In the Garden of Olives, Jesus encounters the human feeling of loneliness and anxiety (as opposed to fear, because it is inescapable. One of the most powerful images of the event is the Olive itself:
When I was in southern Italy, I was blessed with the opportunity to visit some Olive Groves. Massive, gnarled, beautiful trees producing literally tons of olives. We then went to the small factory where the olive oil was produced. It was marvelous from start to finish.
The olive ripens and falls to the ground. It is then swept up by man or machine, and brought to the factory. On a conveyor belt the olive is separated from the random pieces of branches and leaves that have been picked up along the way. Then, the olives disappear. Inside the giant machine, they are crushed. Standing now on the other side of this machine, beautiful, green olive oil pours out in astonishing quantities, while the pits shoot out the other side and are pulverized to enrich the soil.
Every bit of that tiny olive is used.
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