Jesus, having prayed this prayer, left with his disciples and crossed over the brook Kidron at a place where there was a garden. He and his disciples entered it…John 18:1, The Message

Then God planted a garden in Eden, in the east. He put the Man he had just made in it. God made all kinds of trees grow from the ground, trees beautiful to look at and good to eat. The Tree-of-Life was in the middle of the garden, also the Tree-of-Knowledge-of-Good-and-Evil. Genesis 2:8-9, The Message

For humanity’s first home, God chose a garden. It was here that humanity grasped for the knowledge of good and evil, then hid from God because they were afraid of what God might do to them because of it.

For his last night of freedom, for the place of a friend’s betrayal, God-With-Us chose a garden. It was here that Jesus was betrayed by a friend.

Why in a garden? I’m not sure. But for me, a garden is a place of life, a life-giving and nurturing space. It’s a place where the holy walks in nature. Perhaps that’s why: it’s the place that cannot be blamed for choosing betrayal and death.