Did Jesus Christ have any health issues? Some people think when His sweat became blood it was a health issue.
Scripture does not mention the Lord ever being sick, but does that mean He was never sick? Many assume that since sickness is a result of sin in the world, that Christ was never sick because He never sinned. However, the Word does teach us that not all sickness is a direct result of sin. For an example of that, let’s read John 9:1-3, “And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.” While the Lord did not mean that this blind man had never sinned, He did say that his blindness was not a result of his sin. He was born with an infirmity of blindness so that it might be used to glorify God.
We know the Lord suffered from sorrow as we read prophetically of Him in Isaiah 53:3, “He is despised and rejected of men; a MAN OF SORROWS, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.” We also read prophetically of Him on the cross in Psalm 69:20, “REPROACH HATH BROKEN MY HEART; and I am full of heaviness: and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none.” From just these two verses, we realize that the Lord could suffer emotionally and mentally. This serves to show His humanity. While He was 100% God, He was also 100% man. However, the Word tells us that God can be grieved. We read in Ephesians 4:30, “And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.” So, being sorrowful and being grieved is not necessarily limited to humans.
What about physical sickness? Was the Lord Jesus ever physically sick? Again, the Bible is silent on this, but I tend to believe that He was above any sickness. After all, He was able to drive sickness (and death) from others. He controlled infirmities; He wasn’t controlled by them. To one who suffered from palsy, the Lord said, “Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house.” (Read Matthew 9:1-8). To a woman who had suffered from an issue of blood for twelve years, the Lord said, “Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague.” (Read Mark 5:24-34). I believe He was never sick because He could control sickness. It’s important for us to realize that because of His sinlessness, the Lord Jesus was not subject to death. On the cross, He “gave up the ghost.” (Mark 15:37). He dismissed His spirit and died under His own control. He said in John 10:17-18, “Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.”
In the Garden of Gethsemane, just before going to the cross, we read of the Lord Jesus in Luke 22:44, “And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” Only Luke’s Gospel mentions this incident. Of course, Luke was a doctor. (Colossians 4:14). There is a physical condition called “Hematidrosis” or blood sweat. 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.” As the Lord Jesus contemplated the cross, He certainly was under extreme emotional stress. While in the garden, the Lord Jesus said to His disciples, “My soul is EXCEEDING SORROWFUL, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me.” (Matthew 26:38). It does seem the Lord exhibited the signs of Hematidrosis because of the great, great stress He was under. May we keep in mind that all the sufferings the Lord Jesus became subject to was because He loved us enough to become a man in order to sacrifice Himself to God for our sin payment. His agony and death upon the cross is evidence of His inexhaustible love for us. As the Apostle Paul said of the Lord Jesus in Galatians 2:20, “(Christ) loved me, and gave himself for me.” (361.2)