DID JESUS SWEAT BLOOD?
Amazing how people can build a superstructure of belief on a faulty foundation.
Take, for example the words of Jesus in John 10. Not once in His discourse on the good shepherd does He mention the devil. He was teaching the people the difference between the shepherd who loves and cares for his sheep and the hireling who does the job for money, a veiled comparison between Himself and the religious leaders.
When the life of the shepherd is threatened, he willingly gives himself for the sheep. The hireling, on the other hand, deserts the sheep when his life is at risk.
Jesus was clearly comparing Himself with the religious leaders who opposed Him. While He was committed to the care and safety of His sheep, they were in it only for gain. Hence, the hireling, in the end, was not beneficial but destructive, killing, stealing, and destroying for his own benefit. Where, in this story, is the devil involved?
Now let’s look at Luke’s record of Jesus’ agony in the Garden of Gethsemane. Each Gospel writer puts a slightly different slant on his recording of this traumatic time.
Matthew seems to focus on Jesus’ agitation… He prays the same prayer three times, interspersed with going to His disciples to rebuke them for their indifference at this crucial time. Back and forth He went between prayer and checking on them.
Mark, similarly, comments on Jesus’ agitation but also reveals Jesus’ submission to the Father’s will in His prayer.
Luke, in keeping with the theme of his gospel focusing on Jesus, the Son of Man, zeroes in on Jesus’ emotional and physical agony. Let’s look at Luke’s exact words.
“He prayed more fervently, and he was in such agony of spirit that his sweat fell to the ground like great drops of blood.”
Luke 22:44 NLT
“And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.”
Luke 22:44 NIV
“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 KJV
“And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.”
Luke 22:44 NKJV
Now let’s examine the Greek word “like” in the original text. The Greek word “hosei”, according to Strong’s Concordance, means “like” or “as if”. There is a difference between “like” and “was”. Luke implies a comparison between Jesus’ sweat and blood flowing from a wound.
Medical science has even been drawn in to provide examples of this phenomenon. Possible as it may be in extreme circumstances, Luke’s specific choice of the Greek word “hosei” excludes the fact that Jesus sweated blood.
My point is…? We cannot inject meaning into original words in the Greek text and build a superstructure on a meaning that simply isn’t there. We are, always, required to be absolute faithful to the original text.
Does this change any of the intensity of Jesus’ suffering? Not at all! If anything, it enhances Luke’s description of His agony, perspiration pouring from Him like a river of blood!