C, Midweek Lent 5 - Matthew 26:36-56 "Gethsemane - Under the Squeeze"

There isn’t a more appropriately named place in the bible than Gethsemane. This is the place where Jesus prays moments before he is taken and falsely accused before the Jewish and Roman authorities, and subsequently crucified on the cross outside Jerusalem.

Gethsemane is only mentioned twice by name in the New Testament; in Matthew 26:36-56, and in Mark 14:32-50. In Luke and John’s account of the Gospel (Luke 22:39-53; John 18:1-13), Gethsemane is not mentioned but rather just an olive grove, and in John, Jesus only goes there after he prays his High Priestly prayer recorded in John chapter seventeen. However, the Mount of Olives, the location of the olive grove is a very familiar place Jesus and his disciples frequently visited.

When one understands the meaning of the name, Gethsemane, it’s a logical conclusion the place is an olive grove or adjacent to an olive grove, on or near the Mount of Olives. Gethsemane is a contraction of two Hebrew words ­ — Gath, which is a trough or vat or pit for pressing grapes or olives, and comes from the word to beat or thrum; and, Shĕmĕn, is the rich delicious shiny product used in oil lamps, cosmetics, medicines, and for anointing. Shĕmĕn was the oil pressed from the olives in the troughs and pits at Gethsemane.

This sermon is not going to be a lesson on olive oil extraction and waste disposal. But the process used on the olive fruit is surprisingly similar to the events in which Jesus suffered and died — Jesus Christ being the eternally begotten first fruit of God.

We hear beginning from Matthew chapter 26:36 …Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” 37 He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. 38 Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”

39 Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” 40 Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Could you men not keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter. 41 “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”

42 He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.” 43 When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. 44 So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing. 45 Then he returned to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour is near, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. 46 Rise, let us go! Here comes my betrayer!”

47 While he was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, arrived. With him was a large crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent from the chief priests and the elders of the people. 48 Now the betrayer had arranged a signal with them: “The one I kiss is the man; arrest him.” 49 Going at once to Jesus, Judas said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” and kissed him. 50 Jesus replied, “Friend, do what you came for.”

Then the men stepped forward, seized Jesus and arrested him. 51 With that, one of Jesus’ companions reached for his sword, drew it out and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear. 52 “Put your sword back in its place,” Jesus said to him, “for all who draw the sword will die by the sword. 53 Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? 54 But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?”

55 At that time Jesus said to the crowd, “Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come out with swords and clubs to capture me? Every day I sat in the temple courts teaching, and you did not arrest me. 56 But this has all taken place that the writings of the prophets might be fulfilled.” Then all the disciples deserted him and fled. (Matthew 26:36-56)

This is the hour of darkness. Just before Jesus is betrayed into the hands of the authorities and the disciples desert him, we get a clear glimpse from the text of his humanity struggling against his divinity. Gethsemane is the place where the anointed one, the messiah, felt the crushing reality of death begin to press in on him.

Where Jesus retreats to pray is know as the Rock of Agony. One might say Jesus was caught between a rock and a hard place. He was the Son of God, eternally born, and now he was on the verge of being crushed on the cross. Just like an olive in the press, death pressed in on Jesus. The first fruit of God was under the squeeze at Gethsemane.

Ironically, Jesus is the Christ, and Christ or Messiah means anointed one. The custom was to anoint the king with oil, but here we find at Gethsemane, at the oil press, the pressure bore down on Jesus, squeezing from him all the sorrows and troubles of his heart, which burdened him to the point of death. In Luke we’re told although he had been strengthened by an angel, he was completely anguished knowing he had to drink the cup of wrath, and therefore, he prayed more earnestly and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground. (Luke 22:42-44).

Graciously the irony continues for us too. Jesus was crushed, the hour of death squeezed in on him, the anointed one anointed us with his death. Therefore, in our baptism, we are anointed with the full richness, flavoursome, glory of God, causing us to be God’s glowing oil lamps, covered with the glowing robes of Christ’s righteousness, medically healed within by his atoning blood, which anoints all who trust his will, and follow his ways.

Lastly, there is one by-product that still needs our examination. Have you ever wondered what happens to the leftovers after the rich oil has been extracted from the olives? The olive husk, or pomace, is often returned to the soil in the olive groves, it breaks down into the soil as a fertiliser. But then there is also a watery brown liquid which is quite difficult to discard. If it gets into the water table it can pollute things very badly.

So too with us who have died to sin and live in the full richness of Christ. As God’s anointed fruitful people, the harsh by-products of sin which pollutes our world must be absorbed by Jesus’ death on the cross. He was crushed to anoint us with the full richness of God, and subsequently he takes on our rotten rotting sinful natures into himself. And our mortal husk, our mortal flesh will disappear in the soil, unlike our being which will be anointed forever in eternity, with Jesus for his sake, who was pressed into death for us. Amen.