Since Ferrell Jenkins is leading another tour group through the Bible Lands, I am thinking about my trip there last year. Today he posted a picture of the tour group on the Mount of Olives with Jerusalem in the background. The picture brought back memories of our picture together and also of visiting one of the locations of the Garden of Gethsemane. There are actually four sites that claim to be the Garden of Gethsemane. We visited the garden that is at the Church of All Nations.

It was not important to me that this be the exact spot where Jesus spent the night in prayer and was later arrested. The site is representative of the place, and it is definitely near to where the spot would be. What was more important was that I remembered what Jesus went through and his agony as he contemplated the great sacrifice that he was soon to make for us.

In the garden is this small carving showing Jesus bowed in prayer as he talked to his Father. Inside the Church of All Nations is the surface of a large flat rock that is called The Rock of Agony. The rock is the traditional site of where Jesus prayed.

They have tested the trees that are in the garden and some of them are 800 to 900 years old. They are most likely descendants of the trees that were there at the time of Jesus. I can imagine a denser grove of trees that were well pruned and tended as they would want to maximize production of olives so close to the city. I also think of olive groves when I drive through the valley and see the vast orchards.

Gethsemane means oil press, so the garden where Jesus prayed was most likely near an oil press and may have been a place of rest for the workers in the olive groves.

I also think of the Garden of Gethsemane whenever we sing the chorus of Lead Me to Calvary.

Lest I forget Gethsemane,
Lest I forget Thine agony;
Lest I forget Thy love for me,
Lead me to Calvary.

Of course, most of you know that when I am in a garden I am on the lookout for flowers. So here is a flower picture that I took while in the Garden of Gethsemane.

I have been looking for the name of this flower, and can’t seem to find it tonight. Maybe one of you expert gardeners can help me out.

It is OK to me to forget the name of the flower, but I want to make sure that I never forget what happened in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Steven