Picture from the Web Gallery of Art, where more information is available.

Giovanni Bellini, Agony in the Garden Cherubino Alberti, Agony in the Garden Donatello (Donato di Niccolo di Betto Bardi), Agony in the Garden Christopher van Sichem, Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane Duty - Gethsemane Mark 14:32-42; Matthew 26:36-46; Luke 22:39-46 'Father, take this cup of suffering from me. Yet not my will but yours be done....' After their meal, Jesus went with three of his friends to the Garden of Gethsemane, a rocky place in Jerusalem. Jesus, sick with tiredness and foreboding, asked his friends to stay awake and pray then went on higher up the mountain to pray by himself. There he asked God to lift the burden of suffering from him - but at the same time he knew God's will was more important than his own. When he returned to his disciples, they had all fallen asleep. He woke Simon Peter 'Could you not watch with me one hour?'. Again he went away, again they were asleep on his return. Three times this happened until at last Jesus saw soldiers approaching them through the garden.

Think of all the ways people can react when they are being threatened. How would you behave if you were under pressure, say from bullies?

What do we feel like when our friends are not there for us? Can you think how Jesus might have reacted when he found his friends asleep?

Jesus went to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray. Why do Christians think prayer is important?

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