The Garden of Gethsemane is located right at the foot of Mount Of Olives in Jerusalem. The root word and the meaning of Gethsemane is Oil Press. That was the place where they would press the olives and extract oil. That was also the place where Jesus was accompanied by Peter, John and James to pray. That was the place that Jesus, The Messiah, went through so much agony before His crucifixion.

• Why did Jesus picked that garden? Could it be that Jesus was pointing to the fact that He was indeed the Messiah?
• The Word Messiah comes from the Hebrew root word “Mashach” meaning “to anoint” or “to smear with oil” and the word MESSIAH means “ANOINTED ONE”
• Just like olives had to be pressed to extract oil, Jesus had to be pressed to become the Anointed One, The Messiah!

OPENING SCRIPTURE: MATTHEW 26:36

Then Jesus went with them to the olive grove called Gethsemane, and he said, “Sit here while I go over there to pray.” ³⁷ He took Peter and Zebedee’s two sons, James and John, and he became anguished and distressed. ³⁸ He told them, “MY SOUL IS CRUSHED WITH GRIEF TO THE POINT OF DEATH. Stay here and keep watch with me.” (Matthew 26:36-38 NLT)

• WITHOUT BEING PRESSED to the point of death JESUS COULD NOT BECOME THE MESSIAH

He went on a little farther and bowed with his face to the ground, praying, “MY FATHER! IF IT IS POSSIBLE, LET THIS CUP OF SUFFERING BE TAKEN AWAY FROM ME. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.” (Matthew 26:39 NLT)

• Being pressed was the only way our Lord could show His humanity in the form of: sadness, alienation and anguish.

STATEMENT: The Gospel of Luke paints a very gruesome scene right there in the garden of Gethsemane

“He prayed more fervently, and HE WAS IN SUCH AGONY OF SPIRIT THAT HIS SWEAT FELL TO THE GROUND LIKE GREAT DROPS OF BLOOD” (Luke 22:44 NLT)

Jesus was pressed so hard that His body began to convulse under extreme physical and emotional stress, bursting capillaries connected to the sweat glands, and drops of blood would fall from his body. This condition is known as Hematohidrosis.

Jesus had to be pressed until there was nothing left in Him.

• For hours after His arrest, Jesus was pressed.
• Whipped, beaten, scourged, and nailed upon a cross, He was pressed until not a single drop was left

In John chapter 19, we get a picture of Jesus on the cross- the pressing is completed

Jesus knew that his mission was now finished, and to fulfill Scripture he said, “I am thirsty.” ²⁹ A jar of sour wine was sitting there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put it on a hyssop branch, and held it up to his lips. ³⁰ When Jesus had tasted it, he said, “It is finished!” Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. (John 19:28-30 NLT)

• One of the physiological result of the crucifixion is dehydration. The crushing position of the body, the lacerated veins, punctured organs, has caused so much loss of fluid that the brain is screaming: “I thirst”

CONCLUSION

• Without the pressing of Jesus in such a cruel way, he cannot become: the Messiah, the Anointed One

“Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him WILL NEVER THIRST. But the water that I shall give him will BECOME IN HIM A FOUNTAIN OF WATER SPRINGING UP INTO EVERLASTING LIFE.” (John 4:14 NKJ)

• He had to be pressed to endure thirst so that you and I can be satisfied
• He had to be pressed to endure thirst so that you and I will have in us and flowing out of us: a fountain of living water