The perfect lamb prays among the olive presses in Gethsemane

Jesus knew that His last Passover on earth would occur after 33 years of going up to Jerusalem. When Messiah entered Jerusalem amid thousands of lambs destined for Temple sacrifices, the Perfect Lamb realized His slaughter lay ahead. The multitudes first shouted their joyful Hosannas, but many were shocked at Jesus’ next actions.

Dismounting from the colt, Jesus walked through the crowds and up the Temple steps. A whip in His hand, He overturned the money changers’ tables in righteous anger, accusing them of turning the “house of prayer” God had created into a “den of thieves.” Then, in the privacy of the Upper Room at Passover (Chag Ha-Matzot), Jesus performed another astonishing act—this one quite private. The King of kings humbly knelt to wash the feet of His disciples and instructed them to serve others. His destiny was embodied as the substitute for our sins, which through His shed blood guaranteed our freedom. There, He instituted what Christians call the Last Supper.

As the evening unfolded, another shock came. John 13:21-28 recounts that after Judas received his morsel of bread, Satan entered into him. Jesus instructed, “Judas, what you’re about to do, do quickly.” Judas slipped out and later led those who were carrying torches to Gethsemane.

Jesus and the 11 remaining disciples had walked in the darkness about a mile to the Mount of Olives and entered the Garden of Gethsemane. The spot was familiar to all Jerusalemites, since it was an important manufacturing area that produced valuable olive oil. The English word Gethsemane combines two Aramaic words, gat “place for pressing” and shemanim “oil.” Definitions rich with physical and spiritual meaning! Knowing the mechanics of olive presses, it is easier to visualize why Jesus walked to that specific spot for prayer before His arrest. 

During Roman rule, olive presses numbered in the thousands in groves scattered all over Israel and the Roman Empire. Large and small presses made of stone crushed the harvested olives. The larger presses included stones suspended with ropes from wooden crossbeams—stones that weighed up to a ton. The pulp eventually underwent enough crushing that the precious commodity could be emptied into clay jars. The refined oil was used in cooking, anointing oil, and Temple lights. 

Mark 14:36 records Jesus’ plea and His obedience. “Abba, Father! All things are possible for You. Take this cup away from Me. Nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will.”

As Christians we are well-versed, knowing Jesus’ anguished prayers laced with tears of blood before His arrest. However, reading about sweating blood, it is easy to wonder if this is an exaggeration, but it is in fact truth. Hematidrosis is the medical term for a rare occurrence when blood is mixed in sweat. It happens in extreme situations, where someone is facing death or other incredibly stressful event. Few of us can imagine such a condition.

The olive presses represented symbols of Messiah’s crushing emotions and later crucifixion. Crushing the olives is a necessity to produce what is most valuable, the oil. Jesus’ crushing produced the precious oil and blood of our redemption. Isaiah 53:5 prophetically states, But He was pierced because of our transgressions, crushed because of our iniquities; punishment for our peace was on Him, and we are healed by His wounds.  Like the wooden beams holding the stones on the olive presses, our Savior Jesus bore the wooden beams of the crucifixion tree crushed under the incalculable weight of our sins.

Eventually, after three times of prayer and seeing His disciples unable to keep their eyes open, as He had asked, Jesus announced, “My betrayer is near.” Judas Iscariot led a mob armed with clubs and swords dispatched by the power structure. Placing the kiss of death on Jesus’ face, His arrest, interrogation, mocking, and abuse went operational. Later Judas committed suicide. 

Reading the events at Gethsemane, it is essential to recall what Jesus clarified to the Pharisees in John 10:17-18: “This is why the Father loves Me, because I am laying down My life so I may take it up again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down on My own. I have the right to lay it down, and I have the right to take it up again. I have received this command from My Father.”

One of the worst false accusations in history is, “The Jews killed Jesus.” NO. No one could stop God’s redemptive plan! Not the Jews, not the Romans who carried out the death sentence, not the disciples and thousands of Jewish believers who loved Him. Jesus chose His crushing on the cross, pouring out the pure oil of His life.

Roman soldiers hammered spikes into Jesus’ body, while Temple priests spent hours slaughtering the Bethlehem lambs by the thousands. Expertly wielding their knives, the priests chanted the Hallel prayer (Psalms 113-118). Could Jesus hear part of Psalm 116:3 as He hung outside Jerusalem’s walls? The cords of death entangled me, the anguish of the grave came over me; I was overcome by distress and sorrow. 

When the skinning, bloodletting, and then roasting of lambs for food began, the priests hung the lambs on wooden hooks stretching out their front legs onto a crossbar in the shape of a cross. Jesus hung on the cross, thus becoming the ultimate sacrifice for all.

God’s Perfect Lamb perfected John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life.” By remembering Gethsemane and Jesus’ identification with the olive presses, let us rejoice that Jesus freed us from sin’s grip—crushed for us!

This article originally appeared here and is reposted with permission.