"For behold, I, God, have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent; But if they would not repent they must suffer even as I; Which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit—and would that I might not drink the bitter cup, and shrink—Nevertheless, glory be to the Father, and I partook and finished my preparations unto the children of men. Wherefore, I command you again to repent, lest I humble you with my almighty power; and that you confess your sins, lest you suffer these punishments of which I have spoken, of which in the smallest, yea, even in the least degree you have tasted at the time I withdrew my Spirit."
Of all the four Evangelists, only Luke mentions--and only in a single verse--the physical effects visible to Peter, James and John on the Savior's body during his prayers at the Garden of Gethsemane. The doctrine of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints joins the greater Christian community in the worship of the Son of God, made flesh for us, to die on the cross and be resurrected on the third day. But we alone recognize that Christ's atoning sacrifice began in Gethsemane. The Savior, according to Luke
"being in an agony[, ] prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground."
Curious about this phenomenon, I discovered a medical condition that appears to describe what happened to Jesus by the name of hematidrosis. Apparently, it's extremely rare, but not entirely unheard of in medical history for a stress response to heighten blood pressure enough to burst capillaries adjacent to sweat glands, and for the resulting sweat to take on the color of the blood. Also mentioned are cases of depression and emotional distress producing similar results. Anecdotally, prior to looking this up on medical websites, I had also heard of two classes of occasions where this rare symptom had been manifest. One was reportedly a civil war soldier undergoing amputation in a period before modern anesthetics, and the other was a mother enduring a prolonged and difficult childbirth. In both cases, I was told, a single drop had appeared on the forehead.
Given the facts surrounding this kind of symptom, and given Luke's record that it happened to an unidentifiably many sweat glands under the skin of our Savior's mortal body, the account we have in the Savior's voice above is eclipsed by none for its poignancy. Our Lord's subsequent flogging and public shaming added pain and ignominy to His suffering and death, but it was the cause of the bleeding from every pore that caused Him to will not to continue in such agony, and yet to reject His own will in favor of His Father's. That agony was not from physical, but spiritual causes. The infinite weight of all of Creation's fallenness, of all of God's children's sin, yours, mine!--the utterly unfathomable burden of eternal separation from all Love--was borne by the babe of Bethlehem, the Son, both of God and of Mary, the Great I Am of whom the prophets had all testified. This Messiah did not shrink. He finished His work, to the glory of the Father. And now our repentance has efficacy. Now our state is no longer hopeless. Now, we can be redeemed through our Redeemer's loving self-sacrifice, be forgiven, and take upon ourselves His easy yoke. These Doctrine and Covenants verses relay, as best as language is fit to describe, the reason for joy we have in His Gospel--the "good news" that came at an unimaginable cost that only He could pay, and which propels us as disciples to every confidence in His victories over every evil thing.
Martin Harris came to the prophet Joseph Smith with doubts about an investment he had been asked to make for the publication of the Book of Mormon, and this expressive set of verses must have helped him compare, realize how insignificant his own potential suffering might be, and hold firm on the steps of faith required of him. He too had a work to finish, but how encouraged he must have been to realize that the Being whose Gospel he was called to proclaim, whose Word this investment would support as it would be distributed widely, was offering to be his Partner. Harris's role, as is ours, was not to suffer for sin, but to accept Christ's suffering for sin. To refuse to let it go to waste. To repent, and let Him change our heart, our state, our eternity.
And it wasn't so long ago--less than a year--that Harris's role in the theft of the manuscript pages entrusted to him left him with a hint of the separation from God. So that experience could drive the message home even further. Just prior to explaining just how close to the precipice of turning back Christ Himself came because of the "exquisite" quality of the suffering He experienced, the Lord revealed a mind-blowing twist on the very terms our human languages are limited to in its description:
"Surely every man must repent or suffer, for I, God, am endless. Wherefore, I revoke not the judgments which I shall pass, but woes shall go forth, weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth, yea, to those who are found on my left hand. Nevertheless, it is not written that there shall be no end to this torment, but it is written endless torment. Again, it is written eternal damnation; wherefore it is more express than other scriptures, that it might work upon the hearts of the children of men, altogether for my name’s glory. Wherefore, I will explain unto you this mystery, for it is meet unto you to know even as mine apostles. I speak unto you that are chosen in this thing, even as one, that you may enter into my rest. For, behold, the mystery of godliness, how great is it! For, behold, I am endless, and the punishment which is given from my hand is endless punishment, for Endless is my name. Wherefore—Eternal punishment is God’s punishment. Endless punishment is God’s punishment." (emphasis original)
For a Being to whom a thousand years is as one day, who has past, present and future continually before Him, words that appear to us to be bound to incomprehensibly long concepts of time, like "endless" or "eternal" may be bound less to quantity than to quality. Descriptors signifying duration become descriptors of kind, category, essence. So rather than take up his generation's propensity for fire and brimstone preaching about the length of time sin can make a person disqualified, Harris, Smith, and all modern-day Apostles and students of the Master's meaning, can concentrate on the Lord's redemptive power--a healing affixed in opposition to the quality of suffering that only the Eternal could bear, offered freely to us on condition of repentance. Again, what new and profound appreciation must Harris have taken away. The Lord suffered what only He could, and His torments, qualitatively impossible for humans to bear, had a purpose! They were so that Harris, like Smith, like us all, could enter into His rest. An eternal rest. An endless rest. A peace not like the world gives.
Whatever your calling, whatever your sacrifices, whatever the Lord calls you to endure, hang on. Walk with Him, so the burden can be light. Repent, and begin enjoying the reward of the Endless forgiveness, Eternal salvation. Act in faith. God is with you.
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