The Man of Sorrows Knew & Overcame Fear

Letter to Colossians: Jesus was so afraid of His crucifixion in Garden of Gethsemane He swat blood. Luke said as much in his Gospel, that Jesus had been so anguished “his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.” Yet He overcame this fear & the entire world as promised.

Sadly, that compelling historical factoid is seldom brought out by pundits & preachers alike. Some scholars have even challenged whether it was a late add-in. But, then, why? Wasn’t the description of the crucifixion itself gory enough? Holy roller moi first realized it only into my 40s and upon reading Jim Bishop’s iconic “The Day Christ Died.” Yet the rare phenomenon IS known to modern medicine. It’s called Hematidrosis that is triggered when a person is under such extreme psychological stress that the capillaries around the sweat glands rupture, thereby mixing blood in the sweat. Think of Veronica wiping Christ’s face on His road to Calvary and the Divine image looked like a Kodak. Luke’s is the only Gospel to make mention of the bloodied sweat, perhaps because he was often referred to as a physician, i.e., as confirmed in Colossians.

Talk about our “fight or flight” reflex. In Jesus’ case, the passage shows in yet one more way that He felt it all. The agony He faced surely showed His humanity. His willingness to suffer the unimaginable attested to His Divinity … and love for the very people who tortured Him unto His earthly death. Jesus WAS the King of Kings.

Davd Soul