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THE CROWDED GARDEN John 18:1-11 The Crowded Garden. Wow, what a fitting title! Never before have we seen a garden quite as crowded as this one by the Brook called Kidron. Though physically, the garden of Gethsemane probably had plenty of space in it for all of the people there that night, spiritually, this was a very crowded garden. So, what do we mean when we say that this garden was very crowded? Quite simply, there was no room for Jesus in this garden. Now, you might be thinking: “How can this be? They are outside, in a garden. How can there be no room for one more person?” But, we must look deeper into the story, and look at the individual hearts of the persons in attendance that night. The people in this garden are feeling very crowded by the presence of Jesus in their midst. We see this happening with the chief priests and Pharisees during this time, who would not allow Jesus to have room in their own lives, and instead, were choosing to hold onto their traditions and self-righteousness. They even offered money to Judas to convince him to betray Jesus. Judas himself also refused to allow Jesus to rule his life. Even after all of the time that Judas had spent with Jesus, and all that he had seen Jesus do, he still would not allow Jesus to come into his heart and be the center of his life. He, instead, betrayed Jesus and turned Him over to the chief priests and Pharisees to be killed. Even the soldiers would not allow this “King of the Jews” to have room in their kingdom, the mighty Roman Empire. And, of all people, we should at least expect Peter, the devoted disciple of Jesus, to allow Him to have room in his life—but not on this particular night. He crowded Jesus out by trying to defend Jesus through the use of violence, instead of allowing Jesus to handle the situation. We also have to see the places in our own lives where we crowd Jesus out. Where are the places that we, like the chief priests and Pharisees, do not give Jesus an inch of ground in our lives, for fear that our own weaknesses might be exposed, or that our own righteousness will be compromised? Or are we like Judas, betraying Jesus with our own thoughts and our selfish lusts and desires? Are there places in our lives where we are like the Roman soldiers, not allowing Jesus to have room in our “kingdom,” wanting instead to be the king of our own lives and pushing Jesus out? Where are the places that we, like Simon Peter, try to follow Jesus in our own strength, and push Him out because we have a better idea of how to handle the situation? If we honestly took a good look at our own lives, we could see elements of all of these people in our own lives. We have to recognize the places that we crowd Jesus out, and give those places over to Him. He wants to use us in mighty ways, but He cannot do that if He has no room to work. Will you make room for Jesus in your heart today, and allow Him to reign freely in your life? ~ Eric Frantz
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