Jesus was praying not just to avoid a terrible death, but to discover God’s will and to find the strength to cope with what was coming he was providing a concrete example of the value of prayer.He fell on his knees – most people at that time stood to pray – and asked God to spare him, if it was possible. Jesus walked a little way further into the garden and began to pray. Would he stay in Jerusalem and endure a dreadful death, or would he slip away? He could hide there, and quietly make his way north to Galilee, where he would be relatively safe. All he had to do was walk out of the garden and take the road up the hill, over the Mount of Olives and out into the desert to the east. This was the crucial moment, the time of testing. He was horribly aware of what was to come – he had seen other men tortured and crucified, and he staggered with shuddering horror at what lay ahead. Alone with his three closest friends, he let his feelings show. When they got to the olive garden, a familiar retreat, Jesus took Peter, James and John and moved further up the hill, away from the larger group of disciples. Topographic map of the area around Jerusalem They were frightened – for Jesus and for themselves. Jesus and his disciples gathered there, as they must have done many times before. It seems to have been open to the public and at Passover time it provided welcome relief from the crowded city. It was bordered by the road coming up from the Kidron Valley, and was probably surrounded by a stone wall. This olive orchard was part of an estate at the foot of the Mount of Olives. Now they moved away towards the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus and his most trusted disciples had just completed the meal we call the Last Supper, where he told them that one of their tight-knit group would betray him to the authorities, and that he would be killed.
But then, strengthened by prayer, he accepted his fate and faced the soldiers who came to arrest him. Jesus, praying in the Garden of Olives, begged God to release him from the terrible future that awaited him. Have you ever gained courage from prayer, as Jesus did?.What lesson could we learn about faith and patience, from the gospel story of Gethsemane?.Have you ever felt alone, even when there was a crowd around you? Paintings of this scene show Jesus and the apostles alone – but the Garden of Gethsemane would have been crowded, as the adjacent city of Jerusalem was.
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