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.
These GREAT DROPS OF BLOOD reveal to us the pain that Jesus experienced.
Jesus was fully aware of the enormous responsibility on Him.
· Was this because of the fear of death? NO!
· Was this because of the betrayal? NO!
· Was this because of the beatings He would have to suffer? NO!
It was because Jesus knew He would have to take on the sins of the world. There is nothing more vile than this. Nothing more degrading, nothing more filthy than sin being laid on the righteousness of the Savior.
How often does it seem that Christians will loose sight of the great sacrifice and burden that was placed on Jesus?
The pain of a lashing, or a beating, or being publicly humiliated will never compare to the pain of a sinless Savior taking on the sins of this world.
How appropriate that Jesus would begin His suffering and pain in a garden.
After all, Genesis 3 tells us that in the “midst of the garden” is where the first sting of death began. The garden is where mankind disobeyed the Lord by eating from the tree of forbidden fruit.
And it was in the “midst of the garden” that Jesus would begin His sufferings for us and eventually conquer sin and evil.
Charles Spurgeon once wrote that Jesus is known as the Second Adam who would restore the ruin of the first.
Many of us love gardens. We can find God’s beauty and His solace there.
But consider that it was in the beautiful setting of a garden that Jesus began to shed His GREAT DROPS OF BLOOD.
The first drops of His precious blood would fall in a setting of beauty and solace.
After HIS PAIN came –
2. HIS PRAYER
This was all Jesus would need to ease HIS PAIN. Hebrews 5:7 explains what I mean,
During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.
Jesus did what we must do whenever we are faced with great pain.
We too must pray when we are in our “Garden of Gethsemane”.
Whether we are in the hospital room, the court room, or the funeral home, these are moments for prayer. They may be prayers of agony and despair, but your Heavenly Father will hear you.
Speak to your Father just as Jesus spoke.
In Mark 14:36 we hear Jesus cry out “Abba, Father…” as if to say Daddy.
Just as a little child would call out to their beloved Father.
Jesus was honest with His prayer to His Father as anyone could ever be.
· Could God have spared Jesus the agony of the cross? Yes!
· Could Jesus refuse the agony of the cross? Yes! But He didn’t.
Eternity for you and I was at stake here.
Our redemption was in the will and hands of Jesus Christ. And He did not forsake us. Even though He could, He did not!
The Glory of the Cross, and the Power of the Resurrection was at stake here.
If Father God were to have stepped in (and, stopped it), or if Jesus had stepped back (and, refused it), we all would have been condemned to an eternity in hell.
Likewise – Today you may be faced with a cup of despair that is tormenting you.
Maybe you think what you are going through is about to destroy you physically and spiritually.
Are you in your garden of despair?
Perhaps you have asked God if He will take that cup from you. Did you also pray (as Jesus did), “Nevertheless, not my will but Your will be done…”
Just like Christ - With every pain that we may suffer, there will always be the Prayer of submission to get us through. In our prayers, we are to share in the death of Jesus on the cross.
Listen to Romans 12:1 & 2
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
This passage is your answer to the prayers you have prayed while you are in pain.
None of us want to have to endure pain in our lives, but we have our “Abba, Father…” to pray to when we don’t think we are going to make it another day.
Our prayers while in pain are to be prayers of submission. Like Jesus, you will receive your answers like Jesus did.
“…nevertheless, not my will, but thy will.”
Can we pray this prayer and mean it knowing that things may not happen the way we want them to? Let me ask that same question in another light.
What are the things that are most important to you?
Chances are those things you are clinging on to are temporary.
God wants our prayers to be prayed while thinking on the things that are eternal.
We shouldn’t be too surprised when we find that God has put us in a position of humble service, rather than a place of recognition and honor. After all, this is exactly what happened to Jesus when He prayed this prayer. And it may be what must happen to us, also.
After Jesus prayed “…nevertheless, not my will, but thy will…” He was humiliated, beaten and condemned to die on a cross. Jesus surrendered all to His Father.
We see Jesus with HIS PAIN, HIS PRAYER, and we also see Jesus with
3. HIS POWER.
In verse 43, we see that an angel came to Jesus after He surrendered His will.
This angel can be sent to you, as well.
(I am sure that Father God won’t mind.) The Father can send to us an angel who will give to us the strength we need to finish what we are called to do.
This is what happened to Jesus and it can and will happen to you. He not only surrendered His will, but was given strength for His obedience.
The heaviness of what Jesus was going through lifted immediately and He was given strength.
The Bible tells us that Jesus “rose up from prayer” and was about the Father’s business. Jesus now knew what He had to do and He had the strength to do it.
Jesus was not given strength by the angel to fight and defend Himself. Rather, He now had strength to submit and endure.
The Bible tells us that the disciples were “asleep and exhausted with sorrow…”
And yet, Jesus had His strength back and was now ready to face His betrayal, the arrest, and the Cross.
Before the angel arrived, Jesus was exhausted due to His own sorrow.
But because Jesus surrendered Himself to the destiny of the Cross, He had strength, courage and resolve.
His Father did not take away the cup from Jesus, but He did give Him the strength necessary to go all of the way to the Cross of Calvary.
Jesus’ disciples had fallen asleep.
They were exhausted. They were of no more help to Jesus. Jesus had no one else to turn to in His grief and sorrow.
So God showed up with an angel to take over and help Jesus to press on.
Father God is not going to let you or I fail.
Look again at verse 10 of our Responsive Reading.
So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
Listen church – For every Gethsemane in your life, there will always be an angel to come along and give you strength.
