sweat

I've been sweating alot lately. Mowing the grass in 100 degree heat will do that to you. I've gone through several shirts and multiple bottles of water. I'm hoping my wife will still speak to me after doing all of my laundry. Anyway, all of this heat, humidity, and sweating has gotten me thinking....

Did Jesus have to deal with this? I mean after all, He did live in the hot, dry land of Palestine. Maybe they don't have the humidity we do here, but it still must have been hot, especially since they had to wear robes around everywhere. 

Well, whether he sweat much or not in His first 30 years of life is not really of much consequence. But what IS important is the sweating He underwent on our behalf during the last few hours of His earthly life, while He was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane before His arrest and crucifixion. Luke writes in His Gospel that Jesus “being in anguish, prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.” 

Though many have written this detail off as merely symbolic, there is solid scientific evidence that shows this is a real possibility. Although rare, this medical condition is well-known, and there have been cases of it. The clinical term is “hematohidrosis.” Around the sweat glands there are multiple blood vessels. Under pressure or great stress the vessels constrict, and then as the anxiety passes the blood vessels dilate and rupture. The blood goes into the sweat glands and is pushed to the surface - coming out as droplets of blood mixed with sweat.

We know Jesus had the weight of the world on His shoulders at that time. The pressure and stress He was experiencing had to be unbelievable. As olives from the trees in the Garden of Gethsemane were pressed to make olive oil, Jesus was being pressed and crushed for us and for our salvation, and it came out as blood mixed with sweat. He was whipped and beaten for us in our place, and then went on to die on the cross the next day for our sins and the sins of all the world.

You know, now that I think about it, maybe my excessive sweating is not that big of a deal after all.