The Scarlet Thread – Bloody Sweat in Gethsemane

The Scarlet Thread – Jesus Sweats Blood in Gethsemane.

“Glory be to Jesus, Who in bitter pains, poured for me the life-blood, from His sacred veins.

Grace and life eternal, in that blood I find, blest be His compassion, infinitely kind.

Blest through endless ages, be the precious steam, which from endless torments, did the world redeem.

Lift ye then your voices, swell the mighty flood; louder still and louder, praise the precious blood.” (Friedrich Filitz).

Glory Be to Jesus – Christian Song with Lyrics (youtube.com)

The scarlet thread that is sewn into Holy Scripture from beginning to end is unmistakable. There is no doubt whatsoever that the Bible is blood-centric, that there is an overriding theme of blood wherever we look. We don’t need to be super-detectives to discover blood patterns in the Word. The Scripture seems practically preoccupied with blood, and one could be excused for observing that God seems to be out for blood. We find out why this is the case in Leviticus 17:11 and 13… “The life of all flesh is in its blood. The life is in the blood.” The Word of God seems preoccupied with blood only because God is preoccupied with life. God is out for blood only in the sense that He is out for Life. The Bible is blood-centric only because God is life-centric. In fact, the term “scarlet thread” is not strong enough. Instead, the Bible has a powerful crimson tsunami flowing through its pages from Genesis through Revelation, from before creation to the New Creation.

In this Bible study we will take a good look at the blood-stories in Scripture, from the divine sacrifice before the foundation of the world, to the animal sacrifice in the Garden of Eden; from the bloodshed in the first family, to the blood-themed covenant between God and Noah; from the Nile River, to the Passover in Egypt; from the bloody mess in the Tabernacle, to the Scarlet Worm that hinted at Jesus. Yes, there seem to be blood-splatters all over the floors and walls of Scripture. Through it all, the precious blood of Jesus is the centerpiece.

“And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground” (Luke 22:44).

The Passion of Christ’s suffering truly began in the Garden of Gethsemane. Christ had just finished His Passover meal with His disciples, His Last Supper, and He retired to the beloved Garden to pray as the anguish of what was about to happen hits Him full force. His anxiety was understandably profound as He prays alone to the Father, to His loving Abba, feeling like the whole world was on His shoulders. As it turns out, of course, that burden became literally true later on the Cross.

The physician Luke is the only gospel writer that mentions Christ’s blood and sweat falling to the ground during this anguish. Is this even physically possible? Could Jesus have been so filled with stress and anxiety that this literally occurred? According to medical science, the sweating of blood can actually occur. There is a rare but realistic phenomenon known as “hematohidrosis,” a Greek word meaning “bloody water.” This condition is not life threatening and is temporary.  This occurs when the capillary blood vessels that feed the sweat glands break down from profound mental anguish. During this condition, one’s body can literally sweat drops of blood. Matthew describes the extreme anxiety that Jesus experienced when he reporting Jesus as saying, “My soul is deeply grieved to the point of death.” (Matt. 26:38).

As explained by Dr. Frederick Zugibe: “Around the sweat glands, there are multiple blood vessels in a net-like form. Under the pressure of great stress the vessels constrict. At this time, the blood vessels could very well dilate to the point of rupture. The blood then goes into the sweat glands. As the sweat glands are producing a lot of sweat, it pushes the blood to the surface – coming out as droplets of blood mixed with sweat.”

So yes, this rare condition can occur when someone is in unthinkable distress. The Gethsemane prayers of Jesus certainly qualifies. The Greek text says that His sweat became “like great drops of blood.” So it is entirely possible that Luke is trying to describe Christ’s sweat as being poured from his brow in a way that resembled drops of blood, but was not literally blood. The sweat was pouring out from Him in big drops, like blood would have poured out if He were cut badly. So, it’s not definitive that it was hematidrosis which was happening to Jesus. Luke may have been exaggerating, trying to describe the indescribable agony of Jesus in Gethsemane. But what’s the main point here? The agony of Christ as His Passion begins in Gethsemane is the main point, not the ingredients of His sweat. Christ was fully human, and His agony in the Garden exposes that humanity for all to see in the gospels, whether or not we accept that Jesus literally sweat with blood.

It’s interesting that many biblical scholars at this point compare the bloody sweat of Jesus with the cursed sweat of Adam. Adam was tested in the first Garden, and he tragically failed the test. But here in Gethsemane we see the Second Adam being tested in another Garden. Could it be that Christ’s precious blood contained the sweat of the first Adam who was cursed to bear the sweat of his brow because of his sin? Perhaps we see here the love of Christ including Adam’s curse with His blood of salvation. Christ was tempted too, but He passed the test that Adam failed, somehow mixing His blood of salvation with the sweat of the curse. What a poignant picture of redemption.

So, did Jesus agonize with literal bloody sweat in Gethsemane, or with sweat that dropped from Him to the ground in a way that resembled blood? To be honest, I’m not sure if we need to have a final verdict on this. We do know that, as Jesus himself knew in Gethsemane, He would soon have the real thing, huge drops of blood, pouring out of Him so He’s literally covered in blood from head to toe, through a crown of thorns, being beaten to a pulp, flayed to within an inch of His life, only to see His final drops of blood emptied from Him on the Cross, the bloodiest form of crucifixion known to mankind.

The Blood Medley | Jesus Image (youtube.com)