Great Drops Of Blood

GREAT DROPS OF BLOOD

Text: Luke 22:39 thru 44

I have always found the life of Christ to be both inspiring and interesting.

Most of His life, Jesus:

1. lived in a common town – Nazareth

2. did very common things – a carpenter and handy man

3. spent most of His days with common people – not a high profile celebrity

4. wasn’t necessarily well educated in religion, philosophy, or science

5. didn’t try to make the climb up the corporate ladder of success

6. probably didn’t travel much – except to worship His Father in the Temple

Jesus was approximately 30 years old before all of that changed.

John 3:16 explains for us Jesus life.

16 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

17 "For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

After 30 years of obscurity, the life of Jesus made a complete change. Jesus was on a mission from heaven. Every moment of everyday was important.

When we think about His life, Jesus:

1. always did the right thing

2. never committed any sin or purposely offended anyone

3. never said anything foolish or ridiculous

4. was directed by His Father in all things

5. always knew what was going to happen each and every day

What does all this mean?

Even though Jesus was a common man, He lived an extraordinary life. In fact, everything about Jesus is extraordinary.

And that is one of the many reasons why we love Him so much.

Knowing Jesus like we do makes us want to live just like He did. Amen? There has never been anyone else quite like Jesus.

In spite of His living such an extraordinary life, Jesus knew the ultimate reason for His being sent to Earth by His Father.

Not just to heal the sick and raise the dead, but His ultimate mission was to bleed and die for the remission of our sins.

This primary reason for Jesus coming to Earth took place in the last few days of His glorious life.

To know Jesus is to first know/understand the great sacrifice He made for us.

That brings us to our text. The “Garden of Gethsemane”. It was here that Jesus began to deal with accepting His destiny to save the world from judgment.

Perhaps you have seen the beautiful oil paintings of Jesus praying in the “Garden of Gethsemane”. I don’t know much about art, but I am amazed every time I see one of them. When I see these portraits, they cause me to want to know more why He loves me so much.

This morning I want to look closely at this particular moment in the life of Jesus.

I see three things we must consider.

1. HIS PAIN

This is the night before Jesus is to be nailed to the Cross of Calvary. He has just served His disciples His Last Supper. The Holy Communion. He has broken bread with them and shared the cup of wine.

A covenant has been made with 11 of His most trusted friends, while the one other has betrayed Him.

Judas Iscariot is now on his way to get the Temple Guards and have Jesus arrested.

Jesus is being betrayed by someone he once trusted. This is an emotional moment for Jesus. To this day, it grieves Jesus when His love is betrayed. His pain has now begun to settle in His heart.

My prayer this morning is that none of us would ever betray the love of Christ.

In spite of His pain, Jesus willingly gives Himself over to His own destiny of salvation. Jesus could have hidden Himself from harm that night. But instead, He chooses to go to the well-known Garden of Gethsemane to be easily found by Judas Iscariot and the soldiers.

This account of Jesus praying to His Father is recorded in all four gospels. The account that Mark gives tell us that Jesus told Peter, James and John that,

"My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death….”

Let us not think that Jesus only suffered when nailed to the cross. We have no idea of the kind of pain that must have been. But Jesus confides in His friends and tells them the extent of His pain.

"My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death….”

This we cannot pass by lightly.

In the Greek’s purest meaning, Jesus was saying that a person is surrounded by sorrow to the point of physical torment.

Did you know that a person can actually die from grief and sorrow?

The medical term is “hemotidrosis”.

The sweat glands will sometimes rupture and the body will secrete sweat and blood. This is an extreme and rare condition and normally results in death.