Judas comes to Gethsemane with the Roman soldiers Judas kisses Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane Map showing Gethsemane Gethsemane view - www.BiblePictureGallery.com Photograph of the Garden thought to be Gethsemane - www.BiblePictureGallery.com

Garden of Gethsemane

Episode 37

The Garden of Gethsemane has an important place in the Easter story because it’s where Jesus was betrayed by one of his disciples, Judas, a man who had spent a great deal of time with him.

Experts don’t know exactly where the Garden of Gethsemane which Jesus visited was because the area has changed so much since Jesus’ time and new roads have been built across the land. But we do know that it is somewhere on the lower slopes of the Mount of Olives - just across the Kidron Valley from Jerusalem.

The name Gethsemane comes from the Hebrew words ‘Gat Shemanin’, which mean ‘olive press’ because olives from the area were pressed there to make olive oil.

It wouldn’t look like the kind of garden you would find around a house today. It was more like an orchard, probably with a wall around it. You can see where it was on the map on the right hand side of this page.

Jesus regularly went to the Garden of Gethsemane and went there for the final time, with three of his disciples, soon after The Last Supper. He asked them to wait for him whilst he went further into the Garden to pray. When he came back, the disciples had all fallen asleep! He went back to pray twice more and when he came back they had fallen asleep again! Then Jesus heard someone coming and knew that it would be Judas with the Roman guards. The soldiers knew which man to arrest when Judas kissed Jesus – it was their secret signal.

You can read and hear the story about Jesus being betrayed and arrested along with the stories of The Last Supper and Peter denying that he knew Jesus here. (Mark 14:17-19, 29-46, 53, 66-72) and watch the story in episode 37, Betrayal.

Click the pictures to see a larger version - you might want to save or print them too!

To find out more, read...
The Last Supper and Jesus’ arrest – Mark 14:17-19, 29-46, 53, 66-72

and watch Friends and Heroes...
The Last Supper and Jesus’ arrest – Series 3 Episode 37, “Betrayal”