Practical Proverbial, from Matthew, 10 September 2025. Today's topic: From Gethsemane
His Word, Our Journey
Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” Matthew 26:36 (NIV).
Is there anything significant about the location of Gethsemane?
https://www.biblestudytools.com/bible-study/topical-studies/why-is-the-garden-of-gethsemane-so-crucial-to-jesus-life.html says something helpful. “While the exact location is difficult to pinpoint, the Bible indicates the Garden of Gethsemane is on the Mount of Olives, a historic place of great meaning throughout the Bible. The Mount of Olives was a “Sabbath day’s walk from the city.” Easton’s 1897 Bible Dictionary tells us the Mount of Olives was named as such because it was clothed in olive trees. Sitting about 200 feet above sea level, it was one of a few mountain ridges east of Jerusalem and afforded a good view of the city. The valley of Kidron lies between the mountain and Jerusalem, and the whole region was a place Jesus often visited in his travels throughout the Gospels. The Mount of Olives is a place of significance; King Solomon erected a “high place” there for the worship of foreign gods, causing the Lord to become very angry with him King David and his followers fled Jerusalem through the Kidron Valley and up the Mount of Olives, weeping and barefoot, after his son Absalom rebelled with an uprising. The Old Testament prophet Zechariah prophesied that “a day of the Lord” would be coming when the Lord would stand upon the Mount of Olives, ready for battle, and be king over the whole earth.”
John says that Judas was familiar with the location, and he either surmised or knew that Jesus would go there to pray after the Last Supper. It’s not far outside Jerusalem, but it’s far enough (that ‘Sabbath day’s walk from the city’) that it would have required deliberate action to get there. It sat near a route traveled frequently into the city. It’s logical to assume Jesus would have taken His disciples there, or by there, many times; that He, Himself, would have been by it throughout His life when traveling from Nazareth into Jerusalem (for festivals). When He would ascend back to heaven, Jesus would do so from the Mount of Olives, near Gethsemane.
https://biblehub.com/q/why_is_the_garden_of_gethsemane_important.htm also points out an interesting fact. “The term “Gethsemane” stems from an Aramaic phrase often translated “oil press,” underscoring the area’s function as an olive orchard where oil was extracted from olives.” Think about that: Jesus was (understandably) extremely troubled, knowing this would be the place where He would be arrested. But He desperately needed the Father’s solace. That night, He probably felt like being pressed, like olives into oil, being poured out by a betrayal already underway. So, He prayed to the Father for relief, but also that the Father’s will be done…and it was. From Gethsemane.
For more, read 2 Samuel 15:13-30, 1 Kings 7:11, Zechariah 14:1-9, Mark 14:32, Luke 22:29-30, John 18:1, Acts 1:12, Matthew 26:37
Lord Jesus, thank You for the meaning of Gethsemane, and for what You did there.