Jesus answered,
"You do not know what you are asking.
Are you able to drink the cup
that I am about to drink?"
Matthew 20:22
Do you remember the story? A mother wanted Jesus to sit her sons, James and John, at his right and left when our Lord came into his kingdom.
I would have been tempted to blast their self-centeredness with a little heated frustration. Fortunately, Jesus was a little gentler. He used wisdom and logic -- at least at first. He said, essentially, "Fine. If you can drink the cup I drink, you can sit at my right and my left."
I can imagine James and John thinking then, "Great! We've seen what he drinks. A little water, a little wine ... sure, we can drink that!"
But Jesus had a different -- and much less literal -- cup in mind. Before his crucifixion, Jesus cried out to his Father, "Let this cup pass from me." Jesus' "cup" included being betrayed, arrested, mocked, beaten, and crucfied. "James and John, are you able to drink this cup?"
The answer was no. None of us could have drank his cup, endured his fate, "borne our infirmities ... and be crushed for iniquities" (Isaiah 53:4-5). But that was before his resurrection.
After his resurrection, the answer was yes. It wasn't the exact same cup, but James ... and almost all of the other disciples ... and millions of Christians throughout the generations ... were arrested, mocked, beaten, killed -- even crucified were some -- all because they refused to quit testifying to love of God and the resurrection of his Son.
And the great irony is this ... After the resurrection, James and John quit pursuing their placement in the kingdom selfishly. They became suffering servants like the Suffering Servant and discovered that the last truly are first and the first are generally last.
In Christ's Love,
a guy who wishes Jesus' cup
was filled with coffee
... but I'll take up my cross
and his cup anyway!
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