Jerusalem- Garden of Gethsemane

Entrance of the Garden of Gethsemane

Board showing the prayer Jesus made before his arrest

This garden of Gethsemane means,“Oil Press,” and is located on a slope of the Mount of Olives. Jesus went there to pray frequently with his disciples but the most significant story of this place is that, this is the place that Jesus was arrested by the soldiers in the early morning. As stated in Matthew 26:36-46, after the last supper, Jesus went to the garden of Gethsemane to pray and in verse 39, he prayed to God, that, “ My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” 

After that, he was disappointed to see his disciples sleeping and informed them that the time has come for him to be handed over to his betrayer. That was when, in Matthew 26:47, Judas came with the soldiers and identified Jesus to them. What happened after that was really interesting.

The are 3 things that really struck me in this passage.

Inside the Garden (1)

The first was that, in Matthew 26:50, Jesus told Judas, “Do what you came for, friend.” I was shocked at first when I read this as, Jesus actually called his betrayer a friend and how many of us would actually do it? I mean Judas was with Jesus in his entire 3 years of ministry and learnt from him and saw all of his miracles. We probably would have gotten mad if we were in Jesus position and cursed him but yet Jesus did not do that. That just showed how much love Jesus had for Judas even after he knew that Judas was going to betray him.

Inside the Garden (2)

 The second was that, many of us only know that this place was where Jesus was arrested, however, this was also the place that Jesus actually performed a miracle by healing the ear of the soldier that Peter cut off. This really struck me as which person will actually be willing to help someone who is arresting you as a criminal.

Olives Trees

The third was that in Matthew 6:52-54, Jesus told Peter to put his sword back after he had cut the ear of a soldier and said that, “ Do you think that I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? But how then would the scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?” It shows that Jesus still had a choice to make, whether to die on the cross for our sins or not, and he chose to do it for our sake. It taught me about obedience to God. Jesus chose to submit himself to God by doing the work that he was called to do which is to die on the cross for our sins.

Olive tree that stood over 3000 years old

Today, there is one olive tree that has been proved to be over 3000 years old and was present during the time of Jesus. There is a church located over there which is called the ‘Church of All Nations’ as many nations contributed to the cost of construction of the church between 1929-1924. There is also statues built of the 4 Evangelists holding out a bible and it is about the second coming of Jesus.

Church of all nations (1)

Church of all Nations (2)