The Ultimate Hungry Prayer

Very aptly, we end our series of hungry prayers on the eve of Good Friday, as we contemplate Jesus' death on the cross, which is the greatest act of love the world has ever seen. This great act of love was preceded by the ultimate hungry prayer, which was prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane by our Lord Jesus Himself.

It was a costly prayer.

Luke, who was a physician, describes the process of Jesus' prayer as follows: "And being in anguish, He prayed more earnestly, and His sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground."

The scholars suggest that Luke is describing a phenomenon known as "hematidrosis." Wikipedia defines it as follows: "Hematidrosis is a condition in which capillary blood vessels that feed the sweat glands rupture, causing them to exude blood, occurring under conditions of extreme physical or emotional stress."

What was causing Jesus this kind of stress? Jesus was contemplating the cross.

Obeying the Father would mean the pain and separation of the cross. Jesus, as the second Adam, could do what He wanted or He could do what the Father wanted. The difficultly of the decision caused so much stress that He sweated blood.

But the writer to the Hebrews gives us a hint of a hunger that was greater than the stress: "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame." (Heb12:2) The joy that Jesus had before Him was that He would do the Father's will and obtain our salvation.

This is His hunger. His hunger to be pleasing to God and to obtain our forgiveness.

The battle for our salvation hinged on this blood-stained prayer prayed in Gethsemane.

And it was a hungry one. Hungry for God and hungry for us.