Dear Christian friends:

We have gathered here tonight to meditate upon the suffering and death of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord wants us to do this as He wanted His first disciples to go with Him to Jerusalem to watch. This is very important for us to see our sins and be sorry for them as we sing the hymn, "Upon The Cross Extended"

I caused your grief and sighing
by evils multiplying
as countless as the sands.
I caused the woes unnumbered
with which your soul is cumbered,
your sorrows raised by wicked hands.

Also by looking at our Lord in His suffering assures that God loves us and has forgiven all our sins as we sing the hymn TLH 173: "Lord Jesus, We Give Thanks To Thee"

Lord Jesus, we give thanks to Thee
That Thou hast died to set us free;
Made righteous through Thy precious blood,
We now are reconciled to God.

Furthermore watching Him suffer helps us to love Him better and serve Him with thanks and praise as we do in TLH 172, "O Sacred Head Now Wounded", verse 8.

What language shall I borrow
To thank Thee, dearest Friend,
For this, Thy dying sorrow,
Thy pity without end?
Oh, make me thine forever!
And should I fainting be,
Lord, let me never, never,
Outlive my love for Thee.

And in the hour of our death nothing can give us comfort or hope except the Savior on the cross as sing in verse 10 of the TLH 172 hymn.

Be Thou my Consolation,
My Shield when I must die;
Remind me of Thy Passion
When my last hour draws nigh.
Mine eyes shall then behold Thee,
Upon Thy cross shall dwell,
My heart by faith enfold Thee.
Who dieth thus dies well!

So let us determine to watch our Lord again this Lenten Season by these mid-week services. This year I plan to preach on the general theme of Places In His Passion. The first place that we shall consider is the bridge across the brook at Kidron.


We read in our text, "They went out to the Mount of Olives." (verse 30) And John tells us that on the way Jesus crossed over the brook Kidron. The Savior had just finished celebrating the passover and the first Lord's Supper in the upper room. Then they sang a hymn and began to go to Gethsemane. Kidron means the black river. Its waters were dark.

The Jews used the water from the Kidron in the temple for various washings and purification. Also the blood from animal sacrifices were poured into it. The valley or canyon through which it flowed was deep and dark and covered with gloomy trees and brush. That is very interesting. Jesus now enters the dark valley of death to begin His suffering and dying.

This valley of the Kidron is also called, "the Valley of Jehosaphat" to remember and honor good King Jehosaphat who won a great battle here against Israel's foes many years before. However Jesus is now beginning a battle against a much greater foe Satan and death. Like Jehosaphat He will win a glorious victory.

For us Jesus here fought against Satan that in the future when we must go through the dark valley of death we need fear no evil. True, Satan still has power to tempt us and scare us in our hour of death, but if we remember Jesus' victory over him we need not fear because we know our sins are forgiven and God is our Father.

So it is of great comfort for us to watch our Savior crossing the Kidron to begin His victory for us. While crossing the Kidron Jesus also tells His disciples of His suffering and how they would react to it. "You will all fall away because of Me this night, for it is written, ‘I will strike down the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered.’ (verse 31) Jesus here refers to a prophecy of Zecharias which clearly explains what happened that night, "Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered:" (Zechariah 13:7)

God Himself wishes to strike the Shepherd; He calls for the sword to kill His fellow, His only Son. God poured out His terrible anger upon Jesus. True, the Jews and Pontius Pilate did evil and falsely condemned Jesus to die, but God used them as His tools, His sword, to kill Jesus. This is the secret (hidden truth) behind Jesus' suffering and death. The Shepherd must die for the sheep. The sheep really really deserve to die. We are the straying sheep. We have rebelled and sinned against God. We think only of our will and desires and forget God's. By our sins we deserve wrath, sword and death. And the sword has struck from heaven, but instead of the bad sheep it killed the Good Shepherd.

Jesus said, "I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep." (John 10:11) He agreed with God the Father to suffer and pay for our sins. See the wonderful love of God the Father. He gives His only Son into terrible shame and death, and the Son gladly obeys the Father. And for whom? For us.

When Jesus told the disciples these wonderful things He also predicted that they would be scattered, "and the sheep shall be scattered." When they see Him arrested and bound and led away to die they will be afraid and forsake Him and run away. The sheep are not brave. They do not want trouble. They only want peace.

We are often like these disciples and Jesus is here admonishing us, too, because we are often cowards. We are afraid to take up His work and His cross. We don't want to witness because we are afraid to lose a friend or to get trouble. We don't want to suffer for His names sake.

We also are offended, like these disciples, because we don't want to think that our sins are so bad that only the death of God's Son can pay for them. His suffering and death is not pleasing to our proud, self-righteous nature.

But thank Jesus. He comes after us and brings back the scattered sheep. He says here, "But after I have been raised, I will go ahead of you to Galilee.” (verse 32) Always when Jesus prophesied of His suffering and death, He added, "on the third day I will rise again." We are repelled by God's anger and wrath in the death of Jesus, but when we hear and see that He rises from the dead, we know that God's anger is satisfied that He is really our friendly heavenly father. That is why after His resurrection Jesus appeared many times to His disciples. He wanted to gather them together the offended scattered flock. He is a wonderful Good Shepherd.

But how do the disciples feel when Jesus here at the Kidron tells them they will be offended, repelled and scattered when they see His suffering and death? Peter brags, "Even though all may fall away because of You, I will never fall away.” (verse 33) Then Jesus warned him, "Truly I tell you," Jesus answered, “this very night, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times." (verse 34) But Peter still brags and trusts in his own self, saying "Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you." And all the other disciples said the same." (verse 34)

Peter was proud and thought he was better and stronger than the other disciples. He did not humbly trust in Jesus for mercy and help in time of temptation.

We today are often like Peter and these disciples. We think we are better and stronger than other church members. We think we do not need to pray for God's help. We think we do not need to hear His Word for strength and support. We don't know our weakness and great need for God's help, so we never read our Bibles to find support and comfort and courage. Then in time of trouble we fall away as Peter did.

So let us listen to our Savior as He warns us here crossing over the Kidron. Let us in good days pray, study, and hear God's Words, then in the bad days we will be able to stand and resist temptation in His strength. These Lenten services should be a big help to us in doing this.

Amen.