OK but like...Gethsemane. Gethsemane, guys. I cannot express enough how important Gethsemane is and what happened there. Not to downplay the incredible importance of what happened on the Cross, of course not, but I find people really don't talk about Gethsemane enough in comparison, so I'm going to do it myself.
Gethsemane is found at the foot of the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. Fitting its name, the garden itself is full of olive trees, a kind of tree which holds great significance in scripture, probably the most revered plant in the bible. It is a symbol of peace, new life, prosperity, and reconciliation. It was the branch of an olive tree that the dove brought back to Noah while on the ark, signifying that the floods were receding. An olive tree is used to describe Jesus's jewish roots as the stem of David, two olive trees are used as symbolism in Revelations, and the people of Israel are likened to an olive tree and its branches. And this is only a few of the many references to olive trees in the Bible.
Olive Trees were and still are highly valued for their oil, which can be retrieved from the olives themselves. Olive oil was used as medicine, for light, for making food, etc. It was a very valuable resource, and still is.
The very name of this garden, Gethsemane, means “Oil Press”, where oil is obtained from the olives-by squeezing and crushing them. Only by being crushed can this precious oil be obtained.
When the olives are first crushed, the liquid begins to leak out, but rather than coming out as the golden-green color that we are used to, it instead comes out as a dark red hue, looking eerily similar to blood.
Only later does the oil turn into its famous golden-green color.
Like the olives being crushed for their oil, Jesus Christ was being pressed and crushed by the weight of the Atonement in the garden, suffering through such incomprehensible anguish and agony that, according to Luke's account, He literally started sweating blood.
KJV Luke 22: 44: "And being in agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was like great drops of blood falling down to the ground."
(Believe it or not, sweating blood is an actual medical condition called Hematidrosis, which is caused by an extreme level of stress.)
Another important thing about olive oil's use during Christ's time: it was also used for ceremonial annointing, especially for sacred rituals performed in the temple, consecrating those like priests, kings and prophets. To be annointed means to be chosen or set apart for a specific role by God, often signified by smearing oil on the body or head, and what is the true meaning of Christ's title as the Messiah?
And yet now, here in Gethsemane, Jesus has rather become the olive. He is the one being crushed, for the sins and pains of the world in the shadow of the Mount of Olives, His blood, like the sacred oil, to be used to annoint us, to not only save us but to make us into something greater than we could ever be by ourselves.
Also, very very interesting that Gethsemane is described as a garden. Only so many gardens are mentioned in the Bible, the most well known and one of the only other named gardens being the Garden of Eden, the paradise where humankind was first created and dwelt with God. Eden was a place of beauty, of innocence, and represented humanity's oneness with the Father.
But when Adam and Eve partook of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, that innocence was lost, and thus the first man and woman could no longer dwell in Eden, and were driven out. Because of transgression, humankind had fallen.
In Eden's garden, beneath a tree, mankind lost its innocence resulting in the Fall, and became seperated from its creator, but in another garden millennia later, beneath the olive trees, that same creator would begin the agonizing process required to save us and lift us, mankind, from the consequences of that fall, to bring us back to the true garden of the Lord.
In the place of the Oil Press Jesus Christ allowed Himself to be pressed and crushed in our stead, letting Himself to eventually be led to the cross, taking upon Himself the demands of justice so that we might not suffer a similar fate, if we so choose to follow Him.
That is what happened in Gethsemane.
