“After Jesus had spoken these words, he went out with his disciples across the Kidron valley to a place where there was a garden, which he and his disciples entered. ² Now Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place, because Jesus often met there with his disciples. ³ So Judas brought a detachment of soldiers together with police from the chief priests and the Pharisees, and they came there with lanterns and torches and weapons. ⁴ Then Jesus, knowing all that was to happen to him, came forward and asked them, “Whom are you looking for?” ⁵ They answered, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus replied, “I am he.” Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them. ⁶ When Jesus said to them, “I am he,” they stepped back and fell to the ground. ⁷ Again he asked them, “Whom are you looking for?” And they said, “Jesus of Nazareth.”⁸ Jesus answered, “I told you that I am he. So if you are looking for me, let these men go.” ⁹ This was to fulfill the word that he had spoken, “I did not lose a single one of those whom you gave me.” ¹⁰ Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it, struck the high priest’s slave, and cut off his right ear. The slave’s name was Malchus. ¹¹ Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword back into its sheath. Am I not to drink the cup that the Father has given me?” John 18:1-11

When they had finished the meal in the Upper Room, and when Jesus was done praying, he and his friends left to go to the Garden of Gethsemane. They would leave by the gate, go down the steep valley and cross the channel of the brook Kidron. While they were crossing the brook, something would have caught Jesus’ eyes. All the Passover lambs were being slaughtered in the Temple, and the blood of the lambs was poured on the altar as an offering to G-d. The number of lambs slain for the Passover was immense – perhaps thousands upon thousands. 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 Kidron Brook, and through that channel the blood of the Passover lambs drained away. When Jesus crossed the brook Kidron 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.

We often are faced with deeds that give us such a harbinger – a message of their immensity or difficulty. How do you carry on when you face such difficulties? We look to Jesus to carry us through – we place our burdens upon the Lord, who will not abandon nor forsake us.

Pastor Dave