When Scientists Dug A Tunnel In Jerusalem, They Discovered A Ritual Object From The Days Of Jesus

A man walks alone in a grove of olives with his head bowed. He is deeply troubled – perhaps even scared. If you could get close enough to him, you would hear the words of prayer that tumble from his mouth. The man is Jesus, and it’s the evening of the Last Supper. The place where he walks is called Gethsemane. And now a monumental discovery may have shed light on the site where Jesus passed his last night on Earth.

The same story at its core

This is the story according to the Gospels. Each of them has a tale that differs a little in the details, but at base it is the same. Straight after the Last Supper, Jesus went off to pray. Both Mark and Matthew say the place that he went to was called Gethsemane. There, Jesus goes through a night of mental torture.

Ancient olive press

The Garden of Gethsemane was a grove of olive trees. In fact, the name is derived from the local words for an olive press: gat semãnê in Aramaic and gat shemanim in Hebrew. Yet there is very little detail in the Bible, and it gives no mention of Gethsemane’s purpose.

The closest disciples

In the story of the night of the Last Supper, Jesus goes deep into the garden with his closest disciples: Peter, James and John. And the Son of God is obviously upset about what is in store for him. He tells the disciples, “The sorrow in my heart is so great that it almost crushes me.”

Keeping their eyes open

Jesus orders the three disciples to watch out as he prays alone. Though it doesn’t all go to plan. It won’t be possible for Jesus to escape his fate when he is found in the garden. The disciples just can’t keep their eyes open, and they each fall asleep. The holy figure is left alone to agonize over the next day’s suffering.