SERIES: AN EXPOSITION OF JOHN 18 & 19 – MAN OF SORROWS

THE GARDEN OF SORROW JOHN 18:1-11

INTRODUCTION
From hereon we engage the Man of Sorrow. We now enter on the closing
scene of the Lord’s ministry. It is the story/history of the cross. Christ’s High
Priestly work moves from intercession to offering sacrifice – He is the Perfect
High Priest indeed. The office of the Priest is to teach, pray and make
sacrifices. He had taught and prayed and now is ready to apply/offer Himself
to make atonement; to substitute Himself as the sacrificial lamb. In Biblical
Theology we talk of both the Active Obedience of Christ where He lives
under the law to fulfil all of its requirements necessary to obtain the perfect
righteous demand of God. Then, we have the Passive Obedience where
Christ takes on the full weight of the consequence of disobedience to God’s
law. He willingly and voluntarily bears the punishment due for transgressing
the law or sinning against God. This event in the Garden of Gethsemane
begins Christ’s passive obedience where He anguishes but submits willingly
to God’s will and protects His own.

We read Hebrews 5:7-10 and see a summary of the event and all that would
transpire thereafter up till on the cross. This is the Passion of the Christ. We
are introduced to The Man of Sorrows written of in Isaiah 53:3ff to be the
lamentation/confession of the true Israelites.

In Gethsemane, Jesus agonized and wept, but committed Himself to do the

Father’s will in accepting the cup of suffering which would bring His death
(Matt. 26:38–46; Luke 22:44, 45). Anticipating bearing the burden of
judgment for sin, Jesus felt its fullest pain and grief (cf. Is. 52:14; 53:3–5, 10).
Though He bore the penalty in silence and did not seek to deliver Himself
from it (Is. 53:7), He did cry out from the agony of the fury of God’s wrath
poured on His perfectly holy and obedient person (Matt. 27:46; cf. 2 Cor.
5:21). Jesus asked to be saved from remaining in death, i.e., to be resurrected
(cf. Ps. 16:9, 10). 5:8 learned obedience. Christ did not need to suffer in order
to conquer or correct any disobedience. In His deity (as the Son of God), He
understood obedience completely. As the incarnate Lord, He humbled
Himself to learn (cf. Luke 2:52). He learned obedience for the same reasons
He bore temptation: to confirm His humanity and experience its sufferings
to the fullest (see notes on 2:10; cf. Luke 2:52; Phil. 2:8). Christ’s obedience
was also necessary so that He could fulfill all righteousness (Matt. 3:15) and
thus prove to be the perfect sacrifice to take the place of sinners (1 Pet. 3:18).
He was the perfectly righteous One, whose righteousness would be imputed
to sinners (cf. Rom. 3:24–26). 5:9 perfected . . . author of eternal salvation.
See notes on 2:10. Because of the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ and
His perfect sacrifice for sin, He became the cause of salvation. The call is now
to obey Him. True salvation evidences itself in obedience to Christ, from the
initial obedience to the gospel command to repent and believe (cf. Acts 5:32;
Rom. 1:5; 2 Thess. 1:8; 1 Pet. 1:2, 22; 4:17) to a life pattern of obedience to
the Word (cf. Rom. 6:16). 5:10 Quoting from Psalm 110:4 a second time (cf.
v. 6), the writer mentions again the call of God to the priesthood (v. 4).

Augustine says (and I paraphrase) that it is fitting that the blood of the
Physician should be poured out where the disease of the sick man first
commenced – in a Garden! Adam had everything pleasant in the Garden of
Eden but still fell; the Second Adam had everything painful and sorrowful
in the Garden of Gethsemane but was a glorious conqueror. In a garden, we
record the fall; in a garden we record the victory: His passion, betrayal,
arrest, crucifixion and burial all happened in a garden.

All the gospels record the Gethsemane experience (and events going forward
as well) although with omission of some events by some. John omits the
Gethsemane prayer (probably because his was the last gospel record and this
had been included in the other gospel records). Rather, he captures more of
what transpired which were left out by the other gospel records for some
wise reasons.

Vs 1
Christ concludes His discourse and Prayer after the Lord’s Supper
(Chapters 15, 16 and 17). He had taught and prayed and it was now time to
address the other aspect of His High Priestly work – make sacrifice. He goes
forth over a brook named Kidron (named also in the OT) - “Brook” signifies
that it was an intermittent stream that was dry most of the year, but became
a torrent during seasonal rains. This stream ran through the Kidron Valley
between the temple mount on the east of Jerusalem and the Mt. of Olives
further to the east. It is the same Kidron which David passed over weeping
when obliged to flee from Jerusalem during Absalom’s rebellion (2 Samuel
15:23). It is said to be the same way the scape-goat was sent out annually into
the wilderness on the great day of atonement. All scripture point to Christ!
It is to the garden of Gethsemane (which means oil press) He goes – a garden
of olive trees where trees were encouraged to grow in order to provide quiet
shady shelter for tired and poor travellers right there on the side of Mount
Olives. It was a frequent resort for Jesus and His disciples. He had no home
to lay His head…At this point we encounter the agony of Christ’s prayer (left
out by John of course).

READ MATTHEW 26:36-46; MARK 14:32-42; LUKE 22:39-46

26:36 Gethsemane, lit. “oil press.” Christ and His disciples met here frequently
(John 18:2), just across the Kidron Valley from Jerusalem (John 18:1). A
garden of ancient olive trees is there to this day. Judas’ familiarity with Jesus’
patterns enabled him to find Jesus there, even though Christ had not previously
announced His intentions. 26:38 sorrowful, even to death. Jesus’ anguish has
nothing to do with fear of men or the physical torments of the Cross. He is
sorrowful because, within hours, the full cup of divine fury against sin would
be His to drink (see note on v. 39 ). 26:39 this cup. Cf. verse 42. A cup often
symbolizes divine wrath against sin in the OT (Is. 51:17, 22; Jer. 25:15–17, 27–
29; Lam. 4:21, 22; Ezek. 23:31–34; Hab. 2:16). The next day, Christ will “bear
the sins of many” (Heb. 9:28), and the fullness of divine wrath will fall on Him
(Is. 53:10, 11; 2 Cor. 5:21). This is the price of the sin He bore, and He paid it
in full. His cry of anguish in 27:46 reflects the extreme bitterness of the cup of
wrath He is given. not as I will, but as You will. This statement implies no
conflict between the persons of the Godhead. Rather, it reveals graphically how
Christ, in His humanity, voluntarily surrenders His will to the will of the Father
in all things, precisely so there would be no conflict between the divine will and
His desires. there was any conflict between the will of the Father and the will
of the Son. It was a perfectly normal expression of His humanity that He shrank
from the cup of divine wrath (see note on Matt. 26:39 ). But even though the
cup was abhorrent to Him, He willingly took it, because it was the will of the
Father. In this prayer, He was consciously, deliberately, and voluntarily
subjugating all His human desires to the Father’s perfect will…, there was
neither conflict between Father and Son, nor between the deity of Christ and
His human desires.

See John 4:34; 6:38; 8:29

34 Jesus*said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and
to accomplish His work.

38 For
I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of
Him who sent Me.

29
And He who sent Me is with Me; He [a]has not left Me alone, for I always do
the things that are pleasing to Him.”

Philippians 2:8.

8
And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by
becoming obedient to the point of death: death [a]on a cross.
26:41 the flesh is weak. The tenderness of this plea is touching. Christ Himself
is well acquainted with the feeling of human infirmities (Heb. 4:15), yet without
sin. At this very moment, He is locked in a struggle against human passions
which, while not sinful in themselves, must be subjugated to the divine will if
He is to avoid sin.

Thus, there was neither conflict between Father and Son, nor between the deity
of Christ and His human desires.

Luke 22:43-43 are verses related only by Luke, the physician. 22:44 like great
drops of blood. This suggests a dangerous condition known as hematidrosis,
the effusion of blood in one’s perspiration. It can be caused by extreme anguish
or physical strain. Subcutaneous capillaries dilate and burst, mingling blood
with sweat. Christ Himself stated that His distress had brought Him to the
threshold of death (see notes on Matt. 26:38; Mark 14:34; cf. Heb 12:3, 4).
22:45 sleeping from sorrow. Cf. 9:32. The emotional strain was wearing on the
disciples, as well as Christ. Their response, however, was to capitulate to fleshly
cravings. Thus, they gratified their immediate desire for sleep, rather than
staying awake to pray for strength, as Christ had commanded them (v. 40). All
the reasons for their subsequent failure are found in their behavior in the
garden. 22:46 Rise and pray. A tender appeal to the disciples, who in their
weakness were disobeying Him at a critical moment. He may have been
summoning them to a standing posture, to help overcome their drowsiness.
Matthew 26:43 and Mark 14:40 reveal that He again found them sleeping at
least one more time.

His hour had come, and this would be the garden of his agony. The first
Adam felt no anguish in his garden, because he gave in so quickly, but Jesus
knew that to resist this greatest of all temptations, he must suffer.

His hour of literally excruciating suffering to come at Calvary would be

bracketed by emotional and spiritual agony past finding out. Before he
would cry, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” at the great
eclipse of his Father’s light (Mark 15:34), he must first, here in the garden,
make the final choice to subject himself to hell itself. He must embrace the
pain, not just endure it. He must choose the nails and the darkness. He must
step forward to receive his Father’s holy wrath. He must welcome his hour.

If there ever was a holy panic, this is it. He begins to be “greatly distressed
and troubled” (Mark 14:33). Fully human, he confesses, “My soul is very
sorrowful, even to death” (Mark 14:34). “Being in agony” (Luke 22:44), he
falls to the ground and prays that, “if it were possible, the hour might pass
from him” (Mark 14:35).
So great is his torment that “his sweat became like great drops of blood
falling down to the ground” (Luke 22:44). He offers “loud cries and tears”
(Hebrews 5:7). As he hangs by a thread, “there appeared to him an angel
from heaven, strengthening him” (Luke 22:43).
With each passing moment, he is closer to the traitor arriving with his troops.
He will be betrayed into the hands of sinners, and they will enact, for all the
world to see, the very essence of sin itself: assault on God, with intent to kill.
How could each minute in the garden not feel like a lifetime?

Anguish, for Joy?

He knew that hell itself was coming. How then can he, as man, embrace it in
all its horror?

Earlier that very night, he had told his men what his hour would
mean: anguish, for joy.
“When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come,
but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish,
for joy that a human being has been born into the world.” (John 16:21)
In the garden, he still stands on the other side. And yet he speaks, in all the
terror and torment, in all his sorrow and distress, feeling only enough joy to
choose the joy to come. Isaiah had prophesied, “Out of the anguish of his
soul he shall see and be satisfied” (Isaiah 53:11). Duty alone cannot carry
this hour. It will require joy. “For the joy that was set before him [he]
endured the cross” (Hebrews 12:2).
At last he resolves, “Not my will, but yours, be done” (Luke 22:42).

Never Again
Never before had a human heart, mind, and will faced what Jesus did in that
garden. And never again will God require it. His Son’s trip into Gethsemane
is utterly unique from any garden of anguish into which God might lead us.

Now let me address the unbeliever! Those who hate God will soon enough
stand unshielded to face his omnipotent, righteous wrath. But they will never
do so on another’s behalf. And they will never do so for the joy set before
them, from love for the Father and his people.

Dear believer. Never again will God walk one of his children through this
garden of the shadow of death. We very well might give our own lives in this
world to save others here, but we cannot choose God’s wrath in place of
another’s sin. What Jesus did on that Thursday evening is utterly unique.

And yet this is Thursday of the Command: “Just as I have loved you, you also
are to love one another.”

Our Joy to Echo Such Love

Jesus’s garden will not be ours. His hour will not fall to us. But having been
loved like this, how can we not love one another? How can we not, as the
beneficiaries of Christ’s irreplaceable sacrifice, ache to empty our own selves
for another’s good? Having tasted such fullness from him, how can we not
gladly pour out to meet the needs of others?

Yes, we will love, but Maundy Thursday does not turn on our love. This is a
night to marvel at what Jesus embraced for us. To be astounded at the
uniqueness of his sacrificial love. To wonder that while we were still sinners,
he died for us (Romans 5:8). “In this is love, not that we have loved God but
that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John
4:10).
On Maundy Thursday, we don’t mainly shoulder up to the charge to love
others. We fall awestruck to our knees, face to the floor, and say,

For me it was in the garden

He prayed: “Not My will, but Thine.”
He had no tears for His own griefs,
But sweat drops of blood for mine.
How marvelous! How wonderful!
And my song shall ever be:
How marvelous! How wonderful!
Is my Savior’s love for me!

“Today we marvel at what Jesus embraced for us. We stand astounded at

the uniqueness of his sacrificial love.”

When next we meet, we see more of the willing Saviour who would lay down
His life voluntarily and cheerfully for betraying friends and hardened
enemies!