Sweating Blood? It's Actually a Thing?

I read the craziest thing for several years, and it didn’t really dawn on me just what this story truly said. Remember the story of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane the night before He went to the Cross? He knew everything that was ahead of Him and the pain and agony that was coming to complete the Plan of Redemption.

The Crucifixion was a barbaric form of execution and the most painful form of torture known at the time, reserved for the worst of the worst back in ancient days. The Romans who would inflict it upon him were professional torturers who knew how to make it last as long as possible before the victim would expire from the agony.

Have you ever seen The Passion of the Christ? It’s graphic and a testament to what Jesus went through for you and me.

In the Garden, Gotquestions.org points out that He knew He was going to be flogged to the point of near death before they would pound metal spikes into His flesh. In fact, the flogging did so much damage that medical experts theorized you’d likely see ribs and vertebrae poking out of the skin on his back. He also knew the words of Isaiah spoken around 700 years before the Crucifixion that said He would be beaten so badly that He would be “disfigured beyond that of any man” and “beyond human likeness.”

Actor Jim Caviezel portraying Jesus in the Passion of the Christ during the scene in the Garden of Gethsemane

I think it’s safe to say that would provoke an extreme level of stress, wouldn’t you?

But the night before the Crucifixion, the narrative picks up in Luke 22:44 with, “And being in anguish, He prayed even more earnestly, and His sweat was like great drops of blood falling to the ground.”

Was He actually sweating blood? Is that even possible? Well, there is something called hematidrosis, which can occur during extreme levels of emotional stress. We’re talking about the level of stress that most people will (hopefully) never experience. In Matthew and Mark, Jesus said, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.” Does it get more extreme than that?

The Greek word θρόμβος, which translates as “thrombos,” refers to a thick drop, particularly of clotted blood or milk. In modern medical terminology, it is the root of “thrombosis,” describing a blood clot formed within a vessel.

It does say that His sweat became like drops of blood. Hematidrosis is a rare but very real medical condition that causes one’s sweat to contain blood. In the human body, the sweat glands are surrounded by tiny blood vessels that can constrict and then dilate to the point of rupture. That will allow the blood to effuse into the sweat glands and mix with the sweat.

He made a way for us back to God. He did all this because of His love for you and me!

So no, Jesus wasn’t literally sweating blood. But He was in enough anguish that His sweat mixed with blood. It’s a real thing, and it shows just how far He went to pay the penalty for our sins. What’s the saying? “He came to pay a debt He didn’t owe because we owed a debt we couldn’t pay?”

And He did that out of love. That is the Good News of the Gospel. He made a way for us to restore our relationships with God and spend an eternity with Him in Heaven. That is Good News this world needs! God’s forgiveness is a free gift, available through faith in Jesus!

He’s ready and waiting for you!