A Closer Look at Jesus’ Agony in the Garden

David Martin | The Daily Knight

While all four evangelists wrote essentially the same Gospel, they vary somewhat in that some of the evangelists revealed truths that the others didn’t reveal according to how God made each of them.

For instance, St. Luke being the skilled physician he was understood that extreme anxiety or dread could cause the blood vessels under the skin to burst and mix with the sweat so that the two become almost as one. The truth of this condition, known as Hematidrosis, is confirmed by many medical authorities. Hence it was St. Luke the physician and not the other apostles who was chosen to reveal that Christ’s sweat became as drops of blood trickling to the ground during his agony.

The evangelist relates this point.

“And being in an agony, he prayed the longer. And his sweat became as drops of blood, trickling down upon the ground.” (Luke 22:43, 44)

While it is generally believed that this extreme dread was brought on by the knowledge that he was about to endure a cruel suffering and death, this was only a small part of the reason. The real reason for Jesus' overwhelming anxiety was the dread that his Sacrifice on the Cross wouldn’t save all men whom he wanted so desperately to save, but would only save a few. According to the approved Catholic Mystic Mary of Agreda, Christ looked into the future and saw the millions of people who would be dammed in spite of his Passion, which is why his sweat became as blood during his agony.  

Mary of Agreda relates the following in her Mystical City of God.

“He [Christ] perceived the inscrutable judgments and decrees of the divine justice, and the reprobation of so many, for whom he was about to die. This was indeed by far the greater source of his sorrow…. His agony increased to such an extent, that great drops of sweaty blood were pressed from him, which flowed to the very earth.”

At the end of the chapter, the Blessed Virgin herself instructs the mystic with these words:

“Estimate then, and weigh within thy soul, how important is the eternal predestination or reprobation of the souls, since my most holy Son looked upon it with such great anxiety, that the difficulty or impossibility of saving all men added such immense bitterness to the Death, which He was about to suffer for all.” (For more on the Agony, go to Mystical City of God, the Transfixion, pp. 472-490)

According the mystic, the Archangel Michael appeared to Christ in the garden and pointed out to him 1 the many true servants and saints of the future who would benefit from his Passion, which then encouraged him to fully go through with his Passion with perfect resolve and strength.

It should also be pointed out that Christ before his agony never said, “My soul is sorrowful because of death,” but rather, “My soul is sorrowful even unto death” (Mt. 26: 38). Yea, "My soul is sorrowful because I’m not able to save all men." This is why Christ’s Passion is called the Passion and why he cried out on the Cross, “I thirst,” because he was thirsting for souls.

We can only imagine how the vision of the vast sea of wayward priests of the distant future crucified Christ’s heart in the garden because of their wicked inventions and worldly priorities that would cause millions of souls to be banished to Hell. On June 18, 1965, the Blessed Virgin at Garabandal told the child seer Conchita, “Many cardinals, many bishops, and many priests are on the road to perdition and are taking many souls with them.”

Consider what Christ himself has said to the clergy during his apparitions at Bayside (1970-1995). The message has often said that the innovations and changes to his Church are driving knives into his heart. Note his concern for souls that has been emphasized throughout this article.

“Many mitres, bishops, are leaving the narrow road and turning off onto a wide road that is leading them to hell. They start with all good intentions, and then they lose the road…. You must now stop these innovations. You have become purveyors of error. You are not bringing the gospels and the truth to My children, My sheep. Tradition must be held! It is the strongest factor within the building of My Church. I am the foundation, but Tradition must be continued. The rules, the Tradition, were given for reason. You were given a plan to follow. You know the truth; you are withholding the truth from My sheep. You are changing the truth for your own reasons, and this reasoning is not guided by the light but by the spirit of darkness.

“I give, as your God, a warning to all bishops and cardinals to stop! Hasten to review the past. The fruits have been rotten, and I am about to shake you from the vine! Do not starve My sheep! There are many sheep to gather. The pastures are rich but the sheep grow thin. They are starving for the spirit of light.” (September 7, 1978)

We can only imagine what Jesus and Mary would say if they spoke to us today in 2026.

1. As the mystic points out in this chapter, there was nothing that the Archangel could instruct Christ about nor could he add anything to the infinite knowledge that Christ had about all things, but part of Christ’s humility was to suspend as it were some of his faculties and allow himself to be comforted by the angel as a means of gaining even more graces for those he was about to die for.