In preparing for this Easter season, my wife and I reviewed Mel Gibson’s film, The Passion of the Christ. Like with previous viewings, we were left in shock at the unnecessary brutality, way in excess of the punishment required for the alleged crime.
Luke in his Gospel expressed one aspect of Christ’s suffering that is often overlooked – “His sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.” Among Gospel writers, only Luke the physician described Christ’s mental anguish in this way.
I am aware that the textual evidence for Luke’s description is ambiguous in that some early manuscripts do not include the two verses in which the description is found. However, unlike J.A. Fitzmyer (The Gospel According to Luke – Volume 2), I believe Luke’s description of Jesus’ mental anguish should be included in the text. Luke’s interest in similes and his attentiveness to details are consistent with the description.
Advances in medical science have helped us to appreciate more of what Dr. Luke was saying. In the first place, Luke tells us that there was excessive sweating – “like drops...falling to the ground.” This aptly described someone who was under extreme emotional stress. I understand that in such situations, persons can lose several quarts of fluid in perspiration.
Apart from the volume of fluid, medical scholars believe Luke was describing the phenomenon known as hematidrosis or hemohidrosis – a condition that occurs in highly emotional states. Hemohidrosis is a very rare condition in which a human sweats blood. I believe it was Leonardo da Vinci who described a soldier who sweat blood before going into battle.
When added to the stress, the night temperature would have produced chills, thus creating more physical discomfort. However, such physical discomfort was not the goal of Roman crucifixion.
The Romans perfected crucifixion as a form of torture and capital punishment that was designed to produce a slow death with maximum pain and suffering. It was one of the most disgraceful and cruel methods of execution and usually was reserved only for slaves, foreigners, revolutionaries and the vilest of criminals.
Not one of these categories would describe Jesus. Even Judas who betrayed him admitted, “I have betrayed innocent blood.” Even Peter who denied Him mentioned in one of his letters, “He did no sin, not even guile was found in His mouth.” Then why should Jesus be subjected to such torture?
Interestingly, Jesus could have escaped the ordeal but chose not to do so. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus asked, “Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and He will at once put at my disposal more than 72,000 angels” (Matthew 26:53)? In other words, if a secure escape were needed, it would be made available.
Then, why all the sweat? To this Jesus replied – so that the promises in the Hebrew Scriptures would be fulfilled (Matthew 26:56). Following His resurrection He said something similar to the two men on the road to Emmaus – “did not the Christ have to suffer these things...” (Luke 24:26)? Later that day Jesus maintained that theme as He addressed His disciples – “everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms” (Luke 24:44).
In other words, although painful, the suffering of Jesus was no accident. Some 700 years before His death, the prophet Isaiah described how the Christ would suffer and die (Isaiah 53). In addition to reading the text I would recommend you read, The Gospel According to Isaiah 53 by Darrell Bock and Mitch Glaser. This volume is a collection of eleven essays by evangelical scholars. The essays provide a theological foundation for what Mel Gibson illustrated in the film, The Passion of the Christ.
After watching the film, my wife and I were contending, if Jesus could have been freed but chose rather to become a victim of crucifixion, the worst form of capital punishment in history, then why, simply why did He allow it? On his way home, an Ethiopian asked Phillip a similar question. Based on the text he was reading from Isaiah 53, Phillip introduced the royal official to Jesus (Acts 8:26-40).
Like Phillip, the Apostle Paul believed that Isaiah 53 was referring to the Christ – Paul told the Corinthians that that Christ was Jesus of Nazareth, the One who was crucified (1 Corinthians 15:3-5). And that is the story of Easter – the Christ of Isaiah 53 suffered and died as a sacrifice.
Like the Ethiopian eunuch Phillip met, I pray that everyone reading this commentary would or has already come into a personal relationship with the Christ of Isaiah 53.
This is a reminder that Jesus did not start a social club for "good" people but instead the way He died reminds us that He came and died as and for "slaves" (addicts and junkies), "foreigners" (outcasts), "revolutionaries" (atheists and agnostics),"and the vilest of criminals". He came to us, are we following His example?
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