Gethsemane

Gethsemane was a garden at the foot of the Mount of Olives where Jesus spent His final hours of freedom in agonized prayer before His arrest, a place that has become one of the most emotionally significant locations in the entire Gospel narrative.

Matthew 26:36 records Jesus bringing His disciples to Gethsemane after the Last Supper, asking most of them to sit while He took Peter, James, and John further with Him, telling them His soul was "exceeding sorrowful, even unto death."

Jesus asks His three closest disciples to watch and pray with Him, then goes a short distance further alone, falling on His face and praying that, if possible, the cup of coming suffering might pass from Him, while ultimately submitting to His Father's will over His own.

Luke's account adds a striking physical detail, that Jesus' agony was so intense His sweat became "as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground," and that an angel appeared to strengthen Him during this period of anguished prayer.

Jesus returns three times to find His disciples asleep despite His request that they watch with Him, gently but pointedly noting that the spirit was willing but the flesh was weak, before finally announcing that the hour had come and His betrayer was at hand.

Judas arrives at Gethsemane with soldiers and identifies Jesus with a kiss, leading directly to His arrest. Peter briefly draws a sword and strikes a servant's ear, an impulsive act Jesus immediately corrects, healing the wound and instructing Peter to put his sword away.

Gethsemane's name, meaning "oil press," has often been noted by readers as fitting for the place where Jesus was, in effect, pressed under the full weight of what was coming, His genuine human anguish held together with His ultimate, willing obedience.