Did Jesus Really Sweat Blood In The Garden
A bleeding head or a bleeding heart
"And being in agony, he prayed the more earnestly; and his sweat was, as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground." (Luke.22:44).
It does not matter how much education one has in the cemetary, oops! I mean seminary or how many degrees one has, we alway seem to want to be spectacular when we preach or teach. To try to know something nobody els knows. "As I was studying Gawd gave me this here". Being a preacher and teacher myself I tend to stay away from the spetacular. When I attended the Philadelphia Biblical University one of my professors of expository preaching said be aware of chasing the "perverbial rabbit". Instead of staying with the text we go off on some presumed idea we think what the scripture is saying. We then go about taking other verses out of context to support the rabbit's deserving our chase.
There is an old hymn that we use to sing but long gave up when we came into the knowledge of the truth, though some still dare to sing it. The melody sounds good. "we'll be caught up in a chariot of fire..... like Elijah of old etc. Was he really caught up in a chariot of fire? Look at the text: ""They still went on and talked; and it came to pass that there appeared a chariot of fire, and the horses of fire, and parted them both assunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven" (II Kings 2:11)
Did the text say the chariot then swooped down and Elijah jumped on board? No it said, Elijah went up by a whirl wind. The whirlwind did not bring the chariot, it just appeard. Elijah could have jumped aboard hoping he would not burn to death and the chariot would then disappear quickly as it appeared, but no, a whirlwind was the mode of transportation.
Did Jesus sweat blood? Look at the text, at least this part: ...as it were great drops of blood . The words as it were , in some manuscripts like drops of blood. These words are simply comparative statements that say the consistancy of his sweat was like the consistancy of blood that is it was so profuse. I use to work in the Post Office as a mechanic. I use to sweat so hard that my sweat would drop and hit the floor in a splatter. My supervisor use to make me stop working because he said he never saw a man sweat like me.
God does not mince words. if he wanted to say His Son sweated blood he would have said so in no uncertain terms. The disciples on seeing him would have cried out in hysterea "What happened to you, or did some body come at you while we were asleep; man you got blood all over you! Somebody would have recorded it and not leave it to speculation.
I don't know about you but to me this is just another perverbial rabbit with no scriptual text to back it up. People see what they want to see. If I said to you "Hail is falling from the sky as it were or like eggs". Would you run outside with a basket to collect some eggs?
Put the emphasis on the right blood. "But one of the of the soldiers, with a spear, pierced his side, and immediately came there out blood and water.(John 19:34) Some say the spear pierced his heart. The blood that cleanses our sin was shed there on that cross, not in the garden. He was our sacrificial lamb. As John the Baptist said: "Behold the lamb that taketh away the sin of the world."
