The COVID 19 Gethsemane

“Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane…”

Matthew 26:36

What would you think if I told you that nowhere in the Bible will you find the phrase “Garden of Gethsemane?”  I bet some of you are going to check right now.  After all, You, like me, have heard of the “garden of Gethsemane” all our lives.  Go ahead and look.  In some Matthew and Mark you read that Jesus went with the disciples to a place called Gethsemane.  In Luke you will read that Jesus and His disciples went to a “place” on the Mount Olives.   John writes doesn’t use the word Gethsemane but does say that where they went, there was a garden there.  But nowhere does it say that there was a place known as “the Garden of Gethsemane.” 

So what was this “Gethsemane” that Jesus and His disciples went to that night after they celebrated the Passover?  Well a Gethsemane is an olive press that was used to crush olives and produce olive oil.  In Jesus day they were underground, because they needed to be able to maintain a cool temperature for the sake of the Olives.  I will post a picture of one with this blog.  You can guess why there was an olive press on a hill called “the Mount of Olives.”  Why did Jesus and his disciples go there?  Well my guess is that this is where Jesus and his disciples were staying while in Jerusalem for the Passover.  Israel has a hot climate.  There were no air conditioned hotels back them.  So what better place to get a good night’s sleep than in the coolness of a Gethsemane?  That’s my guess.  Luke only tells us that Jesus went there “as was His custom.”

That night, however, they did not go there to sleep.  Jesus went there to spend time in prayer before his suffering would begin.  Mark tells us that Jesus was “greatly distressed and troubled.”  Jesus told them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to the point of death.”  His prayer puts words to his distress, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from Me.  Yet not what I will, but what you will.”  Luke writes that “being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.”  It was as if the very soul and life of Jesus was being crushed in that Gethsemane, as if in an olive press.

I wonder how many of you feel that right now in this COVID 19 pandemic.  I know many of you are struggling with being isolated.  Again and again, I receive prayer requests from people who are worried about loved one’s who work in the medical profession or as first responders, or in other jobs such as grocery stores where they are constantly exposed to the public.  Or what of the economic trauma we are experiencing – the crash of the markets, of oil prices, the loss of jobs, reductions in income.  Do you feel caught in a COVID 19 Gethsemane – being crushed between fear of virus on one side and worries about the future on the other?

Maybe it would be a good idea for us today, to heed the old hymn and go with Jesus to dark Gethsemane.  There is much to learn from Jesus.  What did he do when He felt Himself crushed with worry and agony?  He went to God in prayer.  He sought strength from the only one who can withstand the heavy crush of life’s mill stones. You and I need to be doing the very same thing – going with Jesus to the Father in prayer – giving Him our worries and fears.  God can handle anything we bring to Him.

 Now notice something else in that prayer.  While asking His Father to remove the cup of suffering, Jesus also submitted to His Father’s will.  He entrusted Himself to His Father’s will.  Can you do that? Can you entrust yourself to the Father’s will no matter how He answers your prayer… no matter what happens in this COVID 19 pandemic?

We can, because Jesus did.  The Father did not remove the cup of suffering from His Son.  In obedience Jesus went forward to suffer and die for the sins of the world… to drink the cup.  He did that because He loves you and me. He did that trusting His Father’s will.  And the Father did not fail His Son.  On the third day He raised Jesus from the dead. 

Because of what Jesus did for us… we can look to God… we can trust Him no matter what happens in this crisis.  No matter how God answers our prayers, we can be sure that He loves us. We can be confident that He works all things together for the good of those who love Him.  Ours is the certainty that no one, no virus, no economic crisis can snatch us out of the Father’s hands.  Nothing that happens or doesn’t happen can separated us from His love.  We are more than conquerors through Jesus who loved us, who died for us and conquered for us with His resurrection.  No matter how heavy the press of this COVID 19 Gethsemane, our God is stronger.  Amen.