By Tom Thomas –
Deep in the Gospel of Mathew ( 20: 20-23), we see the mother of Zebedee’s sons – James and John – come to Jesus with a request to make her two sons sit at the left and right hand of Him in the Kingdom. Jesus replies saying, that they do not know what they are asking and can they drink from the Cup that He is going to drink? They reply that they can, and He mentions, “very well; You shall drink from my cup, but the seats on my left and right hand are not mine to grant; they belong to those to whom they have been allotted by my Father.”
In essence this is the life of every Christian. We are to drink from the Cup. And this is not always a Cup of Joy but can be a Cup of Sorrow as Jesus faced during the agonizing hours at the garden of Gethsemane. By partaking of that Cup, the history of salvation of mankind was changed. When we face the vagaries of life, having to encounter crucial moments in our lives when things do not seem to be going our way, such as when a loved one has been given a diagnosis of advanced terminal illness, a failed relationship, a situation of job loss, financial debt due to business failure, maybe even a sudden death of a close relative, what do we do? These may be moments when we have to drink from the Cup as Jesus did.
It is therefore good to look a little closer as how Jesus handled his Cup. It was a Cup not just of his sorrow but ours too. A Cup that overflows with anguish and bitterness. So much so that in Isaiah 51:17 this is called ‘the Cup of God’s wrath. The chalice, the stupefying cup, you have drained to the dregs.’ Also called the wine of retribution in the book of Revelation 14:8.
We each have a moment to face the cup in our lives and when Jesus’ moment came, He said “ My soul is sorrowful to the point of death.” (Mat 26:38) and His agony in the dark hours in the garden of Gethsemane were so intense that we are told “his sweat filled to the ground like great drops of blood” (Luke 22:44). His closest friends on earth, his disciples – including James and John – Zebedee’s sons who wanted to drink from His cup were asleep, and not able to therefore share in this moment of sorrow and be of solace to Him. All alone – abandoned by humanity, he fell on his face and implored, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass me by” (Mat 26:39). His Cup was full of sorrow, our sorrow and His, too much to bear alone for anyone.
But we know that He overcame that critical moment and chose to drink from that Cup of Sorrow willingly. This is one of the great Mysteries and we surmise that it was because of His total abandonment and surrender to His Father’s Will. As we read in Mat 26:39, “My Father, let it be as you will, not as I would have it.” So, Jesus held on to His Cup, willing to drink of every drop of sorrow it contained. Totally saying Yes to His father’s Will.
These moments of Jesus’ anguish presents us a great learning for us. When we are faced with our Cup of sorrow, as a Christian, it is surely ours to share with Jesus, how do we react? It is all right to implore the Lord about whether we should drink the Cup – even as Jesus did – and finally heeded His Will for us in our lives. We will be consoled once we take this path and drink from the Cup. As we see mentioned in Luke 22:43, “Then an angel appeared to him, coming from heaven to give him strength.” (Luke 22:43). Jesus was strengthened to go through all the terrible trauma over the next day leading to His Crucifixion at Calvary. And the course of history was changed over the next three days. Bishop Fulton Sheen has remarked, “Unless there is a Good Friday in your life, there can be no Easter Sunday.”
What is our path as disciples of Jesus today? Can we drink the Cup? Yes we can – and we should – if it is the Lord’s Will for us…
PS: Henri Nouwen’s book, “Can you Drink the Cup?” provides further insights on this topic.
Tom is an Indian entrepreneur with interests in technology, manufacturing, reading, scribbling, running, faith and family (not necessarily in that order).