Who Was With Jesus In The Garden Of Gethsemane?

Who were those with Jesus when He went into the Garden Of Gethsemane to pray?

The Garden Of Gethsemane

The Garden Of Gethsemane is not a garden any more. It is long gone as most of it was destroyed when the Roman’s destroyed much of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. What wasn’t destroyed was quickly used up as wood, needed for the rebuilding of Jerusalem. During Jesus’ earthly ministry, the Garden Of Gethsemane was a dense thicket of olive trees. The olives were extremely valuable at that time, just as they are today, but for Jesus, this was a place of seclusion where He may have often visited to pray and as a result, His disciples would have also been very familiar to the place. The Garden of Gethsemane lay at the foot of the Mount of Olives, just beyond the Kidron Valley. On the eastern side of the Old City Jerusalem, it was just outside the city walls. This is where Jesus went to pray before His betrayal. The word Gethsemane comes from the Greek word “Gethsēmani” and means “an oil press;” very appropriate for an olive garden.

Before Gethsemane

Before Jesus went into the Garden of Gethsemane to pray, He had told the disciples “Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” Peter said to him, “Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you!” And all the disciples said the same” (Matt 26:34-35). Everyone knows how that turned out for Peter and the other disciples. They either ended up by denying Jesus or just running away, but Jesus already knew they would, as He had earlier prophesied. Try to imagine how it must have felt like for Jesus. He carried an immense burden on Himself; His own disciples would shortly desert and deny Him; His own people would illegally try and convict Him; their own Scribes and lawyers were blinded to the fact that Jesus perfectly fulfilled the long-prophesied Messiah; and the Roman’s murdered an innocent Man as Pontius Pilate had previously declared “to the chief priests and the crowds, “I find no guilt in this man” (Luke 23:4). Many scholars believe that even the Father departed from Jesus on the cross during those three hours of darkness.

The Weight in Gethsemane

Now add to all of the tonnage of denial, torture, miss-justice, and murder, all of the sins of all who have ever lived, all who live today, and all who will yet live in the future; all squarely placed upon Him. That means He took upon Himself the wrath of God for the sake of those who’ve repented and trusted in Christ, so Jesus must have felt like an olive being pressed from every side and pressed to the point that in His praying, His sweat became mixed with blood (Luke 22:42). It is a rare medical condition called hematidrosis and is caused by extreme anguish, maybe to the point of saying “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death” (Matt 26:38), which is what Jesus said.

Who Was With Jesus?

Before Jesus went to the Garden of Gethsemane, He had told them that He was going up to Jerusalem to suffer and die at the hands of Jewish religious leaders and told them a prophecy that was about to be fulfilled when He said “I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered” (Matt 26:31) where He quotes Zechariah the prophet from Zechariah 13:7. Finally, “Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, “Sit here, while I go over there and pray.” And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled” (Matt 26:36-37). Who were the “two sons of Zebedee?” The Scriptures clearly tell us: “James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon” (Luke 5:10a) are the two sons of Zebedee that went with Jesus into the Garden of Gethsemane. Elsewhere, “James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to him and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you” (Mark 10:35). The only ones who went with Jesus were Peter, James, and John. These are the same men that Jesus allowed to see His Shekinah glory on the Mount of Transfiguration in Matthew 17, Mark 9, and Luke 9. By Jesus saying “to his disciples, “Sit here, while I go over there and pray” the other disciples stayed and Jesus went “over there” to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray took Peter, James, and John with Him.

Conclusion

If you haven’t prayed to God and humbled yourself before Him; if you’ve never repented and turned away and forsaken your sins; and if you’ve never put your trust in Christ, then you will have an appointment someday that cannot be avoided; it is your judgment after death (Heb 9:27). That is something I pray does not happen, so I beg you to make today your day of salvation (2nd Cor 6:2). He could return at any time.

Article by Jack Wellman

Jack Wellman is Pastor of the Mulvane Brethren Church in Mulvane Kansas. Jack is also the Senior Writer at What Christians Want To Know whose mission is to equip, encourage, and energize Christians and to address questions about the believer’s daily walk with God and the Bible. You can follow Jack on Google Plus or check out his book Teaching Children the Gospel available on Amazon.