He was praying very fervently

Luke 22:39-53

The Garden of Gethsemane

³⁹ And He came out and proceeded as was His custom to the Mount of Olives; and the disciples also followed Him. ⁴⁰ When He arrived at the place, He said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” ⁴¹ And He withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and began to pray, ⁴² saying, “Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done.” ⁴³ Now an angel from heaven appeared to Him, strengthening Him. ⁴⁴ And being in agony He was praying very fervently; and His sweat became like drops of blood, falling down upon the ground. ⁴⁵ When He rose from prayer, He came to the disciples and found them sleeping from sorrow, ⁴⁶ and said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray that you may not enter into temptation.”

Jesus Betrayed by Judas

⁴⁷ While He was still speaking, behold, a crowd came, and the one called Judas, one of the twelve, was preceding them; and he approached Jesus to kiss Him. ⁴⁸ But Jesus said to him, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?” ⁴⁹ When those who were around Him saw what was going to happen, they said, “Lord, shall we strike with the sword?” ⁵⁰ And one of them struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his right ear. ⁵¹ But Jesus answered and said, “Stop! No more of this.” And He touched his ear and healed him. ⁵² Then Jesus said to the chief priests and officers of the temple and elders who had come against Him, “Have you come out with swords and clubs as you would against a robber? ⁵³ While I was with you daily in the temple, you did not lay hands on Me; but this hour and the power of darkness are yours.”

This text which depicts the scene in the garden that night when Jesus was betrayed is a very familiar portion of scripture to  many people. It like much of scripture gives  gives us a historical account of an event, but also there is a wealth of insight and revelation about and from God within the text. One of the first things that I see in this text is that because we read it in a few minutes it is easy to believe that the time frame it describes is just a few minutes as well. Matthew's account of the same event, Matthew 26:36-56 let's us know that this is actually something that carried through a fairly long time, several hours. It was late into the evening when Jesus and the disciples were there in the garden.

Our text today describes only a brief portion of Jesus actual prayer. He knelt down and began to pray, ⁴² saying, “Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done.” ⁴³ Now an angel from heaven appeared to Him, strengthening Him. ⁴⁴ And being in agony He was praying very fervently; and His sweat became like drops of blood, falling down upon the ground.      I have been in situations where I have prayed fervently, for personal situation and for others. I have never prayed so fervently that I sweat drops of blood. There is actually a medical/scientific explanation for what the text describes.

Hematidrosis is a rare, but very real, medical condition where one's sweat will contain blood. The sweat glands are surrounded by tiny blood vessels. These vessels can constrict and then dilate to the point of rupture where the blood will then effuse into the sweat glands. Its cause—extreme anguish.

Here's my understanding: A few hours before this time Jesus had shared the bread and wine with His disciples, He said: In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.   His blood was being poured out for us as He prayed that night in the garden. The accounts record Jesus words, “Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done.”,  so we have a tendency to think that The stress and agony Jesus felt and prayed fervently about was for Himself. Jesus knew what was coming. He had spoken very frankly about His coming death. Jesus after all was God in flesh. Even though He had a body like us He still knew the eternal things of God. He knew the cross was both His destiny and His purpose.  If you want to get a better understanding of what caused Jesus so much anguish as He prayed, that He sweat drops of blood, read John 17.

In John 17:20-21 Jesus prays: “I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; ²¹ that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.

Jesus prayer that night was for all mankind. In a few hours from that time all the sin of man, from the beginning of creation throughout eternity, every sin of mine and your would be placed upon Jesus on the cross. That night Jesus interceded for me and for you. His blood was poured out to cover every sin of every person. That's why He sweat drops of blood. 

There are two final things I want to briefly look at from the text. First is this: While He was still speaking, behold, a crowd came, and the one called Judas, one of the twelve, was preceding them; and he approached Jesus to kiss Him. ⁴⁸ But Jesus said to him, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?”     Jesus was betrayed by one of the people in His inner circle. The betrayal itself was done with a kiss. Jesus knows and understands the heartache we feel when we are betrayed by those we love. When they warmly and affectionately great us but speak and do evil against us. Jesus knows the hurt that betrayal causes. That too was covered in the garden and paid for on the cross.

The final thing from today's text is this: When those who were around Him saw what was going to happen, they said, “Lord, shall we strike with the sword?” ⁵⁰ And one of them struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his right ear. ⁵¹ But Jesus answered and said, “Stop! No more of this.” And He touched his ear and healed him.  

Jesus taught throughout His ministry that we should love our enemies. Luke 6:27-28- “But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, ²⁸ bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.    Jesus asks nothing of us that He himself would not do. Jesus blesses the very one who comes to arrest Him, with what is recorded as Jesus last healing miracle.   Jesus calls us to follow Him.

He has already paid the price. He covered the sin of every man on the cross, where He said "Father forgive them they know not what they do."  That was for me and for you. It was also for those who betray and mistreat us. Jesus paid the price on the cross and in the garden He sweat drops of blood interceding for us that we would have the strength, the faith, the courage and the love to follow Him.

Thank You Jesus.