The Garden of Gethsemane

1. The Gardenof Gethsemane - 12th
April 2017
“He took Peter and the two sons ofZebedee alongwithhim, andhe beganto be sorrowful and
troubled.38
Then he said to them, “Mysoul is overwhelmedwith sorrow to the pointofdeath. Stay
here andkeep watch withme.”(Matthew26:37- 38).
Each of the Gospel writersdescribesthe eventsof thatnightwithslightvariations,so by readingthe
fouraccounts (Matthew26:36-56, Mark 14:32-52, Luke 22:40-53 and John18:1-11) will give an
accurate picture of that momentousnightinitsentirety.
The garden at Gethsemane,aplace whose name literallymeans“oil press,”islocatedona slope of the
Mount of Olivesjustacrossthe KidronValleyfromJerusalem.A gardenof ancientolive treesstands
there to thisday.JesusfrequentlywenttoGethsemanewithHisdisciplestopray.The most famous
eventsatGethsemane occurredonthe night before HiscrucifixionwhenJesuswasbetrayed byJudas
Iscariotas we can readfrom John 18:1-2, “Whenhe had finishedpraying,Jesusleftwith hisdisciples
and crossedthe KidronValley.On the other side there was a garden,and he andhis discipleswent
intoit. Now Judas,who betrayed him,knew the place,because Jesus hadoften met there with his
disciples.”
As the eveningbegan,afterJesusandHisdiscipleshadcelebratedthe Passover,theycame tothe
garden.At some point,Jesustookthree of them—Peter,JamesandJohn— toaplace separatedfrom
the rest.Here JesusaskedthemtowatchwithHim andpray so theywouldnotfall intotemptation as
we can read in Matthew 26:41, “Watchandpray so that you will not fall intotemptation.The spiritis
willing,butthe fleshis weak.” But theyfell asleep.Twice,Jesushadtowake themandremindthemto
pray so thattheywouldnotfall intotemptation.ThiswasespeciallypoignantbecausePeterdidindeed
fall intotemptationlaterthatverynightwhenthree timeshe deniedevenknowingJesus.Jesusmoveda
little wayfromthe three mentopray, and twice He askedHisFatherto remove the cup of wrath He was
aboutto drink,but eachtime He submittedtothe Father’swill.He was“exceedinglysorrowful unto
death,”butGod sentan angel fromheaven tostrengthenHim:“Anangel from heaven appearedto him
and strengthenedhim. (Luke 22:43).
In Luke’sGospel we see thatHissweatwaslike dropsof blood: “ Andbeingin anguish,heprayed more
earnestly, andhis sweat waslike drops ofbloodfallingtothe ground.”(Luke22:44). We can learnthat
Jesus’anguishwassointense because Luke states thatJesus’ sweatwaslike dropsof bloodfallingtothe
ground. Thisis a rare, butveryreal,medical conditionwhere one’ssweatwill containblood. Luke being
a doctor understoodthisandreporteditinhisgospel. The sweatglandsare surroundedbytinyblood
vessels andthese vesselscanconstrictand thendilate tothe pointof rupture due to grief where the
bloodwill theneffuse intothe sweatglands.Itscause—extremeanguish.Inthe otherGospel accounts,
we see Jesus’levelof anguish:We can alsoread thisfromMatthew 26:37- 38, “He took Peter andthe
two sonsof Zebedee alongwithhim, andhe began to be sorrowful and troubled. 38
Then he saidto
them, “Mysoul isoverwhelmed withsorrow to the pointof death.Stay here and keep watch with
me.” Andthe same is reported againinMark 14:34, ““Mysoul isoverwhelmed with sorrowto the
pointof death,” he saidto them. “Stayhere and keep watch.”
The intense anguishandsorrowJesusfeltwascertainlyunderstandable.BeingGod,Christknew all that
was goingtohappento Him.He knewinpainstakingdetailthe eventsthatwere tofollow soonafterHe
was betrayedbyone of Hisveryown disciples.He knew He wasaboutto undergoseveral trialswhere all

2. of the witnessesagainstHimwouldlie.He knew thatmanywhohad hailedHimasthe Messiahonly
daysearlierwouldnowbe screamingforHiscrucifixion We canreadthis from John19:6-7, “As soonas
the chief priests andtheir officialssawhim,they shouted,“Crucify!Crucify!”ButPilateanswered,“You
take him andcrucify him.As for me, I findno basisfor a charge againsthim.” The Jewish leaders
insisted,“Wehave a law,and accordingto that lawhe mustdie, because he claimedto be the Sonof
God.” Jesus knewHe wouldbe floggednearlytothe pointof deathbefore theypoundedthe metal
spikesintoHisflesh.He knewthe propheticwordsof IsaiahspokensevencenturiesearlierthatHe
wouldbe beatensobadlythatHe wouldbe “disfiguredbeyondthatof anyman” and “beyondhuman
likeness”asstatedin Isaiah52:14, “Justas there were many who were appalledat him—his
appearancewas so disfiguredbeyondthat ofany humanbeing andhis formmarred beyond human
likeness…” Certainly,these thingsfactoredintoHisgreatanguishandsorrow,causingHimto sweat
dropsof blood.
JudasIscariotarrivedwitha “multitude”of soldiers,highpriests,Pharisees,andservantstoarrestJesus.
JudasidentifiedHimbythe prearrangedsignal of akisswhichhe gave to Jesus. We can read thisfrom
John18:4-6, Jesus,knowingall that was goingto happento him,went out andasked them, “Whoisit
you want?”5
“JesusofNazareth,” theyreplied.“Iam he,” Jesus said.(AndJudasthe traitorwas
standingthere with them.) 6
WhenJesussaid, “I am he,” they drew back andfell to the ground.” Trying
to protectJesus,Petertooka swordandattacked a man namedMalchus,the servantof the highpriest,
cuttingoff hisear. We can readthisfrom John 18:10 ,“ThenSimonPeter, who hada sword, drew it and
struck the highpriest’sservant, cuttingoff hisright ear.” (The servant’s name was Malchus). Atthat
pointJesusrebukedPeterandhealedthe man’sear.It’ssurprisingthat evenwhen witnessingthis
amazingmiracle of healing, ithadnoeffectonthe people whocame to arrestJesus.TheyarrestedHim
and tookHim to Annas the Jewishleaderaswe can read fromJohn18:12-14, “Then the detachment of
soldierswith itscommander andthe JewishofficialsarrestedJesus. They boundhim 13
andbrought
himfirst to Annas,who was the father-in-lawof Caiaphas,thehighpriestthat year. 14
Caiaphaswas
the one who had advisedthe Jewishleaders that it wouldbe goodifone man died forthe people.”
The eventsthatoccurred inthe Garden of Gethsemane have reverberateddownthroughthe centuries.
The passionJesusdisplayedonthatmomentousnighthasbeen presentedinChristianservicesand
meetings forcenturies.