Gethsemane

“Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.
O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me.
And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”
When Jesus had spoken these words, He went out with His disciples over the Brook Kidron, where there was a garden, which He and His disciples entered. And Judas, who betrayed Him, also knew the place; for Jesus often met there with His disciples.
[John 17:24-26 and John 18:1-2 NKJV]

When Jesus had spoken these words ... There is a tendency in us to follow the Bible chapters and keep them separate, but that is not how these things were written. The chapters are later impositions on what has been set down and we should consider this in our reading.

To see that Jesus was in the garden of Gethsemane immediately after the amazing words of John 17, elevates that declaration into a summation of Jesus’ earthly ministry; all the time knowing of His betrayal and execution on the cross.

It began in the garden and it ends in the garden. The Bible story is bookended by the garden. We even have Mary Magdalene, on seeing the Risen Christ, mistaking Him as the gardener, which in reality is not a mistaking at all. Indeed, that pivotal moment - the first witness to the Risen Christ - is the moment when the New Eden was revealed to mankind.

Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?”
She, supposing Him to be the gardener, said to Him, “Sir, if You have carried Him away, tell me where You have laid Him, and I will take Him away.”
Jesus said to her, “Mary!”
She turned and said to Him, “Rabboni!” (which is to say, Teacher).
[John 20:15-16 NKJV]

What is special about this moment is that Mary recognises Jesus when He speaks her name. That is what is so important for each one of us — when the gardener call us by our name. We see that in Jesus’ last declaration at the end of John 17 ...

And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.

Jesus Christ will declare each name of His Chosen Ones to Father God, so that the love with which He loved Jesus May be in each one of us. That deserves an almighty Hallelujah!

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“Gethsemane” — Claire Ryan

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OSWALD CHAMBERS — RUN TODAY’S RACE
Friday 14th August 2020
Where did Jesus place His feet? He placed them by the sick and the sorrowful, by the dead, by the bad, by the twisted and by the good. He placed His feet exactly where we have to place ours, either with or without Him, in the ordinary rough and tumble of human life as it is. “I will make the place of My feet glorious.”

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