Agony

Luke 22:39-46
    Webster’s defines “agony” as intense pain of mind or body. They claim it’s related to the terms anguish or torture. When reading the passion account found in Luke, he talks about Jesus being in agony. He doesn’t mention it when he’s on the cross (Luke 23:33-49), when he’s being tortured by Roman soldiers (Luke 23:16-25), when he’s arrested and beaten by his own country man (Luke 22:47-54; Matt. 26:67-68), or even when carrying he’s own cross on he’s freshly scourged back (Luke 23:26-32). Rather, when Jesus is praying to His Father in Luke 22:39-46, we come across verse 44 where it says “And being in agony He was praying very fervently; and His sweat became like drops of blood, falling down upon the ground.” For years scholars tried to explain this phenomena away, when there is no need. It is a known medical condition called hematidrosis. As defined by WebMD, hematidrosis is a very rare medical condition that causes you to ooze or sweat blood from your skin when you're not cut or injured. In that moment, Jesus was in such agony, knowing what he was about to endure for mankind and that he was about to bare our sins (1 Peter 2:22-24).  When are we in agony? Does sin cause us the same amount of agony that is caused Jesus? James tells us that we should be miserable and mourn and weep over our sin (James 4:7-10). We live in a world that celebrates sin. The same world tells christians that they too must celebrate sin or they are hateful. Are we going to believe the world, or God’s Holy Word? If we do not mourn our sin, we risk becoming arrogant like the church in Corinth (1 Cor. 5:2). Paul plainly tells them that their “boasting is not good” (1 Cor. 5:6). Agony, while is painful, is good for us spiritually. If, we are in agony for the correct reasons. I love you all!
In His service,
Steven Hugley