Luke 22:44, commentary and pictures

In Gethsemane on the night of the Passover He went apart about a stone's cast, kneeled and lay prostrate on the cold ground, and prayed three times that the cup might pass yet submitting to the Father's will. Being in agony He prayed more earnestly until sweat as it were great drops of blood was forced from His pores, beading on His forehead and face and falling to the ground to mingle with dew and moisten the sod. The agony came because the sins, guilt, and curse of the whole world were laid upon Him as humanity's substitute, and what He feared most was separation from His Father's favor and presence under wrath against sin. His anguish was from bearing sin and the Father's displeasure against it, not from fear of bodily suffering, and was superhuman beyond human comprehension, wrestled alone against the powers of darkness. Strengthened by one angel sent from heaven to console Him, He consented to do His Father's will and drank the bitter cup, for the destiny of a lost world hung in the balance and had He refused eternal ruin would have come on the human race.

Garden Setting and Suffering

The night was that of the Passover in Gethsemane, in the groves of Olivet, under the Passover moon shining over the silent city. It was the garden where He was accustomed to seek strength through fervent prayer, sometimes spending the entire night there. That resort to mountain solitude and night prayer was His practice to prepare for some great trial or important work, as before the agony of the judgment hall and the cross and the resurrection glory.

After bidding the disciples to watch and pray and charging them to pray earnestly, He left them and went apart from them alone about a stone's cast. There He kneeled to pray that the cup might be removed, yet in submission to the Father's will. Then He lay prostrate on the cold ground, suffering intense anguish as He prayed that His Father's will be done. In that anguish He prayed earnestly for the cup to pass, repeating the prayer three times and finally submitting His will to His Father's, His agony becoming still greater as He prayed the third time.

Being in agony He prayed more earnestly until His sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground. Large drops of perspiration, described as blood, were forced from His pores and fell onto the ground while His disciples slept nearby. His sweat became blood that beaded on His forehead, gathered on His face and stained it with blood, tinged with blood and marking His face. Those bloody drops fell to the ground mingling with the dew and moistening the sod.

Sorrow and its terrible burden left Him physically weakened, fainting and exhausted, returning to His place of struggle under even greater suffering than before. He moved with labored effort, groaned, uttered suppressed wails, was convulsed with pain, appeared pale with anxiety yet earnest, and needed support to keep from falling. Clinging to the cold ground for relief, He lay prostrate fainting and dying under the accumulated guilt of the world, at times sinking beneath the weight as if dying. Seized with superhuman agony of soul, He passed through a death struggle while struggling alone against the powers of darkness.

The cypress and palm trees were silent witnesses of His anguish. Heavy dew fell upon Him as if nature wept over its Author wrestling alone with the powers of darkness.

Cause of His Agony

The agony came because the sins of the whole world with their guilt, curse and accumulated mass were laid upon Him, and He suffered in humanity's place as transgressor of the law. He bore that weight as He saw sin in its full horror, the peril of the race, and the utter helplessness of man to save himself. What He feared most in that bearing was separation from His Father's favor, presence and love. He who had ever lived in the light of God's presence now felt shut out, forsaken in His hour of need, under God's wrath and frown against sin and the hiding of the Father's face, dreading that the separation might become eternal.

His anguish came from bearing sin and the Father's displeasure against it, not from fear of bodily suffering. It included facing the fear of moral failure as a fear of death, while He resisted temptation unto blood with strong crying and tears until blood fell from the pores of His skin and moistened the ground. The agony was superhuman, beyond human comprehension and bearing. It was the most fearful strain ever brought upon a human being, permitted by God to come upon His Son because He bore the sins of the whole world, and it was intensely human in contrast with His earlier serenity and words of praise.

He wrestled alone with the powers of darkness in the hour of the power of darkness. He struggled with the prince of darkness while satanic powers and the enemy pressed darkness upon His soul, and He passed into horror of great darkness and temptation as a lost soul in a death struggle. The darkness and temptation surrounding Him marked the moment when it would be decided whether He would fail and leave sinful human beings to fall into the hands of Satan. The mighty Conqueror who had stood like a cedar in divine majesty and spoken in triumph now stood like a reed beaten and bent by the storm, like a bruised reed beaten by the storm. His voice was full of human anguish rather than triumph, and longing for companionship, sympathy and relief from the darkness that nearly overpowered Him, His human heart yearned for His companions even as He prayed amid almost unbearable darkness.

Prayer Choice and Strengthening

The bloody sweat belonged to His threefold prayer — if it be possible let this cup pass, O My Father if this cup may not pass except I drink it Thy will be done — in which He consented to do His Father's will and remained obedient even to death on the cross. He prayed the same prayer three times for deliverance as He lay prostrate, fainting and dying under the accumulated guilt of the world, with heaven sending a messenger to console Him. His earnest praying more earnestly came as He faced whether to drink the cup and bear the curse resulting from human transgression, submitting His will to the Father while His disciples slept nearby.

The mysterious cup trembling in His hand represented suffering and temporary separation from the Father who hates sin, because He bore the sins of the whole world. Separation from God was what He feared most, and His divine nature shrank from the ordeal as He wondered how the Father could love Him with that mass of sin upon Him. As He pleaded for the cup to pass if possible yet submitted to His Father's will, elements of darkness gathered about Him to discourage His soul.

The destiny of a lost world hung in the balance and the fate of humanity trembled while heavenly hosts waited with intense interest. Had He refused to drink the cup apportioned to guilty men and wiped the bloody sweat from His brow, eternal ruin would have come on the human race left to perish in iniquity under the Father's displeasure. The awful moment deciding the destiny of the world had arrived, for He could even then refuse the bitter potion of humiliation and agony and leave men to perish, seeing transgressors left to themselves must perish, seeing the power of sin and the utter helplessness of man to save himself and the woes of a doomed world. His suffering surpassed that of the martyrs, for the Father's presence sustained them while the Father's face was hidden from His Son as He faced the cup that would decide the world's destiny.

Strengthened by one angel from heaven commissioned to console and strengthen Him, He accepted the cup and drank its bitter woe, His baptism of blood. The angel strengthened Him but did not remove the cup, strengthening Him to endure the ordeal and take the world's burden upon Himself. He decided to save man at any cost to Himself so perishing millions through Him might gain everlasting life, refusing to turn from the mission He chose when He left the courts of heaven to rescue a lost and ruined race. His suffering nearly extinguished His life as He faced the griefs, woes, and sins of humanity, fainting as if dead until the angel came to strengthen Him for the conflict.

The agony in the garden was so great that He would have died there had not an angel been sent from heaven to strengthen Him so He could live to tread His blood-stained path to Calvary. The drops of blood forced from His pores came from soul-agony and horror under sin and the hiding of His Father's face, the same anguish later pictured by the deep supernatural darkness that covered the cross for three full hours. In all this suffering He gives an example of absolute submission, surrendering a will capable of asserting itself and refusing humiliation to the will of God. Spiritual conflicts come from wanting one's own way in rebellion against God's way, rather than holding to submission to God's will.

Atonement and True Humanity

The sinless Son bore not His own sin but the sin and shame of others, standing as humanity's representative, substitute, surety and propitiation. Treated as a sinner though innocent and undeserving, He suffered in humanity's place as transgressor of the law, that sinful human beings might be treated as innocent. Wounded for transgressions and bruised for iniquities, He bore the chastisement of peace that brings healing. The just thus suffered for the unjust, leaving the realms of glory to come to this dark and lonely world to give His precious life and die. Amid cruel mocking and scourging and the platted crown of thorns He gave Himself for us and for our sins, that by His precious blood He might redeem people to God. His blood, sufferings and death are now pleaded before the Father for lost souls.

He endured this agony rather than refuse the sacrifice through which sinners could be saved. Though He could have refused the cup and left the guilty to perish in sin, He chose to drink it and give His life so that people might gain pardon, grace and everlasting life. In so doing He offered the perishing another trial and probation under a just law and became a propitiation for the sins of the world. He knew many would refuse His love and salvation, yet willingly endured to save the guilty. His humanity in this suffering was genuine, not make-believe. He took human nature and shared its infirmities, needs and weaknesses, was tempted in all points as humans are, yet without their fallen passions. His divine attributes did not relieve His soul's anguish or bodily pain, and His divinity clothed with humanity lived a sinless life in behalf of humanity to make atonement on the cross for transgressions, coming into the world for the purpose of suffering humiliation and death.

The verse measures what He gave up and the matchless depths of love without parallel that brought Him from the courts of heaven to suffer and die so sinners might live through Him. It shows the immense cost of redemption and how dearly the heavenly inheritance was purchased. It shows the value of every soul, for He risked all and would have laid down His life for even one sinner. That even His own Son standing as man's Surety was not spared proves God's justice thoroughly punishes sin and will not excuse transgressors of His law. His terrible anguish when God seemed to forsake Him in His hour of need pictures the anguish the sinner will feel when too late he realizes God's Spirit is withdrawn from him. The lost will fully recognize the depth and love of that sacrifice when they see Him come as incarnate Judge and behold the marks of His crucifixion.

Disciples and Heavenly Witnesses

He had told the disciples to watch and pray because their faith was about to be tried and their hopes disappointed, and they would need the strength that comes from close watching and fervent prayer to sustain faith and withstand temptation through the darkness of His trial. Watching and praying with Him would have prepared them to understand more of His anguish, to remember His words about His suffering, death and resurrection, and to let hope sustain their faith when witnessing His suffering on the cross. His agony was prayer with strong cries and weeping that the Father's will be done, His faithfulness tested to the point that sweat appeared as blood falling to the ground and great drops gathered on His face.

Overcome by drowsiness on the night before His suffering, the disciples slept instead of supporting Him in that hour. They sensed the angels' presence only dimly and missed the scene's power and glory and the evidence of heaven's presence that could have strengthened them for the terrible events and trials ahead. That lost evidence would have strengthened them for temptation and for witnessing the cross, and for remembering His words about His suffering, death and resurrection.

Peter slept while Jesus prayed prostrate, and later remembered the place where Jesus had lain, His tears and groans and command to watch and pray. He wept with repentance where he had seen Jesus prostrated, his tears of remorse falling on the same ground moistened by bloody sweat, and that memory deepened his remorse after denying Jesus and was joined to his repentance and conversion. Christ's prayer for him gave hope against despair, while his sleep and later denial added the heaviest burden to Jesus' humiliation and grief, and his remorse there helped humble and change him. His face had been convulsed with anguish and stained with bloody sweat as He sank beneath the weight, weeping and groaning while those who should have sustained Him with sympathy and prayer were sleeping.

Peter, James and John were present with Him as His closest disciples and chief witnesses, the same three who saw His transfiguration and beheld Him glorified. John was one of the three permitted to witness both that agony and His glory on the mount of transfiguration, a privilege that was a token of confidence and love and showed pre-eminent friendship as the disciple whom Jesus loved.

Angels hovered over the place witnessing the scene with deepest silent interest and no joy, having cast crowns and harps aside. They wished to surround the Son of God but were forbidden by commanding angels lest they deliver Him when they beheld His betrayal, for the plan for His betrayal and suffering was laid out and must be fulfilled, with only one commissioned to strengthen Him. His suffering came at a decisive moment when the destiny of a lost world was in the balance, a struggle watched by the whole universe of heaven.

He knew what a trying ordeal awaited His disciples together with His betrayal and crucifixion, knowing who among His followers were unbelieving and of weak faith. He knew that when He was betrayed and condemned in the judgment hall, humiliated and reviled by the multitude that had hailed Him as king, with the cruel jeering crowd crying crucify Him, faint-hearted ones would sink beneath fear and disappointment. Their apostasy at that hour of horror, added to grief and ruined hopes, could have carried the twelve with them, so He brought about an earlier crisis while still present to comfort and strengthen His chosen, sifting out the weak in character and undecided. In this way the faithful few would not be overwhelmed with surprise at insult to their Master, would remember former fickleness, would not hang faith on the opinions of others, and would be prepared for His betrayal and death.

The disciples continually recounted His garden agony with His betrayal, trial and execution borne with forbearance and humility, and with His pitying prayer for those who persecuted Him. They spoke of it after His victory over death and the tomb and His endurance of the shame of the cross following that conflict in the garden before His death.

The verse gives a picture of agonizing, persistent prayer echoed in God's people pleading with great earnestness and anguish, with faces marked by struggle and large drops of perspiration falling from their foreheads. It is reflected in severe inner struggle with strong cries and heavy perspiration as they resist evil and call upon God for help. Luther's face-down cries to God in fear and spiritual distress echo that same extraordinary earnestness in profound anguish.

Example for Prayer and Life

In agony He prayed with intense, earnest effort, wrestling in sincere communion with God, and that wrestling is the pattern of prayer required, in contrast to weak, heartless prayer and mere lip-service and empty form. Though He was the beloved Son of God, sinless and divine, He prayed with profound earnestness to the point of bloody sweat, showing human weakness and distress and dependence on the Father for help and support. His example teaches that those who depend on God have still greater need to pray earnestly and wrestle for blessing, to plead for a clean heart and strength, and not to let the cares of life crowd out prayer and the word of God, but to watch and pray to resist temptation. His prayer for strength as He prepared to complete His work amid duty and temptation sanctified His ministry, showing that worship gives strength and vigor for daily duty.

Saving grace is obtained by that same kind of praying, alone in the closet, earnest, sincere, fervent, Jacob-like wrestling that agonizes and makes effort. Those who want salvation must take time and not hurry, plead for a clean heart and thorough reformation and for grace and strength to overcome sin, and not leave until strong in God. Then as long as they watch and pray they will keep evil besetments under and the grace of God will appear in them. Bowed in the groves of Olivet with soul wrung with anguish, with strong crying and many tears, often spending whole nights in prayer, He was not praying for Himself but for sinners He came to save. As representative of the race He prayed to the Father for strength and grace, and those prayers reach to the present time, while by bowing as a suppliant He obtained strength from on high and by communion was invigorated and refreshed for helping the needy, braced for duty and prepared for toil, going forth to encourage and bless others. Having identified with humanity and been tempted in all points as humans are, He is able to sympathize with the tempted, and those who are truly His friends will often commune with Him in the same way, with implicit faith that prayers offered in His name will be answered.

His lonely prayer and suffering are the example for followers who face seasons of spiritual darkness and agony of soul. True followers will often feel agony of soul, pour out earnest prayer to the Father and groan in spirit after God, and when enshrouded in darkness will not be driven from God. The verse describes intense distress in which prayer is earnest, the measure of soul and bodily anguish so severe that a person feels helpless and fears death. It is the anguish of one who cannot sleep and paces in distress with heart anguish, feeling that no person can help.

Beholding His suffering in Gethsemane, praying intensely with sweat like great drops of blood falling to the ground, reveals the great sacrifice made for humanity and the love of the Saviour and should move to gratitude and self-denial rather than leave any unmoved. It measures what He gave up for sinners and the matchless depths of love by which the heavenly inheritance was purchased, putting all human self-denial in the shade and showing that any self-denial required of followers is small beside what He gave. From Gethsemane on to the judgment hall, the purple robe, the mocking, the crown of thorns smitten with a reed, the cry for His blood, the nails through hands and feet, the darkness and the cross, it proves He demands all, a whole sacrifice and entire consecration, separation from the world and from dead heartless professors, and transformation by renewing of the mind instead of conformity. It answers the complaint that the narrow path is too strait and too self-denying, rebukes self-gratification, pride, indifference and love of ease, and calls believers to suffer, deny self, sacrifice, drink of the cup and be baptized with the baptism and partake of His sufferings, turning self-seeking into willing wholehearted service with courage to bear cross, trials, shame and persecution, since only those who do so realize that love and can enjoy heaven's glory. Because that inexpressible agony, with horror of darkness forcing blood from His pores, was endured on account of our sins through love without parallel that brought the Son of God from the courts of heaven to suffer and die so sinners might live through Him, there is reason to mourn over sin. True sorrow brings the penitent near to Jesus in His suffering to plead for pardon, obtain grace to conquer, have darkened understanding enlightened, stony heart changed and rebellious will subdued into conformity to God's will, and to live close to His bleeding side, not shrinking at trials but remembering Him who endured contradiction of sinners and earnestly coveting purifying trials that make richer in glory.

His night of prayer in agony came before the great trial of the judgment and the cross and the resurrection glory. In part His anguish was not for Himself but over hard hearts that could not see or accept Him though He is the way, the truth and the life. His bearing such agony for sinners shows that God knows the suffering of His creatures, as He submitted His will to God with sweat falling like great drops of blood before betrayal and suffering.