Did Christ really sweat blood?

This week in preparation for Good Friday I took some time to read excerpts from Lee Strobel’s book, “The Case for Christ.” The book retraces Strobel’s (the former editor of the Chicago Tribune) journey from atheism to faith. As Good Friday approaches a medical perspective of Jesus’ death may help us better understand the suffering that Christ endured for sin. The following conversation took place between Lee Strobel and Alexander Metherell (a prominent medical examiner and physician who has done extensive research on the death of Christ).

Lee Strobel asked, “Could you paint a picture of what happened to Jesus?” Metherell cleared his
throat. “It began after the Last Supper,” he said. “Jesus went with his disciples to the Mount of Olives—specifically, to the Garden of Gethsemane. And there, if you remember,
he prayed all night. Now, during that process he was anticipating the coming events of the next day. Since he knew the amount of suffering he was going to have to endure, he was quite naturally experiencing a great deal of psychological stress.” Strobel raised
his hand. “Whoa—here’s where skeptics have a field day. The gospels tell us hebegan to sweat blood at this point. Now, isn’t that just overactive imaginations?” Unfazed, Metherell shook his head. “Not at all,” Metherell replied. “This is a known medical condition call hematidrosis. It not very common, but it is associated with a high degee of psychological stress. What
happens is that severe anxiety causes the release of chemicals that break down the capillaries in the sweet glands. As a result, there’s a small amount of bleeding into these glands, and the sweat comes out tinged with blood. [This condition] would set up the skin to be extremely fragile so that when Jesus was flogged by the Roman soldiers the next day, his skin would be very, very sensitive (The Case for Christ p. 260).

We all know something about the weight of sin. However, none of us understands it like Jesus
Christ. The “sinless One” would take humanity’s sin of the past, present and future and place it on himself. The Lamb of God would come to take away the sin of the world.

I am a grateful recipient of this tremendous sacrifice.

Stephen