“When Jesus had spoken these words He went out with His disciples over the Brook Kidron where there was a garden into which he and his disciples entered.”
Having given His last words to His disciples and having made His final prayer Jesus went out to fulfil His destiny. His disciples were probably apprehensive as a result of what He had been saying, but they were probably not unduly alarmed. They would not be expecting anything to happen that night, and they had been in alarming situations before and had always come out of them. Jesus, however, knew exactly what lay before Him.
‘Went out.' That probably signifies ‘went out from the Upper Room'. However those who see a departure at the end of chapter 15 see it as meaning went out of the city, following dissertation and prayer somewhere en route.
‘The Brook Kidron'. They crossed the wadi (cheimarrou) Kidron, in the Valley of Kidron. ‘Cheimarrou' means ‘flowing in winter' demonstrating that the particular stream bed only contained flowing water in the rainy season and was a dry river bed in the summer. This is another of the author's reminiscences not mentioned in the other Gospels. But it may well be that John was remembering the occasion when the earlier David had crossed the brook Kidron at a time when his life too was in danger, only to finally return triumphant (2 Samuel 15:23). He might thus be seen as stressing that here was the greater David following in the pathway of His predecessor.
‘Where there was a Garden.' After crossing the wadi they came to a Garden, identified in Matthew 26:36; Mark 14:32 as Gethsemane. This would be located somewhere on the lower slopes of the Mount of Olives.