Gethsemane

The name (meaning ‘oil-press’) of the garden where Jesus prayed in agony before his arrest (Mark 14:32) and located by John [[➝ John the Apostle]] (who does not give the name) across the Kidron valley on the western side of the Mount of Olives. Although Jesus was alone (Luke 22:41) and the disciples were sleeping (Mark 14:37, 40), Jesus' prayer is reported (Mark 14:36). Presumably the substance of the prayer was inferred and recounted as part of the tradition; it is mentioned in Heb. 5:7; and the basic authenticity of the event is supported by its inconsistency with the motif running through the rest of Mark. In that gospel Jesus' passion and death were decreed by the providence of God (Mark 8:31—‘must’). Characteristically different motifs are discernible in the three accounts of Jesus' agony and prayer: Mark notices Jesus' obedience to the Father and the failure of the disciples; Matt. describes Jesus as ‘sorrowful and troubled’ (26:37) moderating Mark's ‘greatly distressed’ (14:33). Luke (who does not mention the name Gethsemane) has portrayed the disciples more sympathetically; certainly they slept, but they were worn out ‘by grief’ (22:45). John omits the scene, but the theme is present in John 12:27–9 and 18:11.