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Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him. On reaching the place, he said to them, \u201cPray that you will not fall into temptation.\u201d He withdrew about a stone\u2019s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, \u201cFather, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.\u201d An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground. When he rose from prayer and went back to the disciples, he found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow. \xa0\u201cWhy are you sleeping?\u201d he asked them. \u201cGet up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.\u201d (Luke 22:39-46)

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Gethsemane is not a word that Luke uses.\xa0 But it\u2019s not that he doesn\u2019t say it.\xa0

Gethsemane is a word that translates to \u201coil press.\u201d\xa0 Presumably the garden grove of Olive Trees on the Mount of Olives had an oil press within it, such that it was called by that name. \u201cGethsemane.\u201d\xa0 Oil press: it is the best description not just of the place, but also of what happens here, especially as Luke tells it.

But again, Luke doesn\u2019t use that word. \xa0He just says \u201cthe place.\u201d\xa0 Upon reaching \u201cthe place,\u201d Jesus told the disciples to pray so that they would not fall into temptation.\xa0

Why?\xa0 Because temptation was pressing in.\xa0 Satan had asked to sift the disciples like wheat.\xa0 Peter had been told that he would soon disown Jesus.\xa0 And they still didn\u2019t understand anything about greatness, violence, or power when it came to the kingdom of God.\xa0

Some of this had perhaps become apparent to them as Jesus rebuked and warned them while they were still at table in the upper room.\xa0 Luke reports that they were exhausted from sorrow, and maybe that\u2019s why.\xa0 In any case, as the press of temptations and forces hardened around them: the disciples went limp in their emotional exhaustion, desponding in sleep rather than responding in prayer.

But strong pressures were also pressing in on Jesus.\xa0 Out of his humanity, he pleads for mercy.\xa0 Instead, he receives strength.\xa0 But it does not stop him from praying even more earnestly in anguished cries to his Father.\xa0 It is here, in anguish, feeling the crushing press of Judas\u2019 betrayal, the disciples\u2019 emotional exhaustion, and the rejection and crucifixion that lay ahead that Jesus\u2019 sweat falls like drops of blood.\xa0

Luke doesn\u2019t use the word Gethsemane, but he does give the most vivid example of it.\xa0 The law of firstfruits said that the first pressing of oil from one\u2019s olives belonged to God, and the second to us.\xa0 So it is here.\xa0

Jesus is pressed like olives at \u2018the place\u2019 of Gethsemane to the point that his blood begins to drip to the ground.\xa0 This first pressing is for God, offered up in anguished cries of prayer and surrender.\xa0

Of course, the second pressing on the cross would be for us.\xa0 \u201cDrink from it, all of you: this cup is the new covenant in my blood,\u201d Jesus said, after all.\xa0

This gift pressed from Jesus and given to us is exactly what strengthens us today for the prayerful battle against temptation.\xa0 So: receive Jesus\u2019 gift and hear his command\u2014it is time to awake and pray.

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