Bloody Sweat

Bloody sweat is the phenomenon described in Luke 22:44, where Jesus in Gethsemane, in a state of extreme agony, prayed more earnestly and “his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” The medical term for this rare condition is hematidrosis or hemohidrosis, in which extreme emotional distress causes the rupture of capillaries adjacent to sweat glands, allowing blood to mix with perspiration. The verse is attested in the major manuscript traditions, though it is absent from a small number of witnesses.

The theological significance of the Gethsemane agony is substantial: it reveals the full humanity of Jesus as he faced the weight of the suffering and divine abandonment that the cross entailed. The bloody sweat underscores that the Passion was not simply physical execution but a profound spiritual ordeal. Hebrews 5:7 alludes to this moment in describing Jesus' “prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death,” emphasizing that his priestly sympathy with human weakness was forged in genuine suffering.