Garden of Gethsemane, Luke 22:42 Wall Art

A garden at night

Jesus kneels on the ground with his hands clasped and resting on a large rock, his head bent over them. He wears a cream robe with a rust mantle falling over his shoulder and a gray-blue sash. Beside him rises an old olive tree with a twisted, hollowed trunk, its silver-green leaves spreading over his head.

Behind him the sky is a deep indigo wash, with a full moon and a few faint pinpricks of light. Dark cypresses stand against it, and on the horizon the walls of a city show a few warm, lit windows: Jerusalem, across the valley, going about its evening. The words “Not my will, but thine, be done” are lettered across the top, with the reference beneath.

What happened in Gethsemane?

After the Last Supper, Jesus went out with his disciples to the Mount of Olives, east of the city walls. Matthew and Mark give the place its name, Gethsemane, which is usually explained as “oil press,” fitting for a grove where olives were crushed. Luke tells us that Jesus withdrew about a stone's throw from the others, knelt down and prayed.

The full verse reads: “Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.” The “cup” is the suffering ahead of him. Jesus does not pretend it is easy; he asks, openly, to be spared. Only then does he surrender his will to the Father's. Luke adds details of his own: an angel came to strengthen him, and his sweat fell like great drops of blood to the ground. Meanwhile the disciples slept.

The moon in the painting is not only atmosphere. Passover was celebrated at the full moon of the spring month of Nisan, so the night of Gethsemane would have been lit very much like this.

For Lent, Holy Week and the hard seasons

Many Christians bring this print out during Lent or hang it for Holy Week, especially Maundy Thursday, when churches remember the agony in the garden. Because it is a prayer of surrender rather than triumph, it also speaks to anyone facing a diagnosis, a loss or a decision they did not choose. The dark blue sky makes it one of the moodier pieces in our Easter collection, well suited to a study, a prayer room or a quiet wall at the end of a hallway.