Christ in the Garden

DESCRIPTION: The singer, wandering in a garden, meets a sorely troubled man. It proves to be Jesus. The singer kneels and begs forgiveness; Jesus grants it, and the singer goes out to spread the word
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1931 (Flanders/Brown-VermontFolkSongsAndBallads)
KEYWORDS: Jesus religious
FOUND IN: US(MW,NE)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Flanders/Olney-BalladsMigrantInNewEngland, pp. 210-211, "Christ in the Garden" (1 text, 1 tune)
Flanders/Brown-VermontFolkSongsAndBallads, pp. 79-80, "Christ in the Garden" (1 short text)
Grimes-StoriesFromTheAnneGrimesCollection, p. 64, "Christ in the Garden" (1 short text)
MidwestFolklore, Mary O. Eddy, "Twenty Folk Hymns," Volume 3, Number 1 (Spring 1953), p. 45, "Christ in the Garden 11's" (1 excerpt, 1 tune)
ST FO210 (Partial)
Roud #4682
NOTES [123 words]: This is rather a complicated mix of Biblical themes. Jesus's prayer before his arrest is said to have taken place in a garden in John 18:1, but Gethsemane is not called a garden in the other three gospels.
The mention of "blood, sweat, and tears" is unquestionably a reminiscence of Luke 22:43-44 -- verses which, however, are likely not part of Luke's original Greek; of the earliest seven Greek witnesses, six -- those known as P75 ℵ(1) A B T W -- omit, as do some later witnesses of great weight. The verses are found in the King James Bible, though, so English hymn-writers would certainly know them.
There is no known mention of visitors to Jesus in Gethsemane -- but, of course, the witnesses (Peter, James, John) were dozing off. - RBW
Last updated in version 5.0
File: FO210

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