Scripture:
Matthew 26:36-46
Reflection:
Olive oil is mentioned more than 200 times in the Bible. The olive tree was (and still is) a very prolific tree in Israel, cultivated then as now, for its variety of uses. One tree can live for 1,000 years, and the rootstock from which new trees grow can be double that.
The fruit is harvested by beating the tree, and when we were walking just outside the city walls of Jerusalem last year, we came across an elderly lady doing just that. I (as the tallest one in the party) was appointed by the tour guide to do the beating for her and the others gathered up the fruit.
The fruit is then crushed and the oil extracted to be used for lighting, cooking, and medicinal purposes, sometimes being mixed with beeswax to make a cream. Even the skin and pulp left after pressing is dried and used as fuel for the fire. And in Bible times, it was used in the worship of the Temple in Jerusalem, on the sacrifices, in the lamps and for anointing.
For cooking oil, the whole fruit was crushed, including the stone, because 20% of the oil is contained in the stone. However, only the best fruit was used to provide oil for use in the Temple worship, and the stone was removed before pressing, and not crushed.
Not without significance did Jesus suffer his worst agony in the Garden of Gethsemane - which means ‘oil press.’ Go to Jerusalem today and you will be taken to an olive grove (at the foot of the Mount of Olives) in the area where Gethsemane would have been. And in the grove are the ruins of an olive press.
And there where the olives were crushed, Jesus was ‘crushed’ too. Knowing the awful burden he was about to take, he prayed:
‘Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.’ An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground. Luke 22:42-44.
Hematidrosis is a known but rare condition, in which a person under severe pressure sweats blood. And just as the stone was not crushed in the oil offered in worship, as Jesus hung on the cross, his legs were not broken, consistent with the pictures and prophecies of Jesus in the Old Testament (see the Passover lamb in Exodus 12:46, and the prophecy of Psalm 34:20).
Oil is sometimes used in Scripture as a metaphor for the Holy Spirit. Jesus spoke of being ‘anointed’ with the Holy Spirit in Luke 4:18, The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. And Acts 10:38 says that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power…
So, Jesus lived and worked in the power of the Holy Spirit. And just as when the olive is crushed, the oil for living flows out, when Jesus suffered, died, rose and ascended back to Heaven, the Holy Spirit was poured out on the disciples at Pentecost. The oil of life - eternal life. Now we have that same power within us to witness for him in our lives.
Prayer:
Thank you, Almighty God,
For the gift of your Son, Jesus Christ, to be my saviour.
Thank you for the gift of your Holy Spirit,
To be the evidence of eternal life in me,
And the strength and power to live for you.
AMEN
Songs:
Food for Thought:
Take time today to thank Jesus for giving life so that you could live. Thank God for the gift of His Holy Spirit to empower you to live and work to God’s glory.