From the Mount of Olives

From the Mount of Olives
AP Photo/Oded Balilty

Jesus begins his Palm Sunday march into Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives (Matt. 21:1), which stands east of the city across the Kidron Valley. It's the first time in the synoptic gospels that we see Jesus on Olivet, but it becomes his base of operations during the final week of his life. He spends his days in the temple teaching, healing, and wrangling with scribes and Pharisees, then retreats for the night to Bethany, on the southeastern slope of the Mount of Olives (Matt. 21:17).

He prophesies Jerusalem's destruction from Olivet (Matt. 24). Presumably that's where he is when he sends disciples into the city to find a place to celebrate Passover (Lk. 22:7-13), and after the meal he goes back to the Mount of Olives to pray in the garden of Gethsemane, the "garden of the oil press" (Matt. 26). Some scholars believe that Jesus was crucified and entombed somewhere on this mountain.

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