regulated by knowledge: it was the self-confident
energy of the flesh acting in unconsidered haste. It was the inevitable outcome of
his failure to heed Christ’s word, "Watch and pray, lest ye enter into
temptation"—it is failure to pray which so often brings us into temptation! Had
Peter observed the ways of his Master and heeded His words, he would have
learned that carnal weapons had no place in the fight to which He has called him
and us. Had he marked the wonderful grace which He had just displayed in
providing for the safety of His own, he would have seen that this was no time for
smiting with the sword. What a fearful warning is this to every Christian for the
need of walking in the Spirit, that we fulfill not the lusts of the flesh! The flesh is
still in the believer, and a lasting object-lesson of this is the humbling history of
Peter—rash yet courageous when he should have been still; a few hours later,
cowardly and base when he ought to have witnessed a good confession for Christ.
But though Peter failed to act according to grace, the grace of God was signally
manifested towards him. No doubt Peter struck with the intention of slaying
Malchus—probably the first to lay hands on the Savior—but an unseen Power
deflected the blow, and instead of the priest’s servant being beheaded he lost
only an ear, and that was permitted so that a further opportunity might be
afforded the Lord Jesus of manifesting both His tender mercy and all-mighty
power. We may add that the life of Malchus was safe while Christ was there, for
none ever died in His presence!
"Then Simon Peter having a sword drew it, and smote the high priest’s servant,
and cut off his right ear." The sequel to this is supplied by Luke: "and he
touched his ear, and healed him" (Luke 22:51)! Very striking indeed is this; it
rendered the more excuseless the act of those who arrested Him, aggravating
their sin and deepening their guilt. Christ manifested both His power and His
grace before they laid hands on Him. This act of healing Malthus’ ear was the
last miracle of the Savior before He laid down His life. First, He appealed to their
consciences, now to their hearts; but once they had seized their prey He left them
to their own evil lusts.
"Then said Jesus unto Peter, Put up thy sword into the sheath" (John 18:11).
This was a rebuke, though mildly administered. Peter had done his best to nullify
his Master’s orders, "Let these go their way." He had given great provocation to
19

this company armed with swords and staves: he had acted wrongly in resisting
authority, in having recourse to force, in imagining that the Son of God needed
any assistance from him. "Put up thy sword into the sheath": the only "sword"
which the Christian is ever justified in using is the Sword of the Spirit, the Word
of God.
"The cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?" (John 18:11).
How blessedly this entire incident brings out the varied glories of Christ: perfect
supremacy and perfect subjection. He declared Himself the great "I am," and
His enemies fall to the ground; He gives the word of command, and His disciples
depart unmolested. Now He bows before the will of the Father, and receives the
awful cup of suffering and woe from His hand without a murmur. Never did
such Perfections meet in any other; Sovereign, yet Servant; the Lion-Lamb!
God’s dispensations are frequently expressed as a cup poured out and given to
men to drink. There are three "cups" spoken of in Scripture. First, there is the
cup of salvation: "I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the
Lord" (Ps. 116:13). Second, there is the cup of consolation: "Neither shall men
tear themselves for them in mourning, to comfort them for the dead; neither
shall men give them the cup of consolation to drink for their father or for their
mother" (Jer. 16:7). To this the Psalmist referred: "My cup runneth over" (Ps.
23:5). Our Lord Himself used the same figure, previously when He said, "Father,
if it be possible let this cup pass from me" (Matthew 26:39). It was a dreadful
cup which He was to drink of. Third is the cup of tribulation: Upon the wicked
he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest; this shall be
the portion of their cup" (Ps. 11:6). So the prophet Jeremiah is bidden, "Take
the wine cup of this fury at my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send
thee, to drink it" (Jer. 25:15; cf. Psalm 75:8).
"The cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?" "He doth not
say, A necessity is laid upon Me to drink this cup. He doth not simply say, My
Father hath commanded Me to drink it, but, ‘shall I not drink it?’ It is a speech
that implies His spirit knew not how to do otherwise than obey His Father, such
an instinct that He could not but choose to do it. Even just as Joseph said, ‘how
then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?’ (Gen. 39:9), so Christ
here, ‘shall I not drink it?’ It implies the highest willingness that can be" (Mr.
Thomas Goodwin).
"The cup which My Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?" What a lesson
Christ here teaches us. The Serpent was about to bruise His heel; the Gentiles
were about to mock and scourge Him; the Jews cry, Away with Him. But the
Savior looks beyond all secondary causes direct to Him of whom and through
whom and to whom were all things (Rom. 11:36). Peter’s eyes were upon the
human adversaries; but no, He saith to Peter, there is a higher Hand in it.
Moreover, He did not say, "which the Judge of all the earth giveth me," but "my
Father"—the One who dearly loveth Me! How this would sweeten our bitter
cups if we would but receive them from the Father’s hand! It is not until we see
His hand in all things that the heart is made to rest in perfect peace.
COFFMAN, "This chapter records the betrayal and seizure of Jesus (John
18:1-11), the arraignment before Annas (John 18:12-14), Peter's first denial
(John 18:15-18), questioning by Annas (John 18:19-24), Peter's second and third
20

denials (John 18:25-27), Jesus' appearance before Caiaphas and before Pilate
(John 18:28-32), Pilate's questioning of Jesus (John 18:33-38) and vain efforts of
Pilate to release Jesus (John 18:38-40).
John emphasized the regal bearing and demeanor of the Lord even in the hours
of his humiliation; and from this some have alleged that he omitted the agony in
the garden as unbecoming the impression of Jesus he wished to portray, but that
view is illogical in the light of his record of the Lord's being slapped by an officer
in the presence of Annas. The logical and obvious reason for the many omissions
of details like the agony is found in the widespread knowledge of such details
already recorded in the synoptics.
Another alleged difficulty derives from Peter's denial having occurred before
Annas in John, and in the palace of Caiaphas in the synoptics. This is fully
resolved by the fact that Annas and Caiaphas occupied the same palace, and the
courtyard where Peter denied the Lord was in front of both apartments, that of
Annas and that of his son-in-law, Caiaphas. (See my Commentary on Matthew,
Matthew 26:57.)
That Annas and Caiaphas occupied the same palace, or different portions of the
same edifice, solves the chief difficulty. Annas held his preliminary unofficial
inquiry in his department of the building.[1]
The other difficulty, not the "chief" difficulty mentioned by Reynolds, regards
the use of the title "high priest" for Annas (John 18:19); but this is not a
difficulty at all in view of the prevailing prejudice of the Jews who still regarded
Annas as the real high priest. John's acquaintance with the high priest (Annas)
which surfaces in this chapter would certainly have inclined him to use this title
in speaking of him; and this also explains the somewhat derogatory designation
of Caiaphas as "high priest that year" (John 18:13). The officer who struck
Jesus (John 18:22), being one of Annas' retainers, would certainly not have
referred to his boss otherwise than as "high priest." Thus, like all so-called
difficulties in the Bible, these alleged problems disappear in the light of a little
study.
ENDNOTE:
[1] H. R. Reynolds, The Pulpit Commentary (Grand Rapids: William B.
Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1962), Vol. 17, II, p. 385.
When Jesus had spoken these words, he went forth with his disciples over the
brook Kidron, where was a garden which he entered, himself and his disciples.
(John 18:1)
These words ... refer to the entire farewell discourse just concluded.
The brook Kidron ... This was a "winter torrent" (English Revised Version
margin), meaning that it was dry most of the year. It flowed by the southeast
wall of the city, and between it and the Mount of Olives.[2] It was down this little
valley that David fled from the rebellion of his son Absalom (2 Samuel 15:23);
21

here Asa burned the abominable image (1 Kings 15:3); and near here, Josiah
caused the idolatrous vessels to be burned (2 Kings 23:4). In the reign of
Hezekiah, the Levites carried the unclean things to this valley (2 Chronicles
29:16); and Jeremiah called it "the valley of the dead bones and of the ashes"
(Jeremiah 31:40), adding that this valley should be "holy unto the Lord."
There was a garden ... It was in the garden of Eden that Paradise was lost, and
now it would be recovered in another garden where Jesus was strengthened
through tears and blood to pay the price of human redemption. There an angel
helped him to prepare for the ordeal of Calvary (Luke 22:43). Contrasting with
the garden in Eden, this one was situated in the valley of Kidron with its
overtones of shame and uncleanness; but this one was "holy unto the Lord," for
here he found supernatural help through the angelic messenger who aided him
to overcome through tears and blood.
ENDNOTE:
[2] William Hendriksen, Exposition of the Gospel according to John (Grand
Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1961), II, p. 375.
BI, "Then Pilate, therefore, took Jesus and scourged Him.
Pilate’s second attempt to rescue Christ
I. A SHAMEFUL INFLICTION on Jesus. Scourging and mockery (Joh_19:1-3).
1. The character of it.
(1) Severe.
(2) Insulting.
(3) Illegal—because Christ had been pronounced innocent.
2. The object of it
(1) As preliminary to execution.
(2) As a method of examination. Pilate may have hoped that this would elicit
from Christ something which would either secure His release or justify His
crucifixion.
(3) As a means of appeasing the Jews.
II. AN EARNEST APPEAL (Joh_19:4-5) to the Jews. Setting Christ before them,
clothed in purple, crowned with thorns, a mocking king of woe, he appeals to
1. Their sense of justice.
2. Their feelings of compassion—“Behold the Man!—have you no pity?”
3. Their perception of truth. Was it reasonable that that meek Prisoner should be
a rival to Caesar?
III. A HOPEFUL DECISION by Pilate (Joh_19:6).
1. The fierce demand “Crucify Him!” A week ago they cried Hosannah.
2. The firm reply “Take ye Him.” Pilate again refuses to incarnadine his hands.
Only, Pilate, having put thy foot down, pray heaven for strength to keep it fast.
22

3. The forceful reason “I find no crime in Him.” If those blood-thirsty ruffians
will have Him crucified they must do it themselves.
Learn
1. The certainty that Christ’s words will be fulfilled. Six months before He had
predicted this (Mat_20:19).
2. The depth of humiliation to which Christ stooped for men.
3. The difficulty felt by even wicked men in doing crimes. Conscience “makes a
man a coward … fills one full of obstacles … beggars any [wicked] man that keeps
it” (“Richard III.” Act_1:1-26. scene 4).
4. The moral insensibility which men professing religion may at times exhibit. (T.
Whitelaw, D. D.)
A wonderful picture
Like every great historical picture, this one contains special points for special
attention. It contains three lifelike portraits.
I. THAT OF OUR LORD HIMSELF. We see the Saviour scourged, crowned with
thorns, &c. Yet this was He whom angels delighted to honour, and who spent His
time in going about doing good. Surely the sun never shone on a more wondrous
sight.
1. Let us admire that love of Christ which “passeth knowledge.” There is no
earthly love with which it can be compared, and no standard by which to measure
it.
2. Never let us forget, when we ponder this tale of suffering, that Jesus suffered
for our sins, and that with His stripes we are healed.
3. Let us diligently follow the example of His patience in all the trials and
afflictions of life, and especially in those which may be brought upon us by
religion. When He was reviled, He reviled not again.
II. THAT OF THE UNBELIEVING JEWS. We see them for three or four long hours
obstinately rejecting Pilate’s offer to release our Lord—fiercely demanding His
crucifixion—declaring that they had no king but Caesar—and finally accumulating on
their own heads the greater part of the guilt of His murder. Yet these were the
children of Israel and the seed of Abraham, to whom pertained the promises, &c.
These were men who professed to look for a “Prophet like unto Moses,” and a “Son of
David,” who was to set up a kingdom as Messiah. Never, surely, was there such an
exhibition of the depth of human wickedness. Let us mark the danger of long-
continued rejection of light and knowledge. There is such a thing as judicial
blindness; and it is the last and sorest judgment which God can send upon men. He
who, like Pharaoh and Ahab, is often reproved but refuses to receive reproof, will
finally have a heart harder than the nether millstone, and a conscience past feeling,
and seared as with a hot iron (Pro_1:24-26; 2Th_2:11).
III. THAT OF PONTIUS PILATE. We see the Roman governor—a man of rank and
high position—halting between two opinions in a case as clear as the sun at noon-
day, sanctioning from sheer cowardice an enormous crime—and finally
countenancing, from love of man’s good opinion, the murder of an innocent person.
Never perhaps did human nature make such a contemptible exhibition. Never was
there a name so justly handed down to a world’s scorn as the name which is
23

embalmed in all our creeds.
1. Let us learn what miserable creatures great men are, when they have no high
principles within them, and no faith in the reality of a God above them. The
meanest labourer who fears God is a nobler being than the king, ruler, or
statesman, whose first aim is to please the people.
2. Let us pray that our own country may never be without men in high places
who have grace to think right, and courage to act up to their knowledge, without
truckling to the opinion of men. (Bp. Ryle.)
A threefold type of sinners
I. THOSE WHO SIN AGAINST CONVICTION. To this class Pilate belonged. To do
this is
1. Hard work. How difficult did Pilate find it!
2. Fiendish work. Satan and his legions do it.
II. THOSE WHO SIN FROM CONVICTION. Such were the chief priests and officers,
&c. Innumerable heathen, heretics, persecutors believe they are doing right whilst
they are perpetrating the greatest enormities. There are no crimes blacker than those
enacted from religious convictions.
III. THOSE WHO SIN WITHOUT CONVICTION—the soldiers and the thoughtless
rabble. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
Pilate taking Jesus
1. The surrender of innocence.
2. The triumph of malice.
3. The abuse of authority. (S. S. Times.)
Took Jesus
1. From whose custody?
2. For what purpose?
3. On what grounds?
4. With what results? (S. S. Times.)
Jesus delivered to be crucified
Shows
I. THE PERPLEXITY AND SHAME LIKELY TO BE EXPERIENCED BY ONE WHO
ACTS FROM SELFISH EXPEDIENCY INSTEAD OF HIS CONVICTIONS OF RIGHT.
Poor mockery of a ruler! Set by the Eternal to do right upon earth, and afraid to do it;
told so by his own bosom; strong enough in his legions and in the truth itself to have
saved the Innocent One and kept his own soul, he could only think of the apparently
expedient! Type of the politician in all ages, who forgets that only the right is the
24

strong or the wise.
II. THE POWER OF POPULAR CLAMOUR, AND THE NECESSITY AT TIMES OF
RESISTING IT. Very impressive is the voice of a multitude. Its applause is
intoxicating, its condemnation dreadful, its strenuous demand most difficult to deny.
When this voice represents the ripe moral sentiment of an intelligent people, or when
it is the swift, honest judgment of that people in regard to wrong, then Vox populi est
vox Dei. But the clamour by which Pilate was swayed was a different thing. It was the
voice of a mob inflamed by passion, worked upon by wicked and crafty leaders—the
voice of Satan. Whenever a crowd is foolish or mad, has a cumulative force, and
reaches a colossal magnitude. Hence the horrors of the French revolution, and the
toleration and support given now and then by the people of a nation to great wrongs.
In such cases public opinion is not to be heeded. “Thou shalt not follow a multitude
to do evil.” It is well then to stand up like Luther at Worms and say, “To act against
conscience is unsafe and unholy. Here stand I, God help me. Amen.” This was the
spirit of the apostles, martyrs, and reformers.
III. THAT CHRIST’S CLAIM TO KINGSHIP, WHICH EXCITED SUCH RIDICULE,
WAS A TRUE AND VALID CLAIM. Some of the most precious doctrines were first
uttered in derision. The grace of Christ to sinners was the subject of a sneer—“He
receiveth sinners,” &c. The necessity which constrained Him to die for the salvation
of man was set forth in the jeer, “He saved others, Himself He cannot save.” Here
before Pilate His claim of Kingship was made the occasion of brutal merriment. But
Jesus was indeed a King! As such He came attended by a retinue of angels, and
inquired for by the wise men. Through all the centuries since His kingly dignity has
been owned. When the Crusaders proposed to crown Geoffrey of Bouillon king of
Jerusalem, Geoffrey said, “I will not wear a crown of gold in the city where my
Saviour had a crown of thorns!” He is
1. A beneficent King. He rules in the interests of His subjects. “Woe to the
conquered” was the old cry. But Christ’s conquests bring good to the conquered.
The more perfect their submission, the more perfect their felicity.
2. A perpetual King. His throne is established for ever. “Conceive of Caesar,” said
Napoleon, “the eternal emperor watching over the destinies of Rome. Such is the
power of Christ.”
3. His kingdom is constantly advancing. Because the tide ebbs, no intelligent
man, viewing the naked sand, would say, “The sea is losing its dominion.” He
would answer, “Wait awhile,” confident that it would reoccupy its lost ground. So
with Christianity. In Damascus there is a mosque which was once a Church. Over
its portal the Christian inscription still stands—“Thy kingdom, O Christ, is an
everlasting kingdom, and Thy dominion endureth through all generations.” For
twelve centuries that writing has been contradicted, seemingly, and probably the
Moslem has suffered it to remain to convict Christianity of a vain boast. But that
inscription may be regarded as a solemn prophecy that the Moslem sway is but
temporary, and that the faith which has been driven from its sanctuary will
return. Even now the signs of its return appear.
IV. THE SPIRITUAL CHARACTER OF CHRIST’S KINGDOM. He explicitly said to
Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world,” &c. But He did not leave His cause
impotent and defenceless. There are other forces besides armed battalions. The Word
of God, the Spirit of truth, the religious faculties on which they act, faith, hope, love,
duty, sacrifice, and prayer; by means of these Christ sent forth His apostles to
conquer the world. Christ’s patience, self-restraint, and forgiving Spirit were potent
even at His trial and crucifixion. They invested Him with that majesty which could
not be obscured by indignities, which awed the scoffing Pilate into respect, and
25

moved him to an unwonted desire to do justly; which brought the thief on the cross
to repentance, and led the centurion to exclaim, “Truly, this was the Son of God.”
And in proportion as the followers of Christ have trusted these forces, they have been
successful. Alliance with secular power, or reliance on physical force, has proved
disastrous. (Sermons by the Monday Club.)
COKE, "John 18:1-2. He went forth with his disciples— When the intercessory
prayer was ended, Jesus and his disciples came down from the mount of Olives
into a field below, called Gethsemane. Through this field the brook Cedron ran,
and in it, on the other side of the brook, was a garden, commonly called by the
name of the Garden of Gethsemane; concerning which see the note on Matthew
26:36. It was the brook Cedron, which David, a type of Christ, went over with
the people, weeping, in his flight from Absalom. Jesus we are told resorted to the
garden of Gethsemane, which probably belonged to one of Christ's friends, and
to which he had a liberty of retiring whenever he pleased: here accordingly he
often used to spend some considerable time in prayer and pious converse, in the
evenings or nights, after his indefatigable labours in the city and temple by day.
It is indeed amazing how flesh and blood could go through such incessant
fatigues: but it is very probable that Christ might exert some miraculous power
over his own animal nature, to strengthen it for such difficult services, and to
preserve it in health and vigour; otherwise the copious dews, which fall by night
in those parts, must have been very dangerous, especially when the body was
heated by preaching in the day, and often by travelling several miles on fo
NISBET, "GETHSEMANE
‘Jesus … went forth with His disciples over the brook Cedron, where was a
garden.’
John 18:1
I. Sorrow experienced.—The agony and bloody sweat (Matthew 26:36; Luke
22:44).
II. Indignity suffered.—The traitor’s kiss (Matthew 26:49) and the soldiers’
assault (John 18:3; John 18:12).
III. Majesty displayed.—Christ’s advance towards the band (John 18:4) and
announcement of Himself (John 18:5-6).
IV. Power exerted.—The hurling of the band to the ground (John 18:6) and the
restraining of them while the disciples escaped (John 18:8).
V. Love manifested.—Christ’s care for His own. ‘Let these go their way’ (John
18:8).
26

VI. Mercy extended.—The healing of the servant’s ear (Luke 22:51).
VII. Submission rendered.—The drinking of the Father’s cup (John 18:11).
Illustration
‘A great painter, who painted the Man of Sorrows, as an act of the highest
worship, showed at once his genius and his reverence by hiding the marred
visage, leaving the less noble parts to reveal the agony that had broken His heart.
So to us Gethsemane ought ever to be a veiled holy of holies, to be visited, if at
all, only at moments when we can look with purified eyes, and allow the meaning
of the Saviour in His Passion to steal softly into our minds. We are here on holy
ground, and must stand, as it were, in spirit, bareheaded and barefooted,
reverent while inquiring.’
(SECOND OUTLINE)
THE SHADOWED GARDEN
From Bethlehem to Calvary Christ’s way was one long Via Dolorosa—the
shadow of the Cross was flung before each onward step—but here is agony and
bloody sweat indeed, and we may well believe that
‘Weeping angels stood confounded
To behold their Maker thus.’
I. Gethsemane speaks to those who have been led by grace to feel the sinfulness
of sin.—It is here and at the Cross that we do indeed see sin in its true colours.
Here we see the sinless Christ bowed down with horror to the ground—no
sorrow is like unto His sorrow—exceeding great and bitter are His cries. If He
were only an example, a hero, a martyr, He showed less heroism than many a
martyr. Socrates, Polycarp, Huss, displayed greater courage. But Christ and His
unexampled sorrow, Christ and His unknown agony, what does it all mean? It
means that ‘Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a
curse for us.’ (Galatians 3:13).
II. Gethsemane speaks to the lonely.—It may be you feel desolate and sad. The
desire of your eyes has been taken from you, and you are alone. You try to keep
up before the world, but often bitter tears fall down your cheeks. Now, if you are
a disciple of Jesus, remember the disciple is not above his Master. Go and sit
among the shadows of Gethsemane, and as you hear the wind moaning through
the trees look around and let your eyes fall on Christ. He was there before you.
He knows what it is to be desolate and low. When your heart is overwhelmed
think of that prostrate Form beneath the olives of Gethsemane. In His agony
27

your Lord prayed there three several times. And herein He set you an example:
Go and pray, for you are never so near Christ as when you are drawing near to
Him in prayer. ‘Could you not watch with Him one hour?’ (Matthew 26:40). Go
and pray, and you will realise the joy and strength and peace of prayer. Go and
pray, and you will know in very deed the Christ of Gethsemane can comfort the
lonely and sad. Go and pray, and you will find that what begins in prayer will
end in praise.
III. Gethsemane speaks to the tempted.—All God’s children pass through the
furnace of temptation; all true gold must feel the fire; all good wheat must be
threshed; all diamonds must be cut. But the Lord Jesus is able to sympathise
with His tempted people, for ‘He knows what sore temptations mean.’ If you
were very ill, would you care to be nursed by one who never felt a thrill of pain?
Job’s friends could not comfort him, because they were utterly unable to
understand his sufferings. But Christ possesses an ability to succour, arising out
of knowledge gained by experience. ‘For in that He Himself hath suffered being
tempted, He is able to succour them that are tempted’ (Hebrews 2:18). The Lord
Himself knows the power of Satan; and it is a mercy indeed that He has bruised
the head of the serpent, and that He will give His children strength to tread on
the lion and adder, and to trample the dragon under their feet.
—Rev. F. Harper.
Illustration
‘Oh, what wonders love has done!
But how little understood!
God well knows, and God alone,
What produced that sweat of blood.
Who can thy deep wonders see,
Wonderful Gethsemane?
Here’s my claim, and here alone;
None a Saviour more can need.
Deeds of righteousness I’ve none;
No, not one good work to plead.
Not a glimpse of hope for me,
Only in Gethsemane.
Saviour, all the stone remove
From my flinty, frozen heart;
Thaw it with the beams of love,
28

Pierce it with a blood-dipped dart.
Wound the heart that wounded Thee,
Melt it in Gethsemane.’
LIGHTFOOT, "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.
[Over the brook Cedron.] There is a question among expositors about the article
in the plural number, and the accent in Cedron; and that upon this occasion,
that it might not be thought as if any relation were to be had here to Cedars,
wherein one hath been deceived when he thus comments upon it: "It is called the
brook Cedron, that is, of Cedars, that grow there." So also the Arab. Interp. in
this place, over the brook of Cedar. But in 2 Samuel 15:23, and 1 Kings 2:37, he
retains the word Cedron.
Amongst the Talmudists, kedar signifies dung: where the Gloss renders kedar by
the easing of nature. Aruch renders it by dung: and the sense of that clause is,
More die of inconvenient easing nature than of hunger. I would not affirm that
the word kedar was used in this sense in the primitive denomination of the brook
Kidron; but rather that the brook was called so from blackness; the waters being
blackened by the mud and dirt that ran into it; it being, indeed, rather the sink
or common sewer of the city than a brook.
But when the word kedar was used for dung, which it might be at that time when
the Greek version was made, perhaps those interpreters might translate the
Hebrew word into Greek, which is not unusual with them; so that the brook
Cedron might be the same with them as the brook of filth.
[Where was a garden.] The grandees of the nation had their gardens and places
of pleasure about the city, yea, even in the mount of Olives: for there were none
within the city itself. "The blood that was over and above, after the sprinkling of
the inward altar, was poured out towards the foundation on the west of the
outward altar. And the blood that was over and above at the outward altar was
poured out at the foot of it on the south side: and both the one and the other
meeting together ran down through a conveyance under ground into the brook
Kidron; and was sold to the gardeners to dung their gardens with; which having
bought they used for that purpose."
For the blood, having been once dedicated to sacred use, might not be put to any
common use without trespass; so that the gardeners paid so much money for it as
would purchase a trespass offering.
29

2 Now Judas, who betrayed him, knew the
place, because Jesus had often met there with
his disciples.
BARNES, "Jesus ofttimes resorted thither - For what purpose he went there
is not declared, but it is probable that it was for retirement and prayer. He had no
home in the city, and he sought this place, away from the bustle and confusion of the
capital, for private communion with God. Every Christian should have some place -
be it a grove, a room, or a garden - where he may be alone and offer his devotions to
God. We are not told much of the private habits of Jesus, but we are permitted to
know so much of him as to be assured that he was accustomed to seek for a place of
retirement, and during the great feasts of the Jews the Mount of Olives was the place
which he chose, Luk_21:37; Mat_21:17; Joh_8:1.
CLARKE, "Judas - knew the place - As many had come from different
quarters to celebrate the passover at Jerusalem, it could not be an easy matter to find
lodging in the city: Jesus therefore chose to pass the night in the garden with his
disciples which, from this verse, and from Luk_22:39, we find was his frequent
custom, though he often lodged in Bethany. But, as he had supped in the city this
evening, Judas took it for granted that he had not gone to Bethany, and therefore was
to be met with in the garden; and, having given this information to the priests, they
gave him some soldiers and others that he might be the better enabled to seize and
bring him away.
GILL, "And Judas also which betrayed him, knew the place,.... This
character is given of Judas, to distinguish him from another disciple of the same
name; and though as yet he had not betrayed him, yet it was determined he should,
and Christ knew it, and he was now about to do it: and it is observed, that Judas was
as well acquainted with the place of Christ's resort, and knew the garden he
frequently retired to, as the rest of the disciples; to show that Christ did not go there
to hide and secure himself from him, but to meet him, and that he might have an
opportunity of finding him with the greater case:
for Jesus often times resorted thither with his disciples; when at Jerusalem
at any of the feasts, and at this festival; partly for refreshment and rest after he had
been preaching in the temple, and partly for prayer, and also for private conversation
with his disciples.
JAMISON, "Judas ... knew the place, for Jesus ofttimes — see Joh_8:1;
Luk_21:37.
resorted thither with his disciples — The baseness of this abuse of knowledge
30

in Judas, derived from admission to the closest privacies of his Master, is most
touchingly conveyed here, though nothing beyond bare narrative is expressed. Jesus,
however, knowing that in this spot Judas would expect to find Him, instead of
avoiding it, hies Him thither, as a Lamb to the slaughter. “No man taketh My life
from Me, but I lay it down of Myself” (Joh_10:18). Besides, the scene which was to
fill up the little breathing-time, the awful interval, between the Supper and the
Apprehension - like the “silence in heaven for about the space of half an hour”
between the breaking of the Apocalyptic Seals and the peal of the Trumpets of war
(Rev_8:1) - the AGONY - would have been too terrible for the upper room; nor would
He cloud the delightful associations of the last Passover and the first Supper by
pouring out the anguish of His soul there. The garden, however, with its amplitude,
its shady olives, its endeared associations, would be congenial to His heart. Here He
had room enough to retire - first, from eight of them, and then from the more
favored three; and here, when that mysterious scene was over, the stillness would
only be broken by the tread of the traitor.
3 So Judas came to the garden, guiding a
detachment of soldiers and some officials from
the chief priests and the Pharisees. They were
carrying torches, lanterns and weapons.
BARNES, "A band - See the notes at Mat_26:47; Mat_27:27. John passes over
the agony of Jesus in the garden, probably because it was so fully described by the
other evangelists.
Lanterns ... - This was the time of the full moon, but it might have been cloudy,
and their taking lights with them shows their determination to find him.
CLARKE, "A band - Την σπειραν, The band or troop. Some think that the spira
was the same as the Roman cohort, and was the tenth part of a legion, which
consisted sometimes of 4200, and sometimes of 5000 foot. But Raphelius, on Mat_
27:27, has clearly proved, from Polybius, that the spira was no more than a tenth of
the fourth part of a legion. And as the number of the legion was uncertain, and their
divisions not at all equal, no person can tell how many the band or spira contained.
See many curious particulars in Raphelius on this point, vol. i. p. 351, edit. 1747. This
band was probably those Roman soldiers given by the governor for the defense of the
temple; and the officers were those who belonged to the Sanhedrin.
With lanterns and torches - With these they had intended to search the
corners and caverns, provided Christ had hidden himself; for they could not have
needed them for any other purpose, it being now the fourteenth day of the moon’s
age, in the month Nisan, and consequently she appeared full and bright. The
weapons mentioned here were probably no other than clubs, staves, and instruments
of that kind, as we may gather from Mat_26:55; Mar_14:48; Luk_22:52. The swords
31

John 18 commentary

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (20)

Similar to John 18 commentary

Similar to John 18 commentary (20)

More from GLENN PEASE

More from GLENN PEASE (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

John 18 commentary