Did Jesus really sweat blood?

"Did Jesus really sweat blood? The Bible says Jesus sweat 'drops as of blood.' I don't believe it could have been blood. If not dirty sweat, what was it?"

Ann, a friend in New Mexico, asked that question back in 2005, but the topic has recently been brought to my attention again. My original answer was printed in the Los Alamos Monitor -- the Los Alamos, N.M., newspaper -- and is now on page 78 of my book "Insights on Faith & History" (2006). I reprint that article here with some editing.

I appreciate your candidness. The verse to which you refer is Luke 22:40--46 (NCV): "Then Jesus went about a stone's throw away from them. He kneeled down and prayed, 'Father, if you are willing, take away this cup of death. But do what you want, not what I want.' Then an angel from heaven appeared to him to strengthen him. Being full of pain, Jesus prayed even harder. His sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground."

We start with the question: "Who is Jesus?" John 1:1--3 tells us Jesus is God who created every natural thing that exists. Verse 14 says he came to live with us as a human. The passage in Hebrews 4:15 tells us that Jesus as man had feelings, emotions, and suffered emotional pressures like any other man. Jesus' purpose in coming to earth was to redeem humanity from sin (originally prophesied in Genesis 3:15), and this would take him to the cross. As time drew near, the pressure Jesus was experiencing grew more intense and humanly unbearable; for he knew the hellish agony he was required to endure.

This pressure was not just facing the hell of crucifixion, as terrible as that would be, but also knowing he would be bearing the sin of the world. For Jesus, who didn't have a sin nature and had never sinned in his eternal existence, this was actually worse than the physical pain.

We humans experience pain and suffering, emotional upsets, and perplexities that generate stress. The higher our stress level, the higher our blood pressure; that's why so many folks take blood pressure medication. Most of this stress can be dealt with, but sometimes it can become physically unbearable. In extreme cases the stress can cause apoplexy, a burst cranial aneurysm. This sometimes, though rarely, results in "sweating" blood through the pores or sweat glands in the head. Some in the medical profession, including a personal friend of mine, have seen this happen and death can follow within minutes.

Jesus, being without sin but ready to suffer the extreme sacrifice to redeem us from sin, was under the most intense stress imaginable. The result was probably a ruptured aneurysm of the worst kind, and the blood exited through the pores of his head like sweat. This problem is also called a hematoma, hematidrosis, and hemadrosis. The writers of Scripture said that Jesus' sweat was "as of blood" because they didn't understand this physiological phenomenon.

Jesus was not thinking of forsaking His mission on the cross: He purposely left heaven and was born to die, and wasn't afraid of death. But if He didn't make it to the cross, His mission would have ended in failure. Knowing that He could have called 12 legions of angels to rescue Him, He refused the help and faced this mission head-on.

Jesus' prayer is interesting. Knowing that He would most likely die within minutes because of the hematoma, He was not praying to be relieved of the hell of crucifixion; rather, He was asking the Holy Father to keep Him alive -- "let this cup (of imminent death) pass from me" -- so that He COULD go to the cross. That was His purpose in coming to earth -- to redeem mankind from sin -- and He wasn't about to back out. That portrayed the dynamic love and loyalty that Jesus had -- and still has -- for you and me.

This Passover (many call it Easter), meditate on the Messiah who came to give His life for you. He, as God, came to die for us, and nothing on earth or hell was going to prevent Him from fulfilling His life-saving mission.

Understanding all this causes me to honor and revere Jesus more than ever. Jesus is my Lord and my God, and His determination and diligence to save me inspires me to live forever for Him.

-- Gene Linzey is a speaker, author, and former pastor. Send comments and questions to [email protected]. The opinions expressed are those of the author.