July 13, 2008
July 13, 2008
I have been to Gethsemane and back again. I hope that perhaps the retelling of my journey there can be a parable for everyone in search of it. You see, it was not the easiest place to find. We talked with some center kids and got directions on how to get there, but were not exactly sure about every turn, I guess you could say we kind of just walked in the general direction and hoped to figure out the way as we went. We live on Mount Scopus which is actually just adjacent to the Mount of Olives where Gethsemane is located, so it is basically we were right by it the whole time. The Church was asked by the City of Jerusalem a few years ago if they would be interested in helping form a park on the Mount of Olives, they did and it is now called Orson Hyde Park in memory of Orson Hyde who first dedicated the Holy Land in this last dispensation. So, there is now an entrance to the Garden through Orson Hyde Memorial Park. So, in order to find Gethsemane, we needed to find the entrance to Orson Hyde Park and then make our way there. Well, I actually loved the fact that this proved to be difficult. As we did not have the exact directions, we kind of got a little side tracked and lost, which was not a huge surprise because we did not really even know what exactly it was we were searching for we just kind of started by putting one foot in front of the other. We came to a big black gate in the road and knocked on it, thinking that it might possibly be the way. A Muslim lady came to the gate and soon after began scolding us in Arabic. We realized it was not what we were looking for. So, we climbed up a dirt hill and took a couple crazy paths, but eventually found our way to the Orson Hyde Memorial Park. We were at the top of the Park that has a beautiful rock switchback path winding down the Mount of Olives to the Garden. It was what we had been searching for, but of course, the sprinklers were going in the Garden full blast. We took turns running down the path and pretending to be James Bond avoiding laser rays (you know at least I was) stopped at safety checkpoints along the way, but we were all just getting soaked. It actually turned out to be really fun, but not what were expecting, we were kind of all in like a spiritual mood. After a ways down the hill of getting totally blasted with water, the Gardener shows up and turns off the sprinklers. His name is Muhammad and he has been the Gardener there for nearly 20 years. He was really interesting to talk with. It was a lot more pleasant of a walk after the sprinklers were turned off, but it was definitely not as exciting. The view of the city was amazing though. Finally we get to the Garden, or a part of it that lets in tourists and it is closed. We walk up to the gate and the man says, come back at 2:00. Just perfect right? Here we are, about eight kids trying to visit a very special special place and it is just hard. Well, we wandered around looking for something to do and ended up at the cemetery on the Mount of Olives that has like seriously one bijillion graves. That was really cool. I am really glad that we went there. It was just neat to see all of those graves, there were so many! Okay so we go back at 2:00 and wander through the Catholic Cathedral that they have and the whole time we are hoping that there is a place to sit and study, but all the gates to the Garden areas are closed. We were really bummed. I asked the Catholic priest if he would let us go into one of the gardens and he told me to ask the guards. At first, the guards were not very helpful and then they found out we were Mormons. Now, because of the reputation the students at BYU Jerusalem Center have had in the past, the people around here really like the Mormon students. Well, he goes and lets us in this like private part of the garden across from the Cathedral. He unlocked the gate, let us in and then locked it behind us and left. It was just 8 of us BYU students alone in our own part of the Garden of Gethsemane. It was amazing. It was just so peaceful. Definitely worth what we went through to get there. And definitely worth what it takes for anyone to get there, both metaphorically and literally as obviously both can be difficult.
I found myself staring at the trees. Those crazy olive trees, and just thinking to myself, those trees are real. They are so very real. I do not know why that struck me, but it did. Those trees were real, the Garden of Gethsemane as a place, was no longer a place that I needed to decide was real or not. Like China, it does exist. There was only one question that I needed to answer in relation to that Garden, did it really happen? Did the most infinite and eternally significant event in the Universe really actually happen somewhere amidst similar olive trees somewhere on this hill? This question came to me really fast as I stood staring at those trees. It seemed to me as though the only question that I really needed to answer. Did it really happen? Did the person I have called Savior, brother, and Friend, really ever enter there? Did he really depart about a stone’s cast from his friends; fall on his face and find himself in agony praying more earnestly unto the Father on my behalf? Did he really suffer somewhere amongst these olive trees, for me? Did that really happen? Is that real? Those trees are. Those trees are definitely real. I went up with my own hands and felt them. Yeah they are real.
What happened next was really cool. As we entered this private part of the Garden, almost immediately we slowly separated. It was amazing to watch this small group of 8 slowly trickle apart like raindrops on a window go their separate paths down the glass. We did not say anything to each other, we all just knew. We all spread out among the trees finding little stools, benches and rocks to sit on. Each of us with our own tree, our own scriptures, and seeking our own special experience. You know the cool thing? I got mine.
I found myself actually alone. In the Holy Land, this is very very rare. It seems as though there are tourists everywhere, jammed in at every site. Here, we had the whole Garden to ourselves. I could not stay put. I kept getting up and wandering around throughout the Garden. I finally decided on one spot under a tree in the corner of the Garden and pulled out my scriptures. I read the accounts in the Gospels of the Saviors time in the Garden of Gethsemane. Luke’s account has always been my favorite; however, it was Matthew’s account that particularly touched me this time around. I read in Matthew 26:37… “And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy.” That scripture has never ever struck me before. But it just hit me. I saw it. I imagined it in my mind. The Savior, with three of his best friends in the Universe, walking toward through the Garden, looking sorrowful and very heavy. Wow. That was a lot for me. My eyes actually filled up with tears. I really do not know why. I just looked at the ground that I was sitting on and imagined the Son of God walking across it, with heavy and sorrowful steps. Did he kick a couple of stones as he went? Did he look at his feet as he walked, focusing on the trail? Or did he look upwards towards heaven seeking strength? Picturing his footsteps was for some reason easier than picturing his face. I do not know why that struck me so bad, but it did, it really did. I stared at the ground now and I perceived for the first time, the weight thrust upon the Savior that night. I felt it, just like I felt those trees. I knew it was real. Yes, I knew that long before I came to the Holy Land, and definitely long before I entered into the actual Garden, but I will still be forever grateful for my experience in that Garden. It was not like today was the first time I ever answered the question, did it really happen? But, today it did become even a little bit more real. Oh how grateful I am to a loving God who continually grants me experiences that help me feel his love. Oh how grateful I am for a loving God that continually strengthens my testimony and desire to become like Him. Oh how grateful I am for my Savior and Redeemer Jesus Christ, who walked into that Garden of Gethsemane with heavy footsteps. Walked through those real olive trees, and full of sorrow and burdened with weight showed me forever what it means to be courageous. Showed me what it means to really love. Savior may I learn to love thee, as I know though lovest me.
Guys, I got tears in my eyes again, so I gotta go, but I just want to tell you that I am so happy.