We walked through beautiful flowering trees to the Garden of Gethsemane. The name Gethsemane in Hebrew comes from gat + shemanim and means (olive) oil press. Jesus and His disciples came to Gethsemane to pray on the night He was betrayed and arrested (Matthew 26:36-55; Mark 14:32-42; Luke 22:39-53; John 18:1-12). We sat in sight of the blocked up Eastern gates across the Kidron Valley, behind which lies the Dome of the Rock, where blood was sacrificed after Abraham offered Isaac. Jesus was pressed and sweat drops of blood here. And beyond the Dome of the Rock is Golgotha, where Jesus was crucified and shed blood. Pastor Kyle did a teaching time here, outside the Garden:
The Gethsemane olives are possibly descendants of one that was in the garden at the time of Christ. This is because when an olive tree is cut down, shoots will come back from the roots to create a new tree. It is impossible to kill olive trees unless you pull out the roots and shoots. If you cut off the branches, new shoots will come out. They are an ever-living tree - an appropriate symbol for our ever-living God. Shafik prayed the Lord ’s Prayer in Aramaic. As we finished contemplating, the bells rang long and loudly. We entered the Church of All Nations, also known as the Church or Basilica of the Agony. It is a Roman Catholic church next to the Garden of Gethsemane and it has a beautiful mosaic on its facade. It was built to recall how Jesus agonized over us to the point of sweating blood (Luke 22:24) and it enshrines a section of bedrock where Jesus is said to have prayed before his arrest. Three churches - Byzantine, Crusader and a modern church were built successively on the site where it is believed that Jesus prayed to the Father hours before his crucifixion, was betrayed by Judas with a kiss, and was strengthened by angels before He was arrested. The chapel was built between 1919 and 1924 using funds donated from many different countries. The respective coat-of-arms of each donating country are incorporated into the glass of the ceiling, each in a separate, small dome, and also into the interior mosaics. Violet-colored glass was used throughout the church to evoke a mood of depression analogous to Christ's agony, and the ceiling is painted a deep blue to simulate a night sky. Hebrews 4:14-15 - Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Hebrews 4:16 - Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
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AuthorThis blog is mainly written by me (Laura Walkendorf,) and also by my parents. Archives
April 2017
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