Jimmy & Kathi's Adventures: Garden of Gethsemane

We started out our morning by visiting the Garden of Gethsemane and the Church of the Nations that is built there. This site was a little more moving than some of the other churches we have visited. Traditionally, this is the site where Jesus spent His last night praying in the garden. (Matthew 26:36-56) We walked through the garden of olive trees, some of which are nearly 2,000 years old. Despite their age, none of these trees were around on the night Christ was in such agony that He sweat drops of blood on the ground. (Luke 22:44) In 70 AD, when Titus and his soldiers entered Jerusalem and destroyed the Temple, he also ordered that all of the olive trees on the Mount of Olives be cut down. He only cut them down rather than uproot them so they did grow back again and the ones that grew back from the original root systems are what still stands there today, still growing and still producing olives.

The church sits right next to the garden and is built over the rock where it is believed Jesus spent the night in prayer. I don't know how they could possibly know which stone He prayed on but so the tradition goes. The first church was built by Helena, mother of Constantine in the 4th century AD, as were most of the churches built on holy sites here in Israel. Also, just like the others, this site has gone through its fair share of being destroyed by one group and rebuilt by the next group as battles have been fought through the last two millenia. The church that stands there today was built in the 20th century. The facade of the church, the flooring inside, and all of the murals on the walls are mosaics done with tiles that are probably less than 1 sq. cm. They're beautiful but would have required hundreds if not thousands of hours to complete. The stained glass windows are all alabaster that was cut very thin to let only a minimal amount of light through. The architect, Berlucci, wanted to create a dark atmosphere inside the church so that even on the sunniest day it feels like you are there during the dark night hours when Christ would have been praying.

The facade of the church...