In the Garden

Have you ever ridden the carnival ride “The Scrambler”? <<show picture>>

I remember when the fair used to come to the mall parking lot every year and we would ride it. They still have one at Dollywood and other places.

If you can’t remember what it is, it’s a ride where you sit in seats that rotate around a pole, and that pole rotates around a pole, so you are constantly changing directions and feeling like you are going to get squished by the person next to you or slam into the other seats that keep whizzing by.

As a child, it feels random and disorienting. It still is dizzying as an adult, but when you step back and look at the entire contraption, you see that it is actually specifically designed to maximize those feelings of flying around and almost hitting the fence or other people.

If you don’t like those kinds of rides, you would hate this one.

Does it ever feel like your life is just one giant Scrambler? Disappointments, conflict, and bad news seem to set you spinning around and you constantly feel like you are getting crushed or are just inches away a catastrophe.

Unlike the people operating the Scrambler, God isn’t just trying to make you nauseated and dizzy.

However, is it possible that what seems disorienting and confusing to you is actually part of God’s plan that he has been working throughout history?

Could it be that what feels out of control to you is the exact thing God is wanting to do in and through you?

In John 18, Jesus is about to go through times that would certainly seem from the outside to be completely out of control.

However, these are the moments the entire book of John has been leading up to.

From the miracle at Cana on, Jesus has been saying that the hour had not yet come. Now, it has.

The events of the next few hours will be the most unjust moments in human history.

The only fully innocent man in all of human history is going to be arrested and put through a series of unfair trials, ultimately executed for crimes he did not commit.

Much like the Bible itself, these events begin in a garden—not Eden this time but Gethsemane.

Today, we are laying the foundation that will carry us through the next several weeks.

As we watch Jesus getting arrested in the garden, we will see that Jesus is absolutely in control the entire time.

At no point during Jesus’s arrest, trial, or crucifixion, do things get out of hand and Jesus become a victim of unstoppable tragic circumstances.

Instead, Jesus is fully aware of what is happening, he is actually controlling the situation, and he is ultimately submitting to the Father’s will.

As we see that this morning, I have two main hopes for you:

The first hope is that you will see just how incredible God really is.

Jesus is much more than a tragic martyr; he is the God who is and has been working throughout all of history to accomplish his purpose.

Even in the most evil moments in history, God was working his plan.

That leads to my second hope, which is that you will be challenged to worship God through submission, just like Jesus did.

Whether you are worried about the world or what is going on in your own life or a combination of the two, you and I need to remember that the God who worked in the garden and the cross and the grave is the God who is working right now.

Nothing that is happening in your life or in the world around you is outside of his control.

As we will see, we have a responsibility to respond to his work in a particular way.

Let’s get into the text this morning.

Start with me in verses 1-3...

The soldiers are coming to arrest Jesus.

The other gospel writers record Jesus’s prayer in the garden, but John doesn’t include those details.

Instead, he focuses first on the fact that...

1) Jesus is fully aware.

Read verse 4 with me...

If you have been with us through this study, those words might sound familiar.

Look back a few pages at chapter 13:1-3...

John is showing that Jesus has been fully aware this entire time. Nothing about his betrayal, arrest, trials, or crucifixion have caught him off guard.

We are going to draw some principles from this in a moment, but don’t rush too quickly to that.

Think about what we are talking about here—the events happening in this passage form the dividing line of history. This is God’s plan of redemption that we first hear about in the Garden of Eden after Adam and Eve sinned, and it is the moment we all look back at now to find eternal life.

All of history had been building to this moment, and Jesus went into it fully aware of what it would cost.

He knew he was about to be mistreated, maligned, and murdered for my sins and yours.

Yet, he willingly goes.

Isn’t that incredible?

Although this was a unique moment in history, God’s awareness of the circumstances wasn’t limited to this moment in time.

He is always aware of exactly what is going on. He never misses anything!

Two weeks ago, we set our clocks forward.

For the next week, I felt groggy and kinda disoriented at times because my schedule was all off.

Do you realize that God never gets like that?

How many of you have been sitting at your desk and that 3 o’clock slump hits and you realize you have been staring at your screen blankly for five minutes, or that you have read the same paragraph half a dozen times and you still have no idea what it says?

God never has that experience! He is fully awake, alert, and aware at all times.

The psalm writer reminds us of this when he says:

Psalm 121:4 CSB

Indeed, the Protector of Israel does not slumber or sleep.

Isn’t that great news?

Not only does he know everything that is going on right now, he also knows everything that will ever happen!

Psalm 139:16 CSB

Your eyes saw me when I was formless; all my days were written in your book and planned before a single one of them began.

Think about what that means: God knew the exact day you would be born. He knew who your parents would be, he knew whether you would marry, what your first job would be, where you would live, and even how many days you will have on earth before you die.

He knows that for every person on the planet throughout all of human history!

What does that mean? It means that he knows exactly what is going on in the world today.

He knows exactly what is going on in our nation today, in our state, in our community, in our church, and in your apartment or home.

There is incredible comfort in this understanding, isn’t there? The God of the universe is fully aware of what is going on.

However, there is a challenge as well. That means God is also fully aware of how that person was going to hurt you, or that you were going to lose your job or that your marriage was going to go through that difficult patch.

If God is fully aware, why doesn’t he stop it? Why doesn’t he keep abuse from occurring or preserve health?

To be honest, I wish I had the answers to those questions, but I don’t.

Here’s what I do know, though: God sees you in your pain.

I think about the story of Hagar in the book of Genesis. She was an enslaved woman in Abraham’s household, and she was told to sleep with Abraham to bear a son for him. Hagar got pregnant, and Abraham’s wife became jealous and mistreated Hagar so badly that she ran away.

God appeared to her by a spring and made her a promise. In calling her to go back to face Sarah and bear her child, he promised that he would care for her and her son.

Here’s how she responded:

Genesis 16:13–14 CSB

So she named the Lord who spoke to her: “You are El-roi,” for she said, “In this place, have I actually seen the one who sees me?” That is why the well is called Beer-lahai-roi. It is between Kadesh and Bered.

She was in for a difficult road, but she knew that God saw her.

I can’t answer the “why” questions, but I can say that there is a God who sees, a God who is fully aware, just like he was in the Garden that night.

Not only does Jesus show that he is aware, he also shows that even in the garden when everything was going wrong...

2) Jesus is fully in control.

Remember, we said that Jesus is in control of the events surrounding his arrest and crucifixion.

We see that displayed in a few different ways in this chapter.

Think back to verse 2 - Judas knew to look for Jesus in the garden, because that’s where he always met his disciples.

Why didn’t Jesus go somewhere else and hide?

Because this was how it had to be. He knew he needed to allow himself to be arrested and crucified, so he went to the place where Judas would expect him to be.

Jesus had already told the disciples that he would lose his life, but that it was by his control.

Remember what he said in chapter 10?

John 10:17–18 CSB

This is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life so that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own. I have the right to lay it down, and I have the right to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.”

Even as out of control as the next few hours may seem, Jesus had every ability to stop the arrest, the trials, and even the crucifixion itself.

In case you need a second glimpse into why we know he was in control, look back at verse 4-6.

Notice that Jesus didn’t wait for them to come get him; he went out to meet them, knowing exactly what was taking place.

Then, it gets even better! Jesus asks who they are looking for, and they say they are looking for Jesus.

How does he respond? By saying, “I am”.

In English translations, we add the word “he” there— “I am he”. However, in the Greek, he simply says “I am.”

Remember, Jesus would have been speaking Hebrew or Aramaic at this point, so what does he say? He declares the very name of God.

All the way back in the book of Exodus, Moses asked God what name for God he should use when he talked to the Israelites.

Here was God’s response:

Exodus 3:14 CSB

God replied to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you.”

The name God chose to make himself known is a modified form of the Hebrew verb that means “I AM”.

So, when Jesus answers the first time, he responds to their question by declaring who he is to them—He is the I AM, the creator and sustainer of the universe, the God of Israel!

Augustine, a bishop who lived back in the 300s and 400s, said this when preaching on this passage. There is some the old-school language and it is a little long, but it was too beautiful not to share:

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers 1.7: St. Augustin: Homilies on the Gospel of John, Homilies on the First Epistle of John, Soliloquies (Tractate CXII)

His own single voice uttering the words, “I am [He],” without any weapon, smote, repelled, prostrated that great crowd, with all the ferocity of their hatred and terror of their arms. For God lay hid in that human flesh; and eternal day was so obscured in those human limbs, that with lanterns and torches He was sought for to be slain by the darkness. “I am [He],” He says; and He casts the wicked to the ground. What will He do when He comes as judge, who did this when giving Himself up to be judged? What will be His power when He comes to reign, who had this power when He came to die?

[1]

In the garden, Jesus revealed just a small taste of his power and his glory.

Once he did, though, he went back to restraining his glory and allowed himself to be arrested.

Even then, though, he was still in control. Look back at verses 7-9...

He made sure the disciples were able to get away safely, again showing that he was in control and working the plan that he and the Father had already set in motion centuries before.

He is the same God today that he was then.

Even as out-of-control as things may seem, he is still the same God, working in incredible ways, to accomplish his purpose and his plan.

Remember what God said to Isaiah:

Isaiah 46:10 CSB

I declare the end from the beginning, and from long ago what is not yet done, saying: my plan will take place, and I will do all my will.

As we go through the chaotic events in the next few chapters of John, keep in mind that God is working his plan through every step.

The same is true of the chaotic chapters of our lives. God is working through every single step!

That leads to a final, key element for us. Jesus is fully aware, fully in control, and...

3) Jesus is fully submissive.

Look at how this part of the story concludes in verses 10-12.

Peter, not fully aware of what was going on, tries to fix the problem by fighting back.

Jesus immediately rebukes him. Luke tells us that Jesus even touched Malchus and healed his ear, still demonstrating that he is God and still showing he is in control!

Side note, by the way: Including Malchus’ name was an unusual thing for John to do. We don’t know for sure, but it is possible that the reason John named him was because he had become a follower of Christ and the early Christians would have known about him.

As impressive a moment as this was, the statement he makes in response to Peter is even more powerful.

Jesus says he is willing to drink the cup the Father had given him.

What is that cup? It is the cup of God’s totally justified wrath for your sin and mine.

He was headed to the cross to take the punishment that you and I deserve for every selfish choice, every rash word, every moment where we refused to care—he was going to drink the cup of the wrath of God in our place.

The other Gospel writers tell us that he had prayed three different times for the Father to take the cup from him, but he ended each prayer with, “Nevertheless, not my will but yours be done.”

He was fully aware of what it would cost and fully in control, and yet he was fully submissive to the Father’s plan.

The time had come, and he submitted himself to whatever it would take.

We hate that word, don’t we? “Submission”

We have seen the concept abused time and time again where one human exalts themselves over another human and forces them to do what they want.

Yet, here, we see submission in it’s highest form: Jesus is willingly entrusting himself to his Father’s plan.

As we said previously, this moment is absolutely unique in human history. Jesus is the only one who could obey the Father this way at this time.

However, you and I can emulate his submission.

We will never be perfect, but through his grace, can we not grow to say, “Nevertheless, not my will but yours be done”?

To be clear, submission does not mean that we give up trying to improve the situation or resolve conflicts.

For Jesus, it meant not fighting back because this was the plan from the beginning.

However, it may look different in your situation. You get the diagnosis and start praying for healing and examining treatment options.

Your marriage goes through a rough patch, and you pray for grace and start working to improve your communication or whatever other areas are plaguing you. You might start seeing a counselor individually or as a couple and actively invest in making things better.

The will of God in your situation may involve you making difficult choices, standing up for what is right, working on relationships when you don’t feel like it, and more.

Surrendering to God’s will doesn’t mean giving up. Instead, it means striving with humility.

It is the humility that says, “God, I want to do what you want. I want your will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. Not my will but yours be done.”

So, what do we do on days when it seems like the world is out of control?

We don’t fully understand what is going on, but we know who does. Rest in the God who is fully aware.

We really have no control over our lives, but we know who does. Rest in his control.

Like Jesus, though, we can submit to whatever the Father leads us through.

Is there a specific area in which you need to submit to God today?

Do you need to surrender to the fact that he actually knows what he is doing?

Do you need to submit and recognize that he is the one in charge?

As you do, remember the God you are submitting to—the one who loved you enough to die in your place!

Endnotes:

[1] Schaff, Philip, ed. St. Augustin: Homilies on the Gospel of John, Homilies on the First Epistle of John, Soliloquies. Vol. 7 of A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, First Series. New York: Christian Literature Company, 1888.