The Crushing Of Gethsemane Series

I. JESUS AGONIZED THE NIGHT BEFORE THE CROSS

I’ve heard of the Garden of Gethsemane most of my life, but it was only a few years ago I learned the meaning of Gethsemane. Gethsemane is a parable of what Jesus endured. The olive tree is called the tree of life because it provides oil for light, medicine, food, and soap. To harvest olives, cloths were spread under the branches, and then the harvesters took heavy sticks and beat the branches to make the olives fall onto the cloths. That reminds me that Jesus was beaten with wooden sticks by both the Jewish guard and the Roman soldiers.

The word “Gethsemane” comes from two Aramaic words, Gat-Šmânim, which means “olive oil press.” Olives were placed in a stone press and a huge millstone crushed them into pulp. That first olive oil was called extra virgin olive oil and is clear. But then the olive pulp was put into cloth bags and endured two more crushing using long presses weighted down with stones, and sometimes a huge press driven by a wooden screw twisted tight. The olives are crushed three times until no oil remains in the pulp. The final crushing of the olive pulp produces a thick dark oil some say resembles blood. Three crushings. And Jesus prayed three times in this garden where olives were crushed.

In Luke’s account we read these words, “And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.” (Luke 22:44) Dr. Luke used a medical word we still use, thrombosis. The literal translation is “blood mixed with sweat.” Jesus was under such agonizing pressure; His scalp began to ooze bloody sweat.

This condition isn’t unique. A medical expert, Dr. David Teraska has commented: “Of medical significance is that Luke mentions Him as having sweat like blood. The medical term for this, ‘hematidrosis,’ has been seen in patients who have experienced extreme stress or shock to their systems. The capillaries around the sweat pores become fragile and leak blood into the sweat.”

Perhaps the most hated King in French history was Charles IX. Being a Catholic, he ordered the St. Bartholomew’s massacre in which over 10,000 French Protestants were killed. The stress from his guilt drove him crazy. He died at age 23 from hematidrosis. Blood began to seep through his pores, and he died in agony. This condition is rare, but most people die of it. That’s how close to death Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane.

II. JESUS RECOILED AT THE CUP HE FACED

Jesus left the disciples and fell on His face and prayed this amazing prayer, Abba, Father, everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me.” “Abba” was the most affectionate term a Jewish child ever used to their father. It meant “Daddy” or “Papa.” Jesus said, “Daddy, you can do anything. I’m asking you to take this cup from me.” The phrase “to drink a cup” meant to experience something. Earlier, Jesus had asked James and John if they were able to drink of the cup that he was going to drink. He wasn’t talking about a real cup; He was referring to the experience of suffering and death.