“And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.”
(Luke 22:44)
Sweat and blood speak directly to labor and passion, doing and suffering. These are also two of the best representations, or journals, of our Savior’s life and death. Both evidence the travails of His soul (Isa. 53:11), as the first He wrote in sweat, the other in blood. His life could even be described as a continual labor, or sweat, of passive action, for He was ever and always going about doing good (Matt. 4:23). And His death is rightly seen as a complete bleeding out of active passion, for He, “poured out his soul unto death” (Isaiah 53:12).
Scripture is replete with symbolism, and there may be no two more appropriate images in nature that serve as the seals of God’s two Testaments than that of sweat and blood. By His sinless, blameless life, Christ fulfilled every jot and tittle of the Law. And in His death, He fulfilled every aspect and requirement of the Gospel by purchasing redemption with His own blood. Therefore, in the perfect execution of His labor and His passion, Christ fulfilled every requirement inherent in both Testaments.
Consistent with the beauty and mystery of God’s grand plan, the sweat and blood essential for the second Adam (Christ) to fulfill His Father’s will were also integral to the sentence God passed on the first Adam when he fell. Adam’s curse consisted of a life characterized by labor and toil, contending with thorny ground just to survive – in contrast to the abundant and peaceful life he formerly enjoyed in the lush gardens of Eden’s Paradise. As Genesis 3:17-19 states, “ … cursed is the ground for your sake … thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth; and you shall eat the herb of the field; in the sweat of your face shall you eat bread, till you return to the ground.” The curse of the fall included a life of labor by the sweat of man’s brow and a realization of the mortality of his life blood that will eventually end in physical death.
A further parallel between man’s ruin and Christ’s ransom is how they both occur in a garden. In the Garden of Eden man played the role of the malevolent one with God’s bounty, and in the Garden of Gethsemane our Savior, the God-man, fulfilled the role of Champion with God’s fury. In the first garden, God sought man who had sold his rights through creation to the devil for an apple, “Adam where are you?” (Gen. 3:9). And in the second garden, an army of men sought Christ who was betrayed by a devil (John 6:70) for 30 pieces of silver. “Whom do you seek?” the Lord asked them, to which they replied, “Jesus of Nazareth” (John 18:4-5).
After the fall, at the gateway to the Garden of Eden a flaming sword was wielded in all directions by the cherubim (Gen. 3:24) to prevent entrance to the garden. And in the Garden of Gethsemane a sword was drawn by Peter (Luke 22:50) in a feeble attempt to defend his Christ against those soldiers who had come to arrest him. And yet, knowing this was all part of God’s plan, the Lord rebukes him. “Peter put up your sword. The cup which my Father has given me, shall I not drink it?” (John 18:11).
In the Garden of Eden, man was doomed by God to earn his earthly life-sustaining bread by the sweat of his brow. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Christ earns for man the eternal Bread of Life by the sweat of His brow. And not only the sweat of his brow, but of His whole body and even more so that of His soul. His agony of soul was so tortuous that both blood and sweat, i.e., great drops of sweat mixed with blood ran down through His clothes and fell on the ground (Luke 22:44).
What is the significance of these two divinely intertwined events? First of all, we are all born under the curse of that flaming sword of death,[1] the curse of the fall (John 3:18, Ps. 51:5). And yet, coursing through the garden of redemption is the river of life by which we may gain free and safe passage to a better paradise where no sword threatens and no angel prevents entrance. Rather, here the Angel of the Covenant (Rev. 3:7), the only begotten Son of God, is both the door to salvation and the keeper of the door. And in Isaiah 55:1, we find him calling out, “Ho, every one that thirsts, come to the waters, and he that has no money; come, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price,” as if He should say, “For I personally paid the price for all believers with my own sweat and with my own blood.”
Contemplation:
- A bloody garden. O my blessed Lord and Savior, You began Your passion in a sweat. Yours was a bloody garden. So let me not pray only from my lips or weep only from my eyes outwardly. Rather let my eyes look to You, Lord (Psalm 123:2) in a true sweat of sorrow and contrition.
- Let me not look away. Let me not consider what You suffered for me without sorrow and compassion, because You Yourself, Lord, did not consider what I deserved from You without fear and horror. Blood can soften the adamant heart; and if my heart does not soften, melt, and bleed under such an outpouring of Your precious blood, what should be left to melt such a heart but the fire of hell? But You, Lord, will You not, “drink of the cup, which thy Father gives thee?” (Matt. 26:39, John 18:11.) It is not possible for this cup to pass from You unless it passes to me. What would it be but fire and brimstone that is my portion to drink? No, Lord, I confess I am not able to drink of Your cup. If you left even one drop for me, it would condemn me to that place of eternal despair with the rich man who longed for a single drop of water to cool the fire of God’s righteous wrath (Luke 16).
- Let my cup overflow. No, rather give me here, Lord, with David (Psalm 42:3) plenty of tears to drink, and with these may my cup overflow. Be the portion of my inheritance (Psalm 16:6) so I shall be able to pledge what I have received in Your mercy. So do not spare me from sweating with You, and if need be from bleeding too, and at the very least let me never cease to both sweat and bleed in the good fight to put to death my sin (2 Tim. 4:7).
Prayer (Supplication):
Lord Jesus Christ, You entered the garden under a sky that bore no light for You. You fell to Your knees where the ground was soaked not only with dew, but with the agony of Your soul. You knew what cup awaited. You saw the sword lifted. And still You obeyed.
I cannot begin to feel the weight You bore. Yet I come now asking, because You bore it. I come empty-handed, because You carried what I never could. You sweat and bled for me. Will you now withhold what your passion already secured?
Give me a heart that does not flinch at the sight of Your sorrow. Break me under the truth that my sin caused Your sweat, Your pain, Your grief. Let me not look at Gethsemane and walk away unmoved.
Let your agony shape how I pray. Teach me not to mumble weak words with a cold heart. Stir my soul. Let my voice rise with urgency. Let me labor in prayer, not for show, but because your Spirit draws groans out of those You’ve redeemed.
O Lord, I ask for perseverance in the fight against sin. If sweat is required, then make me sweat. If I must endure hardness, make me faithful. Let me fight the good fight with the sword of the Spirit, trusting not in my own strength but in the One who drank the cup to the dregs.
Lead me into the garden of obedience and do not let me sleep while You pray. Let me not run while You stand. Let me not curse what You embraced. Make me willing to follow You into suffering because You are worth everything.
Let the blood that fell on that ground purchase not only my peace but also my obedience. Let it move me to action, surrender, and repentance. If I have grown cold, melt me. If I’ve gone blind, open my eyes. You sweat for my soul. Let me not offer You a lukewarm heart in return.
Your sweat reversed the curse. Your blood unbarred the gate. You fulfilled what Adam broke. And now, I ask not for comfort, but for nearness. Let me walk with You. Let me pray with You. And let me stay awake and follow You.
In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.
Further Scripture References for Luke 22:44:
John 12:27, Heb. 5:7-8, Gen. 32:24, Psalm 22:1, 130:1.
[1] John Calvin, Commentary on the First Twenty Chapters of the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel, vol. 2 (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2010), 122.
