Category Archives: Holy Week

Did Jesus actually sweat blood in the Garden of Gethsemane?

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Today is obviously the day before Good Friday, the crucifixion. But today there is also The Cup, the agony in the Garden, and I just cannot get away from it. You can catch up on posts you may have missed this week: Hosanna, Hanging on His Every Word, What will you give me? and Because He Lives.

Most of us are aware of Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. He prays to be spared the suffering that is to come. He knows the agony He must endure and He prays, “Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; Yet not as I will, but as you will.” Matthew 26:39, NIV.

When the mother of James and John approached Jesus with the request for her sons to sit on His right and left in the Kingdom, Jesus asked them, “Are you able to drink from the bitter cup of suffering I am about to drink?” “Oh yes, we are able!” they replied.  But they didn’t understand what they were saying.

It was a cup filled with Old Testament and New Testament sins and judgment from the past and the present and it was filled with our sins too. Mine, yours, the ugly, the whispered, the hushed, the secret, all of them from the beginning of time were in the cup.

Jesus then leaves the disciples in the garden to go and pray. But it isn’t just, “Now, I lay me down to sleep” prayers. The Bible says, “…being in anguish, He prayed more earnestly, and His sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.” Luke 22:44, NKJV.  

Luke is the only Gospel writer to mention this. Luke is also the only one to refer to Jesus as being in agony. Jesus was in such a state of physical and spiritual agony that he could have produced what is known as hematohidrosis, or hemohidrosis, a rare medical condition where a person may actually sweat blood! Acute fear and intense mental contemplation were found to be the most frequent inciting causes.

While the extent of blood loss generally is minimal, hematidrosis also results in the skin becoming extremely tender and fragile. Around the sweat glands, there are blood vessels that when under pressure and great stress they constrict. Then, when the anxiety passes, they dilate to the point of rupture and the blood then goes into the sweat glands. When the sweat glands are producing a lot of sweat, it pushes the blood to the surface, coming out as drops of blood mixed with sweat. (Barbet, 1953, pp. 74-75; Lumpkin, 1978).

True, we do not know if our Savior actually sweated blood, but it is interesting that it is mentioned and the scientific, medical facts make it even more interesting! We know that the agony of what He was about to endure caused Jesus to pray so earnestly that He did sweat, so intensely that it was dripping on the ground and the Bible says it was like drops of blood.

Sweat is introduced in Genesis 3:19, introduced with Sin. Matthew Henry says it like this: “And therefore, when Christ was made sin and a curse for us, he underwent a grievous sweat, that in the sweat of his face we might eat bread, and that he might sanctify and sweeten all our trials to us.”

Surely Jesus was aware of the suffering that was to come. We get our word excruciating from the word crucifixion. It was one of the most painful torture methods ever invented; perfected by the Romans and reserved for the most vicious of criminals. It was a hideously slow and painful death. “I am poured out like water, and all My bones are out of joint.” Psalm 22:14. (Click here if you want to read an extensive medical breakdown of the crucifixion.)

It wasn’t just the agony of the crucifixion; it wasn’t just the taunting of the Roman soldiers, the beatings he would endure or the humiliation. The real stress and fear was the knowledge that He would bear the sins of the world and would be forsaken by the Father. He could have easily avoided all of this if He wanted to and called ten thousand angels to His side at any moment! “He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth.” Isaiah 53:5-7, NKJV.

But He faced the fear so we wouldn’t have to and kept praying, “Yet not as I will, but as You will.” Matthew 26:39,NIV.

John Piper says it so beautifully, “If we were to look at Jesus’ death merely as a result of a betrayer’s deceit and the Sanhedrin’s envy and Pilate’s spinelessness and the soldier’s nails and spear, it might seem very involuntary. And the benefit of salvation that comes to us who believe might be viewed as God’s way of making a virtue out of a necessity. But once you read Luke 9:51, all such thoughts vanish. “As the time drew near for him to ascend to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem.”

He planned it all and He appointed a time, for you, for me. “For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And the ransom he paid was not mere gold or silver. It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God.” 1 Peter 1:18, 19

“From these factors, it is evident that even before Jesus endured the torture of the cross, He suffered far beyond what most of us will ever suffer. His penetrating awareness of the heinous nature of sin, its destructive and deadly effects, the sorrow and heartache that it inflicts, and the extreme measure necessary to deal with it, make the passion of Christ beyond comprehension.” -Dave Miller Ph.D. Apologetics Press

Even in the midst of this difficult week leading up to Calvary, there is hope and there is comfort in the fact that Jesus CHOSE to go, for you and for me. He chose the pain and suffering.

Be encouraged in this dark time for our nation and our world, Jesus paid the price so we wouldn’t have to!

For the kingdomS

Barbet. P. (1953), A Doctor at Calvary: The Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ as Described by a Surgeon (Garden City, NY: Doubleday Image Books).

The Friday that was Good

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Good Friday everyone. This is the Friday that was Good. Blessed be the Name of the Lord! Thank you Jesus for Calvary! Thank you for the cross. And even though it’s a couple of days away, I am so thankful He didn’t stay in the tomb. It is empty!!

You can read my other posts on Holy Week here, here, here, here and here. Please come back tomorrow and Resurrection Morning (before or after church!) for our final conclusion. 

“And Jesus cried out with a loud voice, and breathed His last. Then the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.” Mark 15:37, 38 NKJV.

The veil in the Temple separated the Holy Place from the Holiest of Holies. Only the High Priest could even enter the Holiest of Holies, no one else was allowed. Inside was the Ark of the Covenant, which held the Ten Commandments, Aaron’s rod that budded, and Manna. The High Priest could only go into the Holiest of Holies once a year to roll away the sins of the people for another 365 days. (Day of Atonement)

This Holiest of Holies represented the presence of God.

The Israelites could not approach God for themselves. They had to have others to plead for their sins.

But everything changed on the Friday that was Good.

It is a Holy Friday and with good reason! We cannot talk of the Cross without realizing there was a Holy God, a Good God, paying the price.

Look at all that was going on in the spirit world when Jesus was dying. 

When Jesus took His last and final breath, the earth shook violently, thunder rolled and a magnificent thing happened in the Temple. The massive curtain, which, according to Jewish historical descriptions, was approximately 30 feet wide, 60 feet high and three inches thick, was impossible for man to rip apart! It was said that it took 300 priests just to wash it. That’s big.

That veil separated man from God’s presence. So when God literally tore it into two pieces, from the top to the bottom, it was very significant.

“But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.” Isaiah 59:2.

When Jesus died, things changed forever. We could now enter that Holy Place, God’s Presence, all by ourselves. Without fear!

“Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh…” Hebrews 10:19-20.

Now the priests were no longer the only ones who could WORSHIP!

Worship was now for everyone.

Do you realize what that means?

We are able to worship the Savior personally, have a living relationship with the One who hung on the cross!

And…it gets better.

We  can, and should, worship God anywhere! 

  • In a church, yes, please worship Him there!
  • Out in the woods? Worship Him!
  • Walking down the road? Worship Him!
  • Driving in your car? Worship Him!
  • About to have a meal? Worship!
  • Breathing today? Worship, worship, worship!

“Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” Hebrews 4:14-16.

Because of Calvary, because of “It is finished”, we have direct access to Jesus Christ.

Don’t be discouraged today if you are quarantined on this Friday that is Good. Rejoice because the veil was torn and wherever WE are, HE is!

Friday is Good because without Friday there would be no Resurrection Sunday. Join me tomorrow as we anticipate the Risen Savior.

Kingdom2

Hanging on His every Word…

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Continuing with Holy Week Remembrances today! I would love to hear YOUR memories of Easter. Feel free to share! You can read Palm Sunday’s post here. Be blessed.

I can remember so many Easter Sunday mornings when I was a little girl. My sister and I loved to dress up! My mother or aunt always did our hair in long banana curls the night before. (Think Shirley Temple…or Nellie Olsen). We were all decked out in our little 1960’s white hats, white knee socks and white patent leather shoes. We were adorable. (Unfortunately I couldn’t get my hands on an actual Easter picture for this post. Boo.)

When I was very young, I was privileged to go to church with my cousins. Four sisters. Yes, four! They had one each in similar age as my sister and me, and two more for good measure. I loved them so! I can remember hunting for Easter eggs at the church and my grandmother’s house.

We would sit in church and listen to their father preach, everyone was hanging on his every word…some because they knew he was the only thing that was standing between them and a great Sunday dinner. Others were anticipating the big Easter egg hunt and as much candy as they could stuff in their mouths at one time.

Yet, we all knew Easter was about so much more than bunnies, colored eggs, candy and Easter baskets.

It was about Someone Else whose Words were so impactful that men dropped everything they were doing to sit at His feet.

It was about Someone Else whose Words were so powerful that He emptied a temple.

Jesus had just entered Jerusalem where the crowds shouted, “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!”

The next day He saw the money changers and sellers in the temple, desecrating the house of God.

“And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.” Matthew 21:12, 13 ESV.

He emptied the house. But it didn’t stay empty.

“And he was teaching daily in the temple. The chief priests and the scribes and the principal men of the people were seeking to destroy him, but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people were hanging on his words.” Luke 19:45-48 ESV.

Here are those that wanted to destroy Jesus, the Teacher. But they cannot do anything about it because the people were hanging on His words! They wouldn’t leave, they were at His feet, waiting to hear the Good News.

The King James Version says it this way, “And could not find what they might do: for all the people were very attentive to hear him.”

Are we listening for His voice today? Do we cherish the Word of God? Do we look forward to being with Him, sitting quietly in His presence and soaking up the Bread of Life?

“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.” John 10:27, 28.

Come Resurrection Morning, no matter whether you are wearing your white hat and patent leather shoes or your best jeans and t-shirt, listen for His voice.

And may you find yourself hanging on His every Word.

Kingdom2