Several images come to my mind when I think of "The Cup." My first thought goes to the Lord's Supper when Jesus calls His apostles to drink the cup in His memory. Another idea is that of fellowship. Let's sit down and have a cup of coffee (or chai in my case...sorry, not a coffee drinker). But it conjures up the image of fellowship, having something in common.
In ancient times, it was a form of capital punishment. If convicted you drank a cup of poison. Socrates died in such a manner by drinking a cup of hemlock.
James and John sent their mother to do their dirty work; they had her ask Jesus if one could sit on His right side and the other on His left side when He came into His kingdom. Jesus asked them if they could drink the cup that He Himself was going to drink. Mark makes it a little clearer when he quotes Jesus as saying, "Can you drink the cup I drink I drink or be baptized with baptism I am baptized with?" (Mark 10:38)
Remember in the Garden of Gethsemane that Jesus agonized in prayer over His coming death. He prayed to God, "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken away from me." Later in the same scene, the mob comes to arrest Jesus and Peter uses his sword to cut off Malchus' ear. Jesus says to him, "Put your sword away! Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?"
So I get the idea that this cup image is something important. It's used enough times for me to take heed and listen. Is Jesus calling for a suicide pact of some kind? My answer? Yes and no. His not calling for us to kill ourselves physically. He says, we need to die to ourselves. Paul said, "For me to live is Christ and to die is gain." He also said, "I have been crucified with Christ, nevertheless not I, but Christ lives in me." Jesus calls us to take up our crosses....daily.
William Barclay told the story of an ancient coin that was found with an image of an ox facing two things--an altar and a plough. The inscription reads, "Ready for either." In other words, if God asks us to sacrifice our lives even to the point of death, we are ready. Isn't that what John says in Revelation where he said, "Be faithful unto death."? Or, we should be ready to put on the yoke of Jesus and live "the long routine of Christian life, with all its daily sacrifice, its daily struggle, and its heart-breaks and its disappointments and its tears." Jesus said, "My yoke is easy and my burden is light."
Whatever He calls us to, Jesus asks us to drink the cup with Him. Come what may, we accept His fate as ours and serve Him all the days of our life. Blessings on your day.
JW
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