We know this garden as Gethsemane: the place of the oil press. John tells us that “Jesus often met there with His disciples” (Jn. 18:2). Little did the eleven grasp the meaning of His words; however, He loved to commune with them. He had chosen them (15:16), and the Father had given them to Him (17:9).

That evening the oil of Gethsemane would not speak of gladness (Ps. 45:7) but the sadness that lay in store for Him; the mention of the Brook Kidron, which means “turbid,” already conveys this. He would be pressed beyond measure as He contemplated separation from His God in three dark hours of unrelenting heartrending sorrow. He knew it all, and the anticipation was terrible, but He would not be diverted from it (Jn. 18:11).

These holy matters far exceed what our minds and hearts can take in. But to please His Father and to have with Him His disciples, and those who would “believe in [Him] through their word” (17:20)—yes, us—for eternity in the full height of the acceptance His sacrifice would give, was His object and delight. Surely, we have a sense of His love in our hearts as we consider these things (cf. Eph. 5:2).

As He gathers us around Him at His supper each Lord’s Day, simply waiting on Him to direct our thoughts, our prayers, our hymns by His Spirit, we desire to respond to Him, however feebly. May it also lead us to treasure the fact that we do this together, even if it be only two or three. Whatever our weaknesses and failures, faults and foibles, we want to make Him a feast, and for that each and every one is needed. We watch one hour with Him together (Mt. 26:40). If we could see one another more in the light of this precious fact, it would make a difference to our brotherly relations in general.