Crushed in Gethsemane

     In Jesus’ time, the Mount of Olives was a manufacturing location to produce olive oil. In olive groves scattered all over Israel, huge ancient stone olive presses crushed the harvested olives. The pulp eventually underwent enough crushing so that refined oil emptied into clay jars to use in cooking, anointing, and Temple lights. I’ve seen one of the huge olive presses discovered in various parts of Israel. Their size and crushing methods portrayed their effectiveness!
     The Christian community is well-versed in the fact that Jesus prayed in anguish and wept tears of blood in the Garden of Gethsemane prior to His betrayal and arrest. Yet, His geographical location on the Mount of Olives is rich with physical and spiritual symbolism for us today. Even the word “Gethsemane” itself means “olive oil” in Hebrew and Aramaic.
     Jesus’ agony in Gethsemane was a process of crushing His will as He prayed to His Father in Heaven, “Not My will but Thine be done.” While we know the magnificent outcome of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection, the process was excruciating. It is instructive however for us today in our lives.  We cannot in any way compare ourselves to Jesus’ sacrificial death on the tree to pay our debt of sin. But we can draw perspective from His crushing. Sorrows befall us in life and some seem insurmountable. The death of a child, parent or spouse. Terminal illness or divorce. Loss of income. Betrayal. Depression. An endless list.  

     Scripture is replete with stories of sorrow and problems which seem to have no good outcome either. For example, Joseph in the pit- then prison- could not have imagined he’d later be the Prime Minister for Egypt’s Pharaoh. A devout Jew, the apostle Paul-imprisoned and beaten-endured to become the most well-known missionary in the ancient world carrying the good news to the non-Jewish world. Today, the nation of Israel is an example too. Crushed for thousands of years with deportation, anti-Semitism, violence, and death they have harnessed centuries of crushing and endurance to create a thriving ancestral homeland which blesses the world with their innovations. 
     Jesus’ crushing in Gethsemane was dark, painful, and later unbearable on the tree. Yet His crushing for our sins became the oil of salvation for all of us who accept His sacrificial gift of eternal life.  What is crushing you in your Gethsemane? When we look to our Lord Jesus and cry out for His help, He walks us though whatever is crushing us. Counting on Him, we find hope and solutions.
     The lesson and the outcome: Like harvested olives crushed into precious olive oil, our crushing can turn into beauty and usefulness in the comforting Hands of our Lord. Then we can fully embrace 2 Corinthians 1:3-5 (NIV) 
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.  For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ.”
#CrushingProducesFruit