Gethsemane

John just tells us Jesus was arrested in a garden; Matthew and Mark tell us its name: Gethsemane.

The Garden of Gethsemane is at the foot of the Mount of Olives, just across the Kidron Valley from the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. (I’ve been there.) In the cross-section map of Jerusalem below, Gethsemane is where the red X is.


Jerusalem - cross section.jpg

Gethsemane means “oil press” in Hebrew. It’s the place at the bottom of the Mount of Olives where the olives were pressed into oil to use in lamps, etc.

It’s also the place where Jesus was pressed, and his suffering produced light, too.

 

Today’s Scripture

John 18:1-18