Drinking From His Cup
They did not have a clue about what was involved if Jesus granted their request. “The cup that I am about to drink” was His way of referring to His suffering and death.
Drinking From His Cup (by David Peterson at The Rock Of Jesus Church)
On the way to Jerusalem with His disciples, He is approached by the mother of James and John who asks that Jesus allow her sons to sit next to Him in heaven. In Matthew 20:22 it is recorded; “You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said to them. “Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?” “We can,” they answered. Their ambition is at once astounding and their answer is void of knowledge of just what taking that cup really means.
Pastor John MacArthur comments on this incident with; “If the brothers’ power-play request was brazen, it was also very foolish. They did not have a clue about what was involved if Jesus granted their request. “The cup that I am about to drink” was His way of referring to His suffering and death. When He asked James and John if they were prepared to drink that cup, Christ was saying that if you are His disciple, you must be prepared for suffering and hardship.” James and John did not realize that the cup Jesus refers to is really God’s wrath that He will endure on the cross.
The great hymn writer, Charles Wesley, wrote the hymn “The Mystery of Love” in 1745. Here is the first stanza;
Jesus drinks the bitter cup,
The wine press treads alone,
Tears the graves and mountains up,
By His expiring groan:
Lo! the pow'rs of heaven He shakes,
Nature in convulsion lies,
Earth's profoundest centre quakes,
The great Jehovah dies.
Wesley uses the cup as a metaphor for suffering.
Let us pray: Holy Jesus, our suffering servant and man of sorrows, you took God’s wrath for us and endured pain and anguish that we could never do by ourselves. For all of your love, grace, and mercy bestowed upon us, our debt and gratitude is immense! Amen.
