#1440 Luke 22 Part 6 Hematidrosis Kind of Stress

 

39 And he came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him. 40 And when he came to 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 knelt down and prayed, 42 saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” 43 And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. 44 And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. 45 And when he rose from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping for sorrow, 46 and he said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation.” Luke 22: 39-46 ESV

Luke 22: 39-46 Sweat

As was His custom - To go to the Mount of Olives, to break away from crowds and noise, to spend time in prayer. This short section is not only a view into Jesus' last hours before the cross, but it is also a blueprint for His followers. He knows what the Father has said, knows what He has come to do, yet He prepares Himself by prayer. 

…6And in another passage God says: “You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.” 7 During the days of Jesus’ earthly life, He offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the One who could save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverence. 8Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from what He suffered.… Hebrews 5: 6-8

And the disciples followed Him - He had just let them know again about His death and coming arrest, also that there was one among them who was a traitor. 

Pray that you may not enter into temptation - It was coming, Judas with the guards, the temptation to run, to deny Christ. The temptation to melt away had already settled in, to be overcome with sorrow, grief, a sense of fatalism. In Matthew we find that Jesus had to wake them more than once.

…37Then Jesus returned and found them sleeping. “Simon, are you asleep?” He asked. “Were you not able to keep watch for one hour? 38Watch and pray so that you will not enter into temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak.” 39Again He went away and prayed, saying the same thing.… Mark 14: 37-39

…4As for the deeds of men—by the word of Your lips I have avoided the ways of the violent. 5My steps have held to Your paths; my feet have not slipped. 6I call on You, O God, for You will answer me. Incline Your ear to me; hear my words.… Psalm 17: 4-6

Comment: Why would Jesus command them to "keep watch"? Clearly He knew the betrayer was aware of where they were and would soon be on his way to the Garden, for as John wrote "Now Judas also, who was betraying Him, knew the place, for Jesus had often met there with His disciples." (Jn 18:2)

MacArthur - As Isaiah prophesied He would be, the Messiah our Lord was “a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief” (Isa. 53:3). The Gospels record that He grieved over Israel’s hardness of heart (Mark 3:5), the plight of a deaf man (Mark 7:34), the superficiality of Israel’s religious leaders (Mark 8:12), at the tomb of Lazarus (John 11:35), and over Jerusalem (Luke 19:41). But the extremity of Christ’s grief came in Gethsemane on the night before His death, when He “offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety” (Heb. 5:7). Christ’s sorrow in facing death as the sin bearer is beyond comprehension. It defies description and surpasses understanding, because what Jesus endured is absolutely unique and without any parallel in human experience. The account of His temptation in the garden confronts those who read it with an incalculable mystery. It leaves them awestruck over Christ’s agony in facing the Father’s anger at the cross and stunned by the intensity of this greatest of all battles against temptation. (MacArthur New Testament Commentary – Luke) - Precept Austin

Pray (4336)(proseuchomai) is used only of prayer to God and here is a command in the present imperative, Jesus calling His men to persist in prayer in this crucial hour. And yet there is no record that they prayed even in face of having been commanded in essence to "pray without ceasing."

Temptation (3986) (peirasmos from peirazo = to make trial of, try, tempt, prove in either a good or bad sense) describes first the idea of putting to the test and then refers to the tests that come in order to discover a person’s nature or the quality of some thing. Think of yourself as a tube of "spiritual toothpaste". Pressure brings out what's really on the inside and this would certainly soon prove to the case for Peter and all the disciples. The context of perirasmos determines whether the intended purpose of the "temptation" is for good or for evil. - Precept Austin

And He withdrew from them about a stone's throw - This is from those in His inner circle, the others were closer to the entry, but Peter, James and John had gone further into the grove. A stone's throw is not very far, close enough for them to see Him, and probably close enough for them to hear Him pray. That He prayed was example enough, that He commanded them to was reason enough. Men are grossly mistaken that we need to feel a thing first, be in the mood, but I don't even need to fully understand, just know that God said to, that is enough. I find that with obedience and prayer comes wisdom and feelings of the right order. 

Knelt down and prayed - Look at the position our Lord takes, His posture, the Son of God's posture no less, humble. How many times have I rushed through this, trying to get to what for me was the better part, the meal, the trip, the entertainment? There is so much in this passage that is incomprehensible. He told them to pray, has told us to pray, He is praying, though He knows has been assured of the outcome, yet this is His greatest hour of testing, the proof of His human nature.

14Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we profess. 15For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who was tempted in every way that we are, yet was without sin. 16Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.… Hebrews 4: 14-16

V. 42a Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from Me - Who goes so deeply into such matters, is it climbing or descending? I don't know. Only the eternal can satisfy the Infinite, so I know this is God the Son praying, the eternally begotten One, yet one cannot deny His humanity in this either, that He has set aside the privileges of deity, and asking, like Paul, remove this thorn from me. Now Paul's thorn does not compare though, nothing that I have suffered here even begins. Can you glide through these verses and then look me straight in the eye, and say, "I have understood it all, I have quantified what is taking place?" Who has weighed the infinite wrath of God? Who has been so pure as to provide a duration, an end to it? Now Paul is asking like we all would, let me not suffer this sickness, this pain, this torment, this inconvenience. For Christ it is something much more, and the thing I cannot grasp. He has never sinned, and so by nature it is an affront to His nature, His holiness. He, Who knew no sin, it says, became sin on our behalf. The focal point of God's Holy wrath, that which is owed to every man that has been allowed to live in violation of God's law, and that which is owed to all who would be saved, is the cross, the place where sin will meet God's vengeance. Sin causes separation from Holiness, and talk about self denial, Christ is holy, yet sin will be laid upon Him, and God will punish Him as the altar of my failed life, my unholiness. He will experience in the Father's wrath, separation from the Father, a thing unbeknownst to Him, God's displeasure, forsaken, associated with that to which God is infinitely opposed, eternally against. 

…27Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? No, it is for this purpose that I have come to this hour. 28Father, glorify Your name!” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” 29The crowd standing there heard it and said that it had thundered. Others said that an angel had spoken to Him.… John 12: 27-29

…7but it is God who judges; He brings down one and exalts another. 8For a cup is in the hand of the LORD, full of foaming wine mixed with spices. He pours from His cup, and all the wicked of the earth drink it down to the dregs. 9But I will proclaim Him forever; I will sing praise to the God of Jacob.… Psalm 75: 7-9

…21Therefore now hear this, you afflicted one, drunken, but not with wine. 22Thus says your Lord, the LORD, even your God, who defends His people: “See, I have removed from your hand the cup of staggering. From that goblet, the cup of My fury, you will never drink again. 23I will place it in the hands of your tormentors, who told you: ‘Lie down, so we can walk over you,’ so that you made your back like the ground, like a street to be traversed.”… Isaiah 51: 21-23

Spurgeon says "I am never afraid of exaggeration, when I speak of what my Lord endured. All hell was distilled into that cup, of which our God and Savior Jesus Christ was made to drink.” (Luke 22 Exposition)

David Guzik - A sinless man battled Satan, sin, self, and temptation in a garden and lost – saying, “My will not Yours, be done” and the loss impacted all mankind. The second Sinless Man battled Satan, sin, self, and temptation in another garden and won – saying, “Not My will, but Yours, be done” – and its impact touches people from every tribe and tongue.

Constable - The submissiveness of Jesus' prayer is a model for all disciples. When we do not know God's will specifically, we can voice our request, but we should always submit our preferences to God's will. Luke pictured Jesus as a real man, not a demigod. - Precept Austin

V. 42b Nevertheless, not My will but Yours be done - Again modeling the perfect example, and this is how we should pray. Is it God's will that when we don't get what we want that we act as less than children of God? Does our suffering justify bringing embarrassment to the body of Christ? He told His disciples to pray because that temptation was at the door, and the way they had played it out time and again in their heads was so different than what He was telling them. Once Judas started to realize the Kingdom was not going to set up right away, that he would probably face persecution and loss, he made his choice. He did not seek God in prayer, begging for a right heart, a mind set upon living for God's glory even in the face of coming trials.  

…7Then I said, “Here I am, I have come—it is written about me in the scroll: 8I delight to do Your will, O my God; Your law is within my heart.” 9I proclaim righteousness in the great assembly; behold, I do not seal my lips, as You, O LORD, do know.… Psalm 40: 7-9

…7Then I said, ‘Here I am, it is written about Me in the scroll: I have come to do Your will, O God.’ ” 8In the passage above He says, “Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings You did not desire, nor did You delight in them” (although they are offered according to the law). 9Then He adds, “Here I am, I have come to do Your will.” He takes away the first to establish the second.…

…10And by that will, we have been sanctified through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. 11 Day after day every priest stands to minister and to offer again and again the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12But when this Priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, He sat down at the right hand of God.… Hebrews 10: 7-12

V. 43 And there appeared to Him an angel from heaven strengthening Him - Later they will try to tempt Him to call down angels to remove Him from the cross. He has such authority and yet does not use it, but rather waits upon the Father's time. Hear He receives help not to avoid or come down from the cross, but to get to the cross, for His body is failing Him. We all feel pain, and it is a warning for us that we are heading in the wrong direction, that something isn't right, like two great magnets opposing each other, He moves towards the cross, the place of sins demise, the place where such a Holy One does not fairly belong, and it is revolting. Satan does not want Jesus to make it to the cross, but God ensures it.

…11For He will command His angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. 12They will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. 13You will tread on the lion and cobra; you will trample the young lion and serpent.… Psalm 91: 11-13

…52“Put your sword back in its place,” Jesus said to him. “For all who draw the sword will die by the sword. 53 Are you not aware that I can call on My Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels? 54But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen this way?”… Matthew 26: 52-54

V. 44 And His sweat became like great drops of blood - This is high level agony, and an interesting note of the Doctor, Luke, that Christ's anxiety had reached the point of hematidrosis.

Wikipedia on the cause - Hematidrosis is a condition in which capillary blood vessels that feed the sweat glands rupture, causing them to exude blood, occurring under conditions of extreme physical or emotional stress.[4] Severe mental anxiety activates the sympathetic nervous system to invoke the stress-fight or flight reaction to such a degree as to cause hemorrhage of the vessels supplying the sweat glands into the ducts of the sweat glands.[5]

What the Bible teaches – Surely this is most holy ground. How can we, whose senses have been numbed by sin, ever enter into the holy anguish of the soul of the Man of sorrows? The physical evidence of His agony is given that we might have some understanding of it. Human eyes were not allowed to look on that sight. The Holy Spirit has recorded it for our learning. We are well aware of the simile word "as", but the AV "drops" (thrombos), is a medical term, which means "thick clots" of coagulated blood. Vine interprets thrombos as "large, thick drops of clotted blood". The appearance of the Saviour as One whose "visage was so marred more than any man" must be understood in the light of this suffering as much as the result of what men did to Him.

Ryle - Theophylact observes, that this bloody sweat is one among many strong evidences that our Lord’s body was a real body, like ours, with flesh, blood, and all other things pertaining to man’s constitution. He observes also, that it supplies an unanswerable argument against the heresy of those who maintained that our Lord’s body was only a seeming, or “phantastic” body, but not a real one. (See related resource - What is Docetism?) - Precept Austin

V. 45 Found them sleeping for sorrow - It's too depressing, He's going to the cross anyway, He is going to die, He seems resolved to do so. MacArthur called them hyper-Calvinist, saying it is in God's plan anyway so what is the point in praying, what is the point of the great commission? When life stinks this bad it is so much easier to drink it away, shoot up, stay high, occupy yourself with the meaningless, escape from reality, take a nap. Just writing parts of this makes me want to curl up and take a nap, it is so much easier than forcing myself to think about Who He is, what He is doing on my behalf, that God the Father asked God the Son to do something that was truly unfair. Who am I to ignore this though, and is it not because I don't want to do what He has asked of me, deny myself? He has asked so very little of me, and who am I to resist Him? Who is anyone to deny the Creator's right over what He has made? I failed at being human, being made in the image of God, I denied Him His glory, and so here is this Jesus, fulfilling what I could not, and sweating blood in anticipation of what I should receive, my wages times the billions of other fallen, broken images. In the other gospels we find that He found His disciples asleep three times on this most Holy and Unholy of nights. 

J C Ryle - We see, lastly, in these verses, an example of the feebleness of the best of saints. We are told that while our Lord was in agony, His disciples fell asleep. In spite of a plain injunction to pray, and a plain warning against temptation the flesh overcame the spirit. While Christ was sweating great drops of blood, His apostles slept! Passages like these are very instructive. We ought to thank God that they have been written for our learning. They are meant to teach us humility. When apostles can behave in this way, the Christian who thinks he stands should take heed lest he fall. They are meant to reconcile believers to death, and make them long for that glorious body which they will have when Christ returns. Then, and not till then, shall we be able to wait upon God without bodily weariness, and to serve Him day and night in His temple. - Precept Austin

V. 46 Why are you sleeping - Was this what I instructed you to do? You couldn't stay up and pray for Me on the most difficult night of my life? You couldn't pray for yourselves as instructed, so that you didn't fall into temptation, run like cowards, make a mockery of the Church? Have I prayed yet today that I will not use too many words, laugh at what God hates, be lazy before unbelievers, be rude, be a testimony against Christianity? Have I prayed for the lost, those under my care, in my circles? How is it that I am not constantly in prayer?

…5The sailors were afraid, and each cried out to his own god. And they threw the ship’s cargo into the sea to lighten the load. But Jonah had gone down to the lowest part of the vessel, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep. 6The captain approached him and said, “How can you sleep? Get up and call upon your God. Perhaps this God will consider us, so that we may not perish.” 7“Come!” said the sailors to one another. “Let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity that is upon us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah.… Jonah 1: 5-7