In the Garden

One of my favorite places in Israel was sitting in the Garden of Gethsemane. It was a place where Jesus and his disciples often went to pray. There was something about the place, so peaceful, so serene. As I sat there looking at the Olive Trees and reading over and over Jesus' last visit there. (Matthew 26:36-46) The pain and anguish he must have felt really hit me...

there in the garden...

among the trees...

Olive trees that don't grow straight, their trunks are not smooth as other trees. These trees grow in twists and turns. These trees look so harsh, all twisted and gnarled...

Reading the passage again as I looked upon the olive trees...what anguish. Over and over again Jesus' plea is for the Father to take this burden from him. If at all possible may this not be the road he is to travel.

After his heartfelt plea, Jesus resigns to the fact that this was God's will ...

It was there that I realized how deep God's love truly is...

He was looked down on and passed over,

a man who suffered, who knew pain firsthand.
One look at him and people turned away.
We looked down on him, thought he was scum.
But the fact is, it was our pains he carried—
our disfigurements, all the things wrong with us.
We thought he brought it on himself,
that God was punishing him for his own failures.
But it was our sins that did that to him,
that ripped and tore and crushed him—our sins!
He took the punishment, and that made us whole.
Through his bruises we get healed.

Isaiah 53 - The Message