A Life of St. John for the YoungWeed, George Ludington
Religion
A Life of St. John for the Young
Weed, George Ludington
John, the Apostle, Saint
And now as John still holds open the door, we hear the voice of prayer,
such as nowhere else has been offered. It is ended. There are moments of
silence, followed by a song of praise. Then John closes the door of the
Upper Room, which we believe was opened again as the earliest home of
the Christian Church. There we shall see him again with those who,
because of his experience with his Lord in that consecrated place, gave
him the name of "The Bosom Disciple."
[Illustration: IN GETHSEMANE _Gustave Dore_ Page 163]
_CHAPTER XXIV_
_With Jesus in Gethsemane_
"He went forth with His disciples over the brook Kidron, where was
a garden."--_John_ xviii. 1.
"Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and
saith unto His disciples, Sit ye here while I go yonder and
pray."--_Matt._ xxvi. 36.
"And He taketh with Him Peter and James and John, ... and He saith
unto them, ... abide ye here, and watch."--_Mark_ xiv. 33, 34.
"And He went forward a little, and fell on the ground, and prayed."
_v._ 35.
John was our leader to the Upper Room. And now he guides us from it,
saying, "Jesus ... went forth with His disciples." That phrase "went
forth" may suggest to us much more than mere departure. The banquet of
love was over. The Lord's cup of blessing and remembrance had been drunk
by His "little children," as He affectionately called them. He was now
to drink the cup the Father was giving His Son--a mysterious cup of
sorrow. It was probably at the midnight hour that Jesus "went forth" the
last time from Jerusalem, which He had crowned with His goodness, but
which had crowned Him with many crowns of sorrow.
Other Evangelists tell us that He went "to the Mount of Olives," "to a
place called Gethsemane." John shows us the way thither, and what kind
of a place it was. Jesus went "over the ravine of the Kidron," in the
valley of Jehoshaphat. At this season of the year it was not, as at
other times, a dry water-bed, but a swollen, rushing torrent, fitting
emblem of the waters of sorrow through which He was passing. Whether the
name Kidron refers to the dark color of its waters, or the gloom of the
ravine through which they flow, or the sombre green of its overshadowing
cedars, it will ever be a reminder of the darker gloom that overshadowed
John and His Master, as they crossed that stream together to meet the
powers of darkness in the hour which Jesus called their own.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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