Gethsemane: the Garden of Jesus' Pressing

Palm Sunday Road is steep, the road curves sharply, and the pavement is worn smooth from the centuries of pilgrims who have walked it. So be careful coming down! Your calves are definitely going to get a work out.

And now, we come to the Garden of Gethsemane. 

Some of the trees here date back to 1st century AD, so they could have been in the garden on that night that Jesus sweated blood and pled with the Father before surrendering.

Of course, being on the Mount of Olives, I assume the whole mountain was covered in trees. So was it exactly here in this section? I don't know. But we do know there was an actual Garden of Gethsemane. 

And what happened here is what is most important. Gethsemane means "oil press". The process of pressing the olives was (and still is) very specific. It involves 3 separate pressings.

This is where Jesus was pressed; as He agonized over what was before Him.

This is actually one of my favorite churches to visit in Israel. The interior is made to look like night in a garden: midnight blues and golds, stars and garden imagery. Beautiful!

At the altar is the rock said to be where Jesus prayed. People come from all over the world to visit this garden and pray here.

Below, you can see an example of a newer church built on an older foundation, which is the practice here in the Land.

And of course, the view outside of incredible:

While the Land has changed so much over the millennia, can you still see it? Can you imagine Jesus somewhere on the Mount of Olives at night, in a garden of olive trees where they pressed olives to make oil, pleading with His father as the Sanhedrin and Roman soldiers led by Judas are on their way?

Traveling down Palm Sunday Road

This week, we're going to some of the places Jesus went to (or might have been to, depending if the experts are correct) that final week before His death and resurrection.

First, Palm Sunday Road!

In John 12, Jesus leaves Bethany (still on my "to visit" list!) and travels to Jerusalem, traveling up and over the Mount of Olives to enter the city through the Eastern Gate, which is now closed. It's almost Passover, and the city is teeming with people. He instructs His disciples to go find a specific young donkey He ride into the city. The crowds filled the streets and laid their robes and palm branches on the ground for Him to travel over, just as they would a king. 

As He drew near the city, Luke 19, another account of the same event, says that He wept over Jerusalem, because the people there didn't realize who He really was, and because of that, He knew what was coming in about 35+ years.

So, the first stop of Palm Sunday Road is the Dominus Flevit, which is Latin for "The Lord wept". 

It's a Catholic church dedicated to where Jesus wept as He entered Jerusalem, and has an incredible view!

I don't have a photo of the outside of the church, but it has a really unique shape (I blame the heat for addling my brain that day). This church is only a few hundred years old, as it was built on the remains of a Byzantine church that was eventually destroyed when Jerusalem fell in 1187 AD.

On this site is are also some tombs dating back to the Canaanite era (a looooong time ago), and some relics from that time period were found as well.

That's it for Dominus Flevit! Let's head back to Palm Sunday road and head down towards the Garden of Gethsemane.

Why is this Gate closed on the Eastern Wall of the Temple Mount?

The great thing about walking along the Mount of Olives is that there is an incredible view no matter where you look—and so many amazing things to see!

If you can tear your gaze away from the Garden of Gethsemane, the Jewish cemetery, and everything else that's going on and look to your left, you'll see something amazing:

The Eastern Wall of the Temple Mount and the Golden Gate.

But that's not all.

In the past year, some vines have started growing out of openings in the city walls, which date almost 500 years.... and they are forming an interesting design. Naturally, my friends and I had to get closer. That's when you discovered that you can walk through the Muslim cemetery directly in front of the wall as well. I'd had no idea! 

Anyway... can you see it?

That's right, directly across the Mount of Olives, on the Eastern Wall, vines are growing that—almost—spell out the Hebrew name of God: yod, hei, vav.... It's only missing 1 letter.

Wow.

The cemetery is interesting, as it is so different from the one on the Mount of Olives directly across from it.

But my favorite part is halfway across: the closed-in Golden Gate.

Why is this important?

The Golden Gate (Eastern Gate) of the Temple complex is where Jesus entered in John 12 and Luke 19. He left Bethany, asked His disciples to bring Him a young, unbroken donkey, and entered the city riding down the Mount of Olives with the crowd yelling, singing praises, and placing their cloaks and palm branches on the road before Him. He was welcomed as a king.

Within the next week, He would be crucified and raised back to life.

But that's not all.

In prophecy in Zechariah 14 says the Messiah will return to the Mount of Olives. The mountain will split in two and water will run to the east and west. He, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, will enter Jerusalem on a white horse.

Being aware of this prophecy, whenever Muslims were in power during Jerusalem's history, the gate was sealed, most recently in 1541 under Ottoman Emperor Suleiman the Magnificent. For good measure, a cemetery was posted as well in front of the gate, because, according to Jewish Law, for the Jewish Messiah to enter a cemetery on the way to the (not currently present) Temple would make Him unclean. Both these things together should make it impossible, according to man's logic.

And yet, there's something incredible at sitting there, tracing the path of Palm Sunday Road on the Mount of Olives, visualizing Jesus' procession into the city, and then imagining it again, this time in His second coming. Something tells me that no plan, design, or trap of man will be able to stop the Messiah. Right now, we are in the waiting. 

I have to say, sitting right below that gate is an incredible place to sit with God, read your Bible, and pray. 

And then, if you keep walking past the Golden Gate and turn left to enter into the city, you'll pass the Pool of Bethesda at St. Anne's Church and start down the Via Dolorosa. I highly recommend it!

What and Where is the Kidron Valley?

The Kidron Valley, which separates the Temple Mount from the Mount of Olives is one of those historical places you can just walk past without even knowing you did.

You'll walk along it along the eastern side of the Temple Mount, and have to cross it in order to get to the Garden of Gethsemane and Dominus Flevit, among other things. But the sign explaining it is down in the cemetery.

Back in the day of David, the upper part of this valley was known as the King's Garden, or the King's Valley, and David ran through it when he fled Absolam. 

It's also believed that King Jehoshaphat overthrew Israel's enemies in 2 Chronicles 26 there, and in 2 Chronicles 29-31, as the Levites carried out Hezekiah's instructions to purify the Temple and tossed unclean items into the valley.

Jesus and His disciples would have crossed this valley whenever they entered or left Jerusalem and travelled to Bethany, and of course, when going to/from the Garden of Gethsemane (John 18). 

It's also mentioned one more time in the Old Testament the Valley of Jehoshaphat, the word "Jehoshaphat" means "God has Judged", and according to Joel 3:

“In those days and at that time,

    when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem,

2 

I will gather all nations

    and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat.[b]

There I will put them on trial

    for what they did to my inheritance, my people Israel,

because they scattered my people among the nations

    and divided up my land" (verses 1-2)

In the spring, the Kidron river runs through here, and the grass is green. It's beautiful to see! But this is how it looks in the heat of July:

It also holds Jerusalem's oldest cemetery. You can see Absolam's pillar in the distance. Further down there are caves dating to the 9th and 7th centuries B.C. 

Until it connects with the Hinnom Valley and travels out to the Dead Sea. But that's a post for another day!

Here's my question for now: In Zechariah 14, the prophecy of Jesus' second coming is that His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which will split in two. Water will flow towards the east and west, into the Mediterranean and into the Dead Sea, which will come back to life. 

If this is a river valley (though very dry when I took these pictures), and it leads to the Dead Sea, is this the route the eastbound river will take?