John 18:1
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. When Jesus had spoken these words, he went forth with his disciples over the brook Cedron, where was a garden, into the which he entered, and his disciples.
After His final discourse and intercessory prayer following the Passover supper in the upper room, Jesus went forth with His disciples over the brook Cedron or Kedron and entered the garden of Gethsemane. The crossing took place at night under a full Passover moon, and they approached slowly while the nearby city of pilgrims' tents lay quiet. The garden was a familiar retreat where He often resorted with His disciples for meditation and fervent prayer before trial and duty, sometimes spending the whole night there with them, and it was known to Judas. Because the disciples were accustomed to His withdrawing to pray, they were not surprised when He went farther in with Peter, James, and John.
As they walked to the garden He taught His disciples, using the vine to illustrate the union of His church with Himself and the Father. At or near Gethsemane He paused to recall and repeat those lessons taught on the way there on the night of His agony. As they drew near the garden He grew strangely silent. On this final visit He entered in profound sorrow and physical weakness under the burden He was about to bear. He was overwhelmed because though He Himself had known no sin He was to carry humanity's guilt and its consequences, feeling shut out from the Father's sustaining presence, which marked the beginning of His last agony, with sorrow pressing heavily even before His arrest.
The garden is where, after His agony, He was betrayed by Judas, one of His professed disciples, and arrested and seized by armed men and soldiers. Judas came there with a band of men and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees carrying lanterns, torches, and weapons. Though knowing all things that would come upon Him and having power to deliver Himself from His enemies, as proved when they fell backward to the ground at His word I am He, He went forth to meet them and yielded Himself because He was sent to bear the sins of the world and must pay the penalty of man's transgression. The disciples who were with Him later reproached and forsook Him when He most needed their sympathy and comfort.
His going forth was toward betrayal, agony in Gethsemane, and crucifixion, the most trying ordeal awaiting the disciples. Because He knew beforehand who among His followers were unbelieving and who were of weak faith and undecided character, He had purposely brought about an earlier crisis of testing while He was still present to comfort and strengthen His chosen and prepare His faithful few for what was to follow. When their Lord was betrayed and condemned in the judgment hall, when He was humiliated and the multitude who had hailed Him as king hissed at Him and reviled Him, when the cruel jeering crowd cried for crucifixion, the faint-hearted would otherwise have sunk beneath fear, disappointment, horror, grief, and ruined hopes in a way the twelve could not have endured and that might have swept the rest away. Having already seen the fickleness of those who had once followed Him and tested the inconstant favor of the world, the disciples would not be overwhelmed with surprise at insult to their Master and at professed friends turning from Him in His trouble, nor hang their faith upon the opinions of others. The verse belongs to the account of His suffering and death, continued in the next chapter, which is of special importance and is to speak to the hearts of believers.