Go To Dark Gethsemane

This painting of Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane was often in my view when I was a kid. Whether it was in a Sunday School room at church, or at my grandma's house, I can't recall for sure. I only know that I stared at it often.

A quick internet search revealed that it was painted in 1890 by Heinrich Hofmann (1824-1911), of Germany. John D. Rockefeller, Jr., bought three of Hofmann's paintings of Christ, including this one, and hung them in Riverside Church in Manhattan, New York City, where they still are.

It would have been tonight, all those centuries ago, when Jesus, accompanied by Peter, James and John, went to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray after the Last Supper. The disciples, of course, dozed off, and they are included in the background of the painting, I think.

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"Go To Dark Gethsemane"

Words by James Montgomery (1771-1854)

Tune by Richard Redhead (1820-1901)

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Verse 1:

Go to dark Gethsemane,

All who feel the tempter's power;

Your Redeemer's conflict see,

Watch with Him one bitter hour;

Turn not from His griefs away;

Learn from Jesus Christ to pray.

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Verse 2:

Follow to the judgment hall,

View the Lord of life arraigned;

Oh, the wormwood and the gall!

Oh, the pangs His soul sustained!

Shun not suffering, shame, or loss;

Learn from Him to bear the cross.

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Verse 3:

Calvary's mournful mountain climb;

There, adoring at His feet,

Mark that miracle of time,

God's own sacrifice complete.

"It is finished!" hear Him cry;

Learn from Jesus Christ to die.

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Verse 4:

Early hasten to the tomb

Where they laid His breathless clay;

All is solitude and gloom.

Who has taken Him away?

Christ is risen! He meets our eys.

Saviour, teach us so to rise.

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Cyberhymnal link: www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/g/o/gotodark.htm