Saturday, December 3, 2011


The Garden of Gethesemane - these olive trees are very, very old but it is impossible to determine their age because they grow by sending out shoots from the center and do not have rings to be counted. These trees COULD be 200o years old. Christ came here with His diciples and asked them to watch and wait while He prayed. While He pleaded with His Father to take "this cup from Me" and sweated blood, His disciples fell asleep. When Judas arrived he kissed Christ 3 times - normal greeting was 2 kisses but Judas added a kiss to Christ's hand - and betrayed Him to the Roman soldiers. Peter reacted in anger and cut the ear off one of the soldiers but Jesus healed him right here. The whole hillside used to be covered with olive trees, now the garden has only a dozen or so left.

No comments: