He took Peter, James and John along with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled. “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death,” he said to them. “Stay here and keep watch.”
Mark 14:33-34 NIV
The Olive Press
As Bob Duncan points to the olive trees on the south and west walls of his house he says, “Don’t waste the walls on rose bushes!” Duncan is near Victoria, British Columbia. And amongst the olive branches against his south and west walls I see a heavy crop of olive fruit. While olive trees don’t survive winter temperatures in most parts of Canada, in the balmier parts of British Columbia they do. His olives can survive temperatures as low as -10 Celsius.
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An olive press was a common site in Israel in Jesus’ day. In Hebrew the word for olive press is Get Shemanim. From it comes the name for that ancient olive garden Gethsemane. In the days Jesus was in Israel, there were three pressings for each olive. The first produced pure virgin olive oil and was used for Temple purposes – lighting the Menorah and anointing the priests. The oil from the second press was used for lighting lamps. The final oil, from the third press, was used for making soap. Jesus went to Gethsemane to pray and Mark 14:33-34 says, “He took Peter, James and John along with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled. ‘My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death,’ he said to them. ‘Stay here and keep watch.’” Three times that evening Jesus was pressed. Jesus the great, sinless High Priest, the Light of the world, the cleanser of the soul, was pressed, pressed, pressed, until He surrendered to the will of God and began to make his way to Calvary.
These have been words from the heart.
Bob Beasley