Day 20 – Olive press

“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

To produce olive oil in the Saviour’s time, olives were first crushed by rolling a large stone over them resulting in a pulp placed in soft, loosely woven baskets piled one upon another. It is then weighed down with slabs of stone to press the liquid from the pulp. The oil running from the baskets is a reddish colour and not the beautiful olive-green gold we are accustomed to. Fresh-pressed oil resembles the colour of blood squeezed from the pulp. Only after maturing and waiting for the sediment to settle, does the colour change.

The image of Gethsemane (the Olive Press) on the slope of the Mount of Olives is poignantly symbolic of Jesus’ suffering before His crucifixion. The weight of the sins of the world pressed down upon him like a heavy slab of stone. His sweat, “like drops of blood” flowed from him like the pressed olives running red.

In our Gethsemane experiences, we can trust the Holy Spirit for strength and guidance to reveal the choices honoring God and keeping us faithful even when pressed. It takes time for the red sediment in the olive oil to settle, just as it takes time for us to process, understand, and embrace the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives which then flows like the beautiful golden oil colour from our lives.

Being in God’s garden does not always mean you are there to look at the created splendor, but something changes in your soul when you accept what you need to learn from the garden while trusting the Gardener through the process. You will not leave the same person as you’ve entered.

Prayer: Father, thank You that through every garden You created, there is a lesson and an experience we can add to our testimony of Your glory. Whether it is tending, pruning, or pressing, You are always there showing us the way, teaching us, and strengthening us for the road ahead. Thank You Jesus for the pressing You endured and for giving us a model example of how to get through our Gethsemane experiences. Amen.