Book of Mormon Evidence: Jesus Bled at Every Pore

Textual Evidence

The Gospel of Luke makes a memorable comment on the intensity of Christ’s suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane: “And being in agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling from the ground” (Luke 22:44).¹ Because this passage does not appear in some ancient biblical manuscripts, many scholars have doubted its authenticity.² Some have even argued that it was added to Luke’s Gospel by Christians who wanted to bolster the case for Jesus’ physical suffering. Such textual tampering could have been used to counter docetic Christians who believed Jesus did not really suffer but only appeared to do so.³

However, after reviewing this argument and the available textual evidence, Lincoln Blumell concluded that the passage was most likely original to Luke. Support for this view comes from the fact that the passage was known to early Christian writers such as Justin Martyr and Irenaeus in the second century who cited it.⁴ It appears that later, during the fourth century when some Christian intellectuals were troubled by what the passage suggested about the physicality of Jesus and his suffering, scribes omitted this detail from some important manuscripts of that time.⁵ John Gee, concurs with Blumell’s interpretation, arguing that the “passage about Jesus sweating great drops of blood in Gethsemane was attacked by opponents of Christianity, and in a sheepish response, orthodox Christians removed it from their scriptures because they were embarrassed by it. This is a section that Latter-day saints would regard as plain and precious.”⁶

Latter-day revelation further supports the originality and authenticity of this detail. In the Book of Mormon, an angel taught King Benjamin and his people, “And lo, he shall suffer temptations and pain of body, hunger, thirst, fatigue, even more than man can suffer, except it be unto death; for behold, blood cometh from every pore, so great shall be his anguish for the wickedness and the abominations of his people” (Mosiah 3:7). Likewise, the resurrected Jesus stated in the Doctrine and Covenants that this “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” (D&C 19:18).

Scientific evidence

Still, some readers of these passages might conclude that the description is metaphorical—that is, Christ’s suffering was merely similar to sweating blood as he perspired under the stress of the Atonement. Others, for various reasons, might view the scriptural record as altogether fanciful. It has been shown, however, that these scriptural statements mirror an actual physiological condition known as hematidrosis. This rare medical outcome has been described by surgeon Pierre Barbet as follows:

This phenomenon . . .  consists of an intense vasodilatation of the subcutaneous capillaries. They become extremely distended, and burst when they come into contact with the millions of sweat glands which are distributed over the whole skin. The blood mingles with the sweat, and it is this mixture which pearls over the whole surface of the body. But, once they reach the outside, the blood coagulates and the clots which are thus formed on the skin fall down on to the ground, being borne down by profuse sweat.⁷

In a study from 2023, more than 100 instances of hematidrosis were documented by multiple physicians in various regions around the world. While the condition is exceptionally rare and still not fully understood, it has been shown to occur under conditions of unbearable mental anxiety or stress.⁸ A separate study points out that “acute fear and intense mental contemplation are the most frequent causes.”⁹

Conclusion 

The Atonement of Jesus Christ was an unprecedented miracle. Thus, there isn’t a compelling need for its effect upon Christ’s body to match a known scientific phenomenon. If medical studies never confirmed the plausibility of this particular claim, it would no more affect the historical credibility of the scriptures than the fact that science has never been able to prove that Christ turned water into wine or any other miracle that he performed. This is because miracles, by definition, are highly unusual events that appear to defy or supersede the known laws of nature.

In this case, however, it appears that Christ’s suffering in Gethsemane may have resulted in an exceedingly rare—yet now well-attested—medical condition that is only beginning to be understood in light of 21st-century research methods. Particularly striking is the fact that a core element of Christ’s suffering matches a common cause for hematidrosis, namely extreme mental or emotional anxiety or stress. In light of this corroborating data, it might be questioned whether someone would ever make up such a specific, unusual, and yet surprisingly plausible medical claim unless it was based in reality.