Oxidative stress can dull your spiritual sensitivity. You pray but feel numb. You know what you should believe, but it doesn’t feel alive. Chronic physical and emotionally provoked inflammation can make spiritual desolation worse. Your nervous system can no longer distinguish between a true crisis and the demands of your inbox. And your soul? It can not wind down to rest in God.

Modern science helps us understand what was happening in His body. Under intense stress, the brain’s amygdala activates a “fight or flight” response, flooding the body with cortisol and adrenaline. In Jesus, the magnitude of this stress wasn’t just a personal burden. He was preparing to bear the sin, sorrow, and suffering of all humanity. The crushing weight wasn’t symbolic, it was real, pressing Him to the brink of death. He said, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death” (Matthew 26:38)