Cairo: Jesus in Egypt & God's Unusual Leaning
God seldom gives us all we need to understand, but He always gives us what we need in order to obey. The story of Jesus in Egypt as a boy offers a...
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Sep 10, 2013 11:01:06 PM
No Christian pilgrim who visits Jerusalem misses the Garden of Gethsemane. The small section tourists get to see represents just a portion from the large groves of olive trees that still grace the slopes.
(Photo: The Garden of Gethsemane. Courtesy of the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands)
These olive trees crouch behind the rock walls of the Church of All Nations. Beautifully manicured pathways accent about a dozen ancient trees. These grow behind black handrails to protect the branches from souvenir-snatching visitors.
Today, crowds of Christians shuffle through the tiny garden like cattle through the Fort Worth Stockyards. But centuries ago on the early morning of April 3, AD 33, no Christian would have wanted to be there.
In fact, the few believers who were there scattered like frightened rabbits.
Tradition points to a place at the base of the Mount of Olives as the site where Jesus and His disciples often met. It lies directly in line with the ancient path where pilgrims descended the slope from Bethany.
The name Gethsemane means, “oil press,” and inside a small cave beside the garden archaeologists have uncovered an ancient press.
(Photo: Garden of Gethsemane cave. Courtesy of the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands)
The geography of these events is represented in what we see today.
Three churches have stood over the site that the earliest Christian community authenticated by their veneration.
(Photo: The Church of All Nations in the Garden of Gethsemane. Courtesy of the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands)
Beside the Church of All Nations, about a dozen olives trees stand in a small garden, about 50 feet square, with colorful blooms planted to accent the trees and gravel pathways that surround them.
The massive, gnarled trunks produce new shoots, although the trees themselves are ancient. Olive trees have no rings, so it’s tough to determine their age.
(Photo: Garden of Gethsemane aerial. Courtesy of the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands)
The modest Garden of Gethsemane that visitors see is indeed beautiful—just cramped. But a more authentic, unhurried, and private way to experience the garden lies across the street that descends from the Mount of Olives.
After securing permission from the priests, one may enter a vast grove of olive trees much more accessible and touchable. Here a visitor can actually sit on the ground and enjoy an unhurried reading of the story from Matthew 26:30-56.
(Photo: Garden of Gethsemane olive trees. Courtesy of the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands)
Jesus prayed and wept alone in the Garden of Gethsemane, choosing to surrender His will to the Father—a decision that would counteract another choice made in another garden.
One time when I was in this more accessible part of the garden, I saw an American tourist wearing shorts, a ball cap, and a 35-mm camera. But this man looked different than a typical pilgrim. All alone, he wandered into a corner beside a massive olive tree.
Unashamed, he stood there for several minutes clinging to a massive, gnarled trunk—and weeping.
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