Sermon Tone Analysis

A Tale of Two Cities

Charles Dickens opened his famous novel with these words:

It was the best of times,

it was the worst of times,

it was the age of wisdom,

it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief,

it was the epoch of incredulity,

it was the season of Light,

it was the season of Darkness,

it was the spring of hope,

it was the winter of despair,

we had everything before us,

we had nothing before us,

we were all going direct to Heaven,

we were all going direct the other way...

(source: https://dickens.ucsc.edu/programs/dickens-to-go/best-of-times.html)

Dickens referred to a time when there was so much conflict and prosperity in the cities of London and Paris in the time just before the French Revolution.

Today, as we continue looking at the Gospel of John, we come to a scene that when examined in light of the entirety of scripture, might bring us to say the very same things - about two different gardens - the garden of Eden (Genesis 3) and the Garden of Gethsemane (John 18:1-27).

Our main text for today is John 18:1-27.

If you have your Bibles, go ahead and open there.

Feel free to also put a finger in Genesis 3 - as we’ll go back and forth quite a bit.

In the midweek email, I encouraged you to look at John 18 and see if you can find the “inclusio” - a sort of verbal bracket that encapsulates a passage.

In John 18, we see the first part of that bracket in verse 1

John 18:1 (ESV)

When Jesus had spoken these words, he went out with his disciples across the brook Kidron, where there was a garden, which he and his disciples entered.

The last part of the bracket is found in verse 25.

John 18:26 (ESV)

One of the servants of the high priest, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, asked, “Did I not see you in the garden with him?”

The other gospel accounts help us to understand that the name of this garden is Gethsemane.

So, as I was preparing this week, I was helped by some comments from Joel Beeke - which got me thinking about the comparing the garden of Gethsemane with the Garden of Eden.

So, today, we’re going to compare and contrast the events that happened in and around these two significant gardens as we consider - The Tale of Two Gardens.

You may notice that your outlines are set up quite differently than normal.

We’ll let the topics of setting, protagonists, etc. be our outline.

If you’d like to make free-form notes along those lines, feel free.

We’ll draw some spiritual and theological conclusions along the way and will finish with some points to ponder in light of these two gardens.

While I’m going to talk about these in a sort of analytical and almost dramatic sense, these two scenes, the events of these two gardens are historical events.

Scripture treats them as such, and so should we.

So, let’s begin with the...

Setting

The first garden is...

Eden

We can read about this in Genesis 2-3.

For our purposes, we’ll focus on Genesis 3 since the events of that chapter have significance in this comparison.

Eden means “garden of luxuries” or garden of “pleasure.”

After the creation of this World, this is a place where God had the first humans reside.

It was the place where God and humans would interact and have fellowship.

It was a place of peace.

So, when you hear Eden - think paradise or peace or pleasure.

By contrast, the second garden we’re considering is...

Gethsemane

We can read about this garden by name in Matthew 26 and Mark 14.

I believe that as John is unveiling his narrative in John 18 - this is the same garden - even though he does not refer to it by name.

Gethsemane means “oil-press.”

It was located outside of Jerusalem on the Mount of Olives.

So when you hear Gethsemane - hear press or pressure or pain.

With the settings established, let’s consider some of the characters, namely the...

Protagonists

Eden: Adam and Eve

Adam and Eve are the first two humans.

We can read two different accounts of their creation in Genesis 1:26-31; 2:4-35.

Being the first two humans, Scripture suggests that all of humanity is descended from Adam and Eve.

I know not everyone believes that, but this is an important theological point to consider.

As we’ll see shortly, the actions of our first parents have significant impact on the rest of humanity.

There is another Protagonist that we’ll need to consider in...

Eden: God

Being the creator of the universe and in fellowship with the first humans, God is present and plays a significant role.

Conversely, the protagonists of...

Gethsemane: Jesus and his disciples

Jesus and his disciples have just finished sharing a meal together.

Jesus spent a great deal of time teaching them about what would happen and the coming of the Holy Spirit.

As we saw last week, Jesus prayed a prayer of consecration for himself, his disciples, and us.

After the prayer, they left the city and went out to the Mount of Olives, to this garden.

Apparently this was a place where Jesus would go frequently with his followers.

As with any good story, not only to we have protagonists, but we also have...

Antagonists

These individuals and groups act in contrast to the main characters.

They force the protagonists to take action and respond.

First of all...

Eden: Serpent

Genesis 3:1 (ESV)

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.

I believe this serpent represents Satan.

Maybe Satan has embodied or possessed the snake or is simply speaking through it.

In the other garden we get to see...

Gethsemane: Soldiers, Judas, Religious Leaders, Servants

Now, Judas and the Soldiers are the only antagonists who actually encounter Jesus and the disciples in the Garden.

Once Jesus is arrested and the disciples are freed, everything else in this scene takes place in and around the house of Annas.

Annas

Annas had been the high priest in the early days of the first century.

He was deposed by one of Rome’s rulers.

As a result, he ended up having his sons and sons in law appointed as high priest.

In many ways, he was treated as the high priest emeritus - wielding a lot of influence, even if he did not have the official role.

The other religious leaders that we see in this encounter are Caiaphas - the appointed high priest and son-in-law of Annas.

Finally, there is another group of people that we run into, that is the servants - especially a servant girl who seemed to be granting or denying access to the courtyard of house of Annas (John 18:15-16).

So with the main characters in place, next we come to the...

Conflict

Every good story needs a point of conflict.

In Eden, we see one primary conflict as...

Eden: The Serpent questions Eve

His line of questioning is intended to cast doubt in Eve’s mind regarding what God had said.