9/15/09

Teens Who Cry Blood
Maybe you’ve recently seen the story on National Geographic about the Indian girl, Twinkle, who cries blood and bleeds unexplainably from the hands and scalp. Or maybe you’ve recently read about Calvino Inman, a teenager in Tennessee, who likewise occasionally cries blood – and seemingly for no apparent reason. Well, it seems that these two cases can be medically explained. Doctors believe that Twinkle is most likely “faking” her symptoms; they say she has a factitious disorder causing her to crave attention and sympathy. On the other hand, doctors say that Inman may actually have a condition known as Haemolacria, which causes people to cry blood after having experienced extreme trauma or having suffered a major head injury.

Nevertheless, more outrageous and abnormal than crying blood is “sweating blood”. Luke tells us that Jesus was so distressed when he was praying on the Mount of Olives (just before he was to be arrested and later crucified), that his “sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground” (Luke 22:44).

Doctors have said that in fact there is a condition known as Hematidrosis, wherein a person is under such deep distress (usually at the prospect of death) that his blood vessels constrict and rupture, and then they are released out of the blood through the sweat glands. No doubt Jesus was under intense strain, as he knew what was coming; he knew that only moments separated him from the agony of torture and death on a cross. And yet through the thick of it all, with his blood and sweat falling to the ground as he prayed, Jesus said to his Father, “…Not my will, but yours be done.”

Today and everyday, let us remember what our hero Jesus Christ did when he placed the will of the Father above his own comfort and well-being. May we strive to imitate him, as we likewise seek God’s will over our own comfort and well-being. While we will never be faced with the circumstances that Jesus faced, and most likely none of us will ever be so anguished as to sweat blood, we would do well to remember the sacrifice that Christ made (which was brought to fruition on the cross) as we daily seek to set aside ourselves in order to follow God’s leading. No circumstance is so bad as to prevent us from doing so! Let’s say to God our Father today and everyday, “Not my will, but yours be done.”