In The Garden With Jesus

In The Garden With Jesus

John 18.1-2

Photo Garden of Gethsemane 

18 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.

2 Now Judas, who betrayed him, knew the place, because Jesus had often met there with his disciples.

Judas knew that place.  Judas had been part of the meetings there. Jesus had regularly gathered His disciples in that place at the foot of the Mount of Olives, just across the Brook Kidron. 

Jesus had places where He prayed. In Galilee it was in the mountains, a solitary place where we find the Master (Mark 1.35). In Jerusalem it was the Garden of Gethsemane where He could find peace and quiet, a place to talk to His Father in Heaven, a place to be alone with God.

We think of the Garden of Gethsemane as the place where Jesus prayed and then was arrested. It was that. Pictures have been painted and stained glass windows made depicting those moments. The suffering Jesus went through that night was agonizing beyond measure. It was there, we know, He sweat drops of blood as the capillaries burst and the perspiration mixed with the blood. This is actual medical condition called Hematohidrosis. This can happen when a person is under great stress. The crushing experience He went through in the Garden of Gethsemane brought this about. 

About crushing experiences in our lives... called Gethsemane; that is, the olive press, where olives are crushed.

Jesus’ words in the Garden in Mark 14.34 "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death," He said to them. "Stay here and keep watch."

Paul wrote about his crushing experiences in II Corinthians 1.9 “Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, Who raises the dead.”

There is one word here in the verses we read I want to zero in on. It is the word, “often”. Some versions have ofttimes. It means  abundant, plenteous, many, numerous.

This was something Jesus did on a regular basis when He was in Jerusalem. Many times, numerous times He went to the Garden of Gethsemane with His disciples. There is no record of Him ever sleeping in the city. He stayed with Mary, Martha and Lazarus in Bethany during Holy Week and probably on other visits as well. When He wasn’t in Bethany we are told of Him being on the Mount of Olives, no doubt this Garden. (Luke 21.37) Each day Jesus was teaching at the temple, and each evening He went out to spend the night on the hill called the Mount of Olives.

Here we are told in one word that there were many times that He and His disciples met there. The place was so well known that Judas led the mob there to arrest Him.

The NIV says that He often met there with His disciples. The KJV used the word resorted for met. The idea is to lead one away and be together, even to the point of celebrating.

The place of our Lord’s frequent retirement for private prayer  and rest was well known to Judas, who had often gone there with his Lord and his fellow disciples. -Spurgeon

1. We All Need A Place We Can Find Refuge In.

Gardens are great

Bay and the Ocean

Backyards

Place in the house where we can be along.

Mountains

A Sacred Place

David had a number. We worship God in Spirit and in Truth wherever we are. These places are special because we go there and that is what is primarily on our minds, to spend time with the LORD, hanging out with Him, listening to Him. That old hymn I Come to the Garden captures this.

Psalm 42.7 

Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me. Photo of Waterfalls at Mount Hermon

2. We Have This Need To Be With The LORD.

I think that for many years I looked at the Quiet Time as an obligation, not as a privilege and great blessing. Doing my devotions. Now I understand more, much more of what it is and how I look forward to that special time with Jesus.

Jesus’ words to His Disciples in Galilee... 

Mark 6.30 The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught.31 Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”

32 So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place.

We Have This Need to Be Alone With Him.

Mark 4.34 When they were alone, He expounded all things to His disciples.

This need, like to the need to eat, is no a drudgery or an obligation to endure. It is a joy and a delight. It is a time of communion and learning. It is a time of feeling at home in the Presence of Jesus. Last night eating at my son-in-law’s new restaurant with his father and my other son-in-law.

Make Time For God

Make sure you make time for God. Those who are important positions are often busy and will be tempted to leave time for communion with God until last. Guess what? You will never have any time for God. Be firm with yourself. Don't let the confusion of the day crowd out your time with God. That may sound too strict, but you will soon fall apart if you don't listen to what I have to say about this.  -Fenelon

3. We All Need to Go To That Quiet Place Often.

Regularly

 Luke 5.15But despite Jesus’ instructions, the report of his power spread even faster, and vast crowds came to hear him preach and to be healed of their diseases. 16But Jesus often withdrew to the wilderness for prayer.

Often= to make room, to give place

Be firm with yourself. Don’t let the confusion of the day crowd out your time with God.

Physical exercise is hard to at times, spiritual exercise even harder until we get rolling.

Its the often that we sometimes struggle with. Form the good habit of meeting Christ each day and looking to Him.

I would have loved to be in on the conversations over the years that Jesus and the 12 went to Jerusalem for the feasts and met there in the Garden of Gethsemane at the foot of the Mount of Olives.

Keep your life so constant in its contact with God that His surprising Power may break out on the right hand and on the left. Always be in a state of expectancy, and see that you leave room for God to come in as He likes.

-Oswald Chambers

Text from Erika about their nephew the doctor in the Dominican Republic.

We can meet with Him today in our Gardens. He walks with us and He talks with us and He tells us that we are His own. And the joy we share as we tarry there, none other has ever known.

His surprising power.