44) The aorist participle γενομένος is punctiliar: Jesus reached the point where he was “in agony.” But
“agony” should not be extended to mean “death agony” (dass er mit dem Tode rang, Luther), for Hobart shows that even the
medics used ἀγωνία
only with reference to severe mental distress. The fact that the entire
struggle carried the body of Jesus close to dissolution is apparent from the
start. We here have the reverse. The new strength that was imparted by the
angel brought the agony of the struggle to its highest pitch. The mind and the
body that were sinking lower and lower beneath the strain rallied powerfully to
face the full horror of the curse and the wrath that were impending. That is
why Jesus went on to pray more intensively in this supreme moment (the
adjective does not mean “more” or mehrfach).
The intensity of the struggle produced such physical reaction that the
sweat of Jesus became bloody. Severe mental distress and strain drive out sweat
from the body, a fact that is constantly observed. The fact that this may reach
the point where the tiny blood vessels of the skin are ruptured and permit
blood to mingle with the sweat is attested medically. Aristotle speaks of
bloody sweat as does Theophrastus, and in 1805 Gruner compiled medical data on
the subject (R., W. P., and Nebe, Leidensgeschichte).
“As clots,” θρόμβοι,
means that the blood mingled with the sweat and thickened the globules so that
they fell to the ground in little clots and did not merely stain the skin. “How
did the witnesses see this?” it is asked. It is enough to say that they saw it
when Jesus returned to them. Why did Mark not record this when he had Peter as
his authority, who was one of the three? That is a question one might ask about
a hundred things regarding each of the Gospel writers. We cannot state with
definiteness just why each writer included this and not that. (R. C.
H. Lenski, The Interpretation of St. Luke’s Gospel [Minneapolis:
Augsburg Publishing House, 1961], 1076-77)
