Saturday, May 2, 2009

May 3, 2009

This morning I am finishing Luke 22. I was moved by the agony of Jesus in Gethsemene. As I was doing some research on what would cause someone to actually sweat blood, I came across the following article. I was blessed by it and I couldn't improve on it - so I share it.

"Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him. On reaching the place, he said to them, “Pray that you will not fall into temptation.” He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will but yours be done.” An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground." Luke 22:39-44

I like that it’s only the doctor, Luke, who records this unique detail: the sweating of blood. I’m not exactly sure what Luke would have called it in the first century or if there was even an awareness of the condition at that time, but today we call this hematidrosis. Due to severe emotional/physical stress the capillaries just beneath the surface of the skin burst, mingling blood in with the sweat glands.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been really struck by this moment in the story of Christ. I’ve been trying to fathom exactly how “stressed out” he must have been.

So what stressed him out so much?

We’d probably assume very quickly that the upcoming brutalities of the cross would cause this strain; that beatings, whippings, mocking, mutilation, humiliation, the nails driven in his hands, and the exposure of his bloodied body to the elements would cause this stress-induced hematidrosis.

But, if that’s all would Jesus really be that stressed out? In the Roman Empire, thousands if not hundreds of thousands of people suffered a crucifixion nearly identical to Christ’s yet how many of them were so stressed they perspired blood? We don’t really know – but do you think it was the cross alone that wearied Christ? Or was it perhaps something worse than the cross that actually stressed Christ so much that he would sweat blood?

I want to suggest that the cross was mere child’s play; to suffer at the hands of men is nothing compared to bearing the wrath of God. Can you even imagine that? There is no human torment that can even begin to resemble the wrath of God. There is no form of torture, no sensation of pain, there is no emotional agony that we experience or execute as human that can compare to what God’s wrath must be.

Honestly, I think that’s what wearied Christ.

And lest we forget, the entire purpose of Christ was to stand in as our substitute – to atone for our sin, to absorb all that punishment onto himself, to suffer the wrath of God in our place. His purpose in coming was to experience the wrath of God so of course he knew what was about to happen – he knew what to expect.

The point is this: there is punishment for sins, there is wrath, and it is severe, and Christ, on that night in the garden when he prayed, looked forward to that wrath. He knew that he would soon stand in as our substitute, that he would absorb the wrath of God, that he would suffer it for us.

Can you imagine that? Can you imagine suffering God’s wrath even for your own sin? How about suffering God’s wrath in place of five other people, could you do it? Christ suffered the entire, eternal wrath of God upon ALL our sin and he did it in three short days. An eternity of God’s wrath condensed into three days… do you think Christ had reason to stress to the sweating of blood?

One last point:

Look again at the Luke passage.

I’m still amazed that despite the coming torment and agony of God’s wrath, Jesus “prayed more earnestly.” If you’d like to know exactly what it is that he prayed, you can find much of in John 17. He prayed not just for himself, nor just for his disciples, he prayed for you and me.

Crazy huh? In a moment of unfathomable strain and stress, despite the impending weight of God’s wrath that hung just over his head, Jesus prayed for you and me.