Across the centuries, humans have created both gardens & religious texts, like the Bible, to be practical & symbolic. Personal & cultural landscapes and religious traditions evolve from older designs & beliefs and from oral & written histories & images.
Thursday, March 14, 2019
Jesus & The Garden of Gethsemane
1599-25 Agony in the garden Simon Bening (1483-1561) or follower From a Book of Hours (use of Rome) of Southern Netherlands (Den Haag, MMW, 10 E 3). Passion according to St. John with only a hint of tiny blossoms.
The garden at Gethsemane, a place whose name literally means oil press, is located on a slope of the Mount of Olives just across the Kidron Valley from Jerusalem. A garden of ancient olive trees stands there to this day. Gethsemane is most famous as the place where Jesus prayed & his disciples slept the night before Jesus' crucifixion. According to the New Testament it was a place that Jesus & his disciples customarily visited, which allowed Judas to find him on the night of his arrest. Gethsemane appears in Matthew (26:36) & Mark (14:32). The Gospel of John says Jesus frequently went to Gethsemane with His disciples to pray (John 18:2). In the Bible at John 18:1l “When Jesus had spoken these words, He went forth with His disciples over the brook Cedron, where was a garden, into the which He entered, and His disciples.” From other scriptures, such as, Matthew 26:36 we know that this garden was called “Gethsemane.”