And being in agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
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Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
And being in an agony, He prayed more earnestly. The "et" here in the Hebrew is causal, and means quia, because. That Isaiah , the angel comforted Him; because being in an agony and praying more earnestly, He sweated blood, and then appeared to need comfort, and to merit it. The following, was the order of events. Christ had prayed the first and second time, but felt no help of God. Then His feeling growing on Him, Hebrews , permitting the agony (that Isaiah , a more vehement horror and anguish) to arise in Himself, He sweated blood. To overcome this, He prayed a third time more earnestly, teaching us that as temptation increases our prayers should increase equally. The angel therefore appeared to Him immediately, comforting Him; whereupon He ceased to pray and to fear, and to grieve, and, suppressing and overcoming His agony, He manfully prepared Himself for His Passion, and went forth of His own accord to meet Judas.
More earnestly. The Greek is ε̉κτενÎστεζον, that Isai...
“His sweat became like drops of blood,” the Evangelist said. He sweated to heal Adam who was sick. “It is by the sweat of your brow,” said God, “that you will eat your bread.” He remained in prayer in this garden to bring Adam back into his own garden again. Commentary on Tatian’s Diatessaron
And his sweat became as drops of blood This has sometimes happened, though in a lesser degree, to persons under extraordinary grief, if we believe Aristotle, lib. iii. Animanium, chap. xix. p. 891, and lib. de part. Animalium, chap. v. p. 1156. Ed. Aureliæ Allobr. an 1607.
This passage of Christ's bloody sweat, and of the apparition of the angel, was heretofore wanting in divers both Greek and Latin copies; as appears by St. Jerome, (lib. ii. cont. Pelagianos. tom. iv, part 2, p. 521) and by St. Hilary, lib. x. de Trin. p. 1062. Nov. Ed. It seems to have been left out by ignorant transcribers, who thought it not consistent with the dignity of Christ. But we find it in the above-said place, in St. Jerome, in St. Chrysostom (hom. lxxxiv. in Matt.), in St. Augustine (in Psalm cxl. tom. iv, p. 1564, and in Psalm xciii, p. 1013.) in St. Epiphanius in Ancorato, p. 36, Ed. Petav. (Witham) _ Ver. 19. In the original, the present tense is used in this and in the following verse. Touto esti to ...
Although he was God clearly revealed, he did not disown what was human about himself as well. He is hungry and exhausted, weary and thirsty; he fears and flees and is troubled when he prays. He sleeps on a pillow, yet as God he has a nature that does not know sleeping. He asks to be excused the suffering of the cup, yet he was present in the world for this very reason. In his agony, he sweats and an angel strengthens him, yet he strengthens those who believe in him and has taught them by his example to treat death with contempt.
“All my bones are poured out and scattered like water; my heart is become like wax melting in the midst of my belly.” This passage foretold what would happen on that night when they came to Mount Olivet to capture him. In the memoirs of the apostles and their successors, it is written that his perspiration poured out like drops of blood as he prayed and said, “If it is possible, let this cup pass from me.” His heart and bones were evidently quaking, and his heart was like wax melting in his belly. We therefore may understand that the Father wanted his Son to endure in reality these severe sufferings for us. We may not declare that since he was the Son of God, he did not feel what was done and inflicted on him. The words “my strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue cleaves to my jaws” predicted that he would remain silent. He who proved that all your teachers are without wisdom did not answer a word in his own defense.
The devil tempted Christ himself, and Christ pointed out the subtle director of the temptation. He later confirms this passage by his words to his apostles when he says, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” They were so tempted to desert their Lord because they had indulged in sleep instead of prayer. The phrase that balances and interprets “lead us not into temptation” is “but deliver us from evil.”
