GETHSEMANE

The Garden of Gethsemane located on the Mount of Olives is one of the impressive sites that the Christian can visit. While it is comparatively small in size, it gives one the feeling of the way the olives trees must have looked in this garden 2,000 years ago when Jesus prayed there. Jesus often went here for retreats and prayer. (Luke 22:39ff) He was praying here the night of His betrayal and arrest. Among the trees in the garden there are at least eight trees whose age is lost in antiquity. They say that an olive tree never dies, and these trees are undoubtedly the trees or are from the trees that have been there before the time of Jesus. Some botanists claim they may be as much as 3,000 years old. If Titus cut down the trees on the Mount of Olives in the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D., surely these are the descendents of those trees that were there during the time of Christ. Although this is a place of supreme devotion, it is also the place where Judas betrayed Him with a kiss. Inside the Church of All Nations there is the Rock of Agony upon which it is said He prayed that "dark" night. Gethsemane means "oil press," reminding us that oil was electricity of the day as it was used for light as well as for the anointing of their prophets, priests, and kings. The disciples frequented this garden along with Jesus. A pause to remember in the Garden of Gethsemane is worth the trip to Israel.