Part 25 – John 18

John starts the chapter with the phrase “when Jesus had spoken….. He went over the Brook Kidron.” (John 18:1). You may be saying so what? but let’s look a little closer at this phrase “over the Brook Kidron”. We know from John that Jesus was heading for a garden. What we know about this Brook Kidron is that in fact it is a ravine which only carries water after very heavy rain, it is also known as the valley of Jehoshaphat and was a very popular place to bury the dead. 

The earliest mention of “the Brook Kidron, and possibly the most significant, is in 2 Samuel 15:23 where it is recorded that “all the people wept as they passed over…. and the king himself passed over the Brook Kidron… toward the way of the wilderness “. This verse comes in the story where King David and his people are fleeing his lawless and rebellious son, Absolem, and they have been forced out of the city of David (Jerusalem) and their only escape is over the little Brook Kidron and to disperse in an inhospitable landscape with no thought or hope of return. It’s as if they were crossing from life into death through the valley of the dead.

So with just a little dig into the phrase “He went over the Brook Kidron” we can immediately see a sense of purpose and meaning. John wants us to see that Jesus had a purpose when He crossed over into a place that leads to a wilderness because he wants us to see that the story that is unfolding here in John 18 is not the end but the beginning. John wants us to embrace the narrative that our lives are not destined to die and that Jesus’ action here was to demonstrate that life in Him replaces a life destined to die with a life of a living hope. A life we are able to live because of Jesus’ obedience to carry the pain and the humiliation of betrayal and the torture and execution of a cross so that you and I can be redeemed, regenerated and return to our creator, enabling us to live a life of fullness and hope in a hostile and broken world. A life that gives hope and points out a new way to live in Jesus.

As we read this chapter we find that it is not just about Jesus’ unjust trial but also two counts of betrayal by two of his disciples and towards the end we see Barabbas set free on the account that he was deemed less of a threat to the Jews and their religious leaders than Jesus.

On the one hand we can look at this chapter and say well it was all in God’s plan, this death and sacrifice of the only begotten Son and come to the conclusion that I get to choose Christ rather than He choose me, or we can look and see the utter hatred, anger and rebellion of those whose lives were lived for their own self gain. These selfish lives who had misused, mis-appropriate and mis-represented life in order to gain a position of power and control over others.

It’s interesting to note how John writes up this chapter and it appears that it is those who have the most to lose are those who are the most vehement in their assault on Jesus.

When we come to Jesus trial before Pilate we find that Pilate himself does not appear to be offended by any of Jesus words, he even utters a probing question “what is truth” (John 18:38) , which is a question that all of us need to be asking, especially in regards to Spiritual life.

We are all familiar with “fake news” but how many of us really dig deep into our lives and ask the real questions of life, the deep Spiritual questions that will change the course of our lives?

Jesus said :-

• ASK and it will be given
• SEEK and you will find
• KNOCK and it will be opened

Are we going to be the betrayer or are we going to be the one who seeks out the truth about a man who claimed to be God? A man who has willingly submitted himself to death and who crossed over the “Brook Kidron” so we could experience life in all its fullness, a life eternal, a life that the creator intended for all humanity.

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