Blood, Sweat, and Tears Mingled
In the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prayed so hard he bled.
Jesus prayed so hard his blood mingled with his sweat. This scene pains my soul. I’ve had days of wallowing and lamenting in fervent prayer, sure my soul was tearing in two. Yet I’ve never bled through my sweat when praying.
There is a Holy moment here and a foretelling of what was to come.
Jesus submitting to the will of His Father, our one true God. Crying out to take the task from him, yet understanding this was the only path. Knowing the melding of blood, sweat, and tears was a minute example of his future.
He understood the magnitude of the task ahead. He knew he could only bear it within the shelter of his Father’s arms. He prayed earnestly and at length. He wept. He cried out. He poured sweat. He bled. He turned into the Father.
I’m not sure we fully comprehend the concept of praying hard enough to bleed. Through trials and tribulations, we don’t bleed when we cry out. I would venture we barely break a sweat when we pray. We mourn, fixate on the problem, hand it over to God, (sometimes pull it back) and move forward with whatever is next.
There have been occasions I have stayed in a constant prayerful mode for days. I spent each moment intentionally speaking to or pleading with God. I did this a lot when my grief was fresh and my soul was feeling bruised. I walked around in anguish, looking as if I was lost in thought. I talked to myself and sometimes answered. It seemed pointless to some, that I should go into prayer this way. But for me, it was solace. I needed to know I was close and being held by the Father. I needed to know I hadn’t been abandoned. The best way to do this was through my conversations with God- through prayer.
I never bled on the outside, but I felt like I could. I didn’t allow many people inside my head or heart at that time, so understanding was difficult for some. With the burden of grief and taking care of others, I thought I might break. In comparison, I cannot imagine what Jesus felt when he knelt alone in the garden for what he knew to be the last time.
He chose to be alone with the Father. He chose his lamenting spot. He chose to spend his most fervent praying moment in a place where creation began. He spent the beginning of the end of his current humanity pleading his case. He also spent it submitting to the will and plan of God. He knew what it would mean to you and me. He understood the cost did not outweigh the gain.
I am sure he was as spent as he had ever been, up to this point. He said in Matthew “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.” He prayed with his face on the ground. An Angel appeared in his time of need to give him strength. He was described as being in anguish. When he rose from his meditation, I am sure he was trembling.
I have always thought my prayer life needed improvement. While sweating during prayer has rarely been my experience, bleeding through my sweat is incomprehensible. If Jesus prayed hard enough to the Father that he bled in his anguish, then I must see prayer as the most important communication I could ever have with anyone. I have learned through this part of scripture something I wasn’t expecting.
The urgency of praying to the Father. It is realistic to turn to him for everything. It is expected during good times and bad. It is needed. Communicating with him is everything.
XOXO,
Gethsemane
Matthew 26:36-46
36 Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” 37 He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. 38 Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”39 Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”40 Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Couldn’t you men keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter. 41 “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”42 He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.”43 When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. 44 So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing.45 Then he returned to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour has come, and the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners. 46 Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer!”