Luke 22:40-46 - The Sweat and Blood

The Garden of Gethsemane is a beautiful, awe-inspiringplace, a place of holy ground, we believe. There, our tour group will gatheraround an old olive tree that I'm sure does not date back to the time of Christ2,000 years ago. The Romans probably destroyed the Garden when they destroyedJerusalem in AD 70 when Titus invaded the city and no doubt destroyed all thetrees around it. But this tree could have grown from the roots of the treesthat were in the garden when Jesus was there.  Todaythe Garden of Gethsemane is next to the Church of the Nations. It is still avery special and holy place. We might not be able to go to Jerusalem today and physicallyenter the Garden of Gethsemane, but by going into the Word of God and lookingat these scriptures that we're studying now we can still experience the realityof a loving and courageous Savior and enjoy His presence wherever we are. Aswe've gone through this passage, and also read the other Gospel accounts ofthis scene, so many things stand out that grab my attention, but one that's standsout is from Dr. Luke. Remember, Luke was a physician writing the Gospel ofLuke. His is the only gospel that mentions an angel strengthening the Lord, buthe's also the only gospel that mentions what we read in verse 44, "Andbeing in agony, Jesus prayed more earnestly."  I'mbelieving this is probably the third time that Jesus, after being strengthenedby the angel, goes back to that place, that rock where He's praying, kneelingbefore the Father, and He's praying more earnestly in great agony. Then Lukepoints out, "Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling tothe ground." When Adam sinned in the Garden of Eden, God put a curseon the ground and told him, By the sweat of your brow, you will have to work theground to bear any fruit, to eat (Genesis 3:17-19). Now Jesus, the second Adam,is in the garden, and He is submitting to the will of God, where the first Adamwas disobedient and brought sin and death into the world. Jesus is obedient,and He's bringing life and the Holy Spirit into the world. So, what we see herein verse 44 is this mention of sweat and blood falling to the ground fromJesus.  Sometell us that there's a rare physical phenomenon known as hematidrosis, undergreat emotional distress, tiny blood vessels can rupture in the sweat glandsand produce a mixture of blood and sweat. We're not sure exactly if this issymbolically written here or if it's literal. I tend to believe it was literalbecause the blood of Jesus testifies to who He is, and the blood of Jesus hadto be shed. There's a verse in Hebrews 9:14, that says, "How much moreshall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himselfwithout spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve theliving God."  Theblood of bulls and goats could only cover sin temporarily in the Old Testamentas a sacrifice, showing that we're looking forward to the sacrifice of JesusChrist. Hebrews says that through the eternal Spirit, and by His Spirit, oh myfriend, you and I need to grasp the meaning of the Holy Spirit being a part ofJesus giving Himself, yielding Himself and shedding His blood. If we are tolive a life that honors God, we need the anointing, the moving, the fullness,and the filling of the Holy Spirit upon us to do what we need to do every day.  Weeither live after the flesh or we live after the Spirit (Romans 8:1-11;Galatians 6:8). The flesh is weak, the Spirit is willing. God's Holy Spiritempowers our spirit to do the will of God. Jesus, through the eternal Spirit,gave and shed His blood that you and I might be cleansed by His blood.  We need to have cleansing of sin every day (1John 1:7-9). I trust you'll trust Him for that today.  Theseare wonderful lessons from the mysteries of Gethsemane. I trust you'll applythem to your life today.