I Tell You The Truth,

(continued…)

This last look at the cross. Part 5 will look beyond the cross. The basis for this message arrived in my mail box after I had already began writing this series. I want to thank my brother John for sending it my way. I believe God’s design was for me to share it with you.

As always, I’m amazed when I find out the true meaning of words that I’ve heard all my life. Today, we’ll investigate the true meaning of "gethsemane."

When I hear the word gethsemane, I immediately think of the following…

Matthew 26:

36Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, "Sit here while I go over there and pray." 37He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. 38Then he said to them, "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me."

The story continues with Peter, James and John spending a sleepy evening in the Garden of Gethsemane. I’ve written about this incident before where the three disciples have a hard time staying awake. Today, I want to concentrate on Christ and what happened to Him in this Garden of the "Olive Press."

Yes, the word gethsemane actually means "oil press." A gethsemane was used to press the oil from the olives. The process used to extract olive oil was a laborious one. Whole olives were put into a circular stone basin in which a millstone sat. A donkey or other animal was then harnessed to the millstone and walked in a circle, rolling the stone over the olives and cracking them.

When considering the symbolic meaning of the gethsemane, it’s important to understand both the economic and religious importance of the olive and its oil in biblical times. Much of Israel was, and still is today, olive-producing. The olive was much more than food: Its oil was burned in lamps and served as a preserving agent and a lubricant for skin care. It had great value in daily life.

The cracked olives were scooped up into burlap bags, which were then stacked beneath a large stone column - a gethsemane. The enormous weight forced the precious oil to drip from the fruit into a groove and on into a pit at the base of the gethsemane, from which it was collected.

It is no coincidence that Jesus would enter the Garden of Gethsemane in his last hours. Gethsemane is located on the Mount of Olives, a ridge, one mile long, with four identifiable summits. As we noted in Matthew, Jesus took Peter, James and John with him to the Garden. But Luke probably describes the true effect of the gethsemane upon the body of Jesus…

Luke 22:

39Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him. 40On reaching the place, he said to them, "Pray that you will not fall into temptation." 41He withdrew about a stone's throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, 42"Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done." 43An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. 44And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.

Jesus Christ was about to endure more pain and suffering than any man before or since. He understood what must take place as He made a final human plea to avoid the cup before him. The Father knew the agony of the Son and sent a comforter to strengthen Him. As Jesus began to pray more earnestly (I cannot fathom Jesus praying MORE earnestly), His sweat began falling to the ground like blood dripping from an open wound. The weight of the load He was beginning to bear was becoming evident at this point. In the Garden of Gethsemane, the gethsemane (or oil press) began to squeeze the life from the body of Christ. But like the olive, the result of the pressing would render new life for many. The life that was taken from His body, when the process was complete, would become new life for many, richer, more valuable and longer lasting.

And the process that He would endure was not finished at the cross. No, the process started in the Garden did not end until the third day after His death… (to be continued)

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