A Cup Worth Drinking

... Just a devotional thought of encouragement I wanted to share with the beloved [inspired by reading from The Cup and the Glory by Greg Harris].
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"But Jesus said to them, 'You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?'" - Mark 10:38

The backdrop of this verse stems from the infamous request of James and John to sit on the right and left in the glory of King Jesus. It should be noted that Christ had just finished explaining His inevitable death and suffering on the cross, along with the sufferings leading up to that moment (10:33-34). The first impulse our minds trigger upon reading this sequential narrative, is an attitude of contempt toward James and John. It is not above us to perhaps categorize James and John as selfish. As verse 41 says, we could probably admit our feeling of indignation toward James and John, just as the ten felt toward them. It's as though James and John were in the wrong for such a lofty request. After all Christ had done - all the miracles, His teaching, the displaying of His glory - how dare James and John even think about asking this, right?

Upon further examination, however, what is the true nature of this request? The dangers of serving the god of earthly possessions had already been exposed in 10:17-30 from Christ's meeting with the rich young ruler. There is unarguably the grave potential of literally having "stuff" separate you from God as seen in this account, and the rich young ruler proved it. It's not as though James and John asked for earthly "stuff" from Christ [like we so often do]. On quite the contrary, James and John recognized the importance of the nearness of God, and thus their request was to sit at the right and left of Christ in His glory. They understood the importance of having an eternal relationship with Christ. If we could possibly fault James and John in this portion of scripture, we might possibly question their motive for the request (i.e. self-glory), but there isn't conclusive evidence to make such a jump. This is most certainly a commendable request from James and John, and it is one Christians should aspire to ask but so often don't. Our requests to God often consist of fleeting vanity, complimented by some vague, shallow desire to "get closer to God." We have higher aspirations of "achieving our life's purpose with God's help" than genuinely serving the risen Savior, even at the cost of self-denial.

Nevertheless, it wasn't so much the content of James and John that was the issue, but the worthiness and preparedness of receiving the content, itself. Upon Greg Harris' giftedness in explaining his insights is when I had the Eureka! moment, reading and understanding the response of Christ:

"You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?"

If you want the prize, you must run the race. If the prize is the relationship with God Himself; if we've realized that nothing else in this world would fill the gaping hole left in our souls as a result of the fall; if we've realized that Christ is all-sufficient for our eternal needs, and is the only mediator and high priest worthy enough for the position, then there is no doubt that we should desire a growing in our relationship. Here's the problem though: we realize the prize, but not the race. What is the race? The cup is the race! And here is what the cup is:

"My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will." - Matthew 26:39

(And again, Christ would desire this two more times in 26:42 and 26:44.)

What's most humbling is that Christ, in his humanity and yet God, would desire not to go through the imminent, gruesome suffering He would shortly face. It's not as though Jesus "suffered painlessly" (if that's even possible). The emotional and physical pain did not deter the perfect Son from being obedient to the Father to the point of death, even death on a cross. Christ was pushed to the absolute verge of the cup He had to drink because He and the Father loved us sinners so much. In John 17:3 Christ says, "This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent." If this is the definition of eternal life, then why request anything else from our gracious Father? Yet to receive this, we must realize the cup of suffering God has prepared for us.

What is this cup in our lives? The author provides several examples of what the cup can be. He challenges us in writing:

Are you able to drink the cup Jesus drank?
- The cup of not living by the world's standards of success.
- The cup of walking by faith even in the darkest dark.
- The cup of evaluating your own life by God's Word and His Holiness rather than your own perceived goodness.
...among others...

I'd also like to add the cup of suffering in the flesh, so that we may not sin (1 Peter 4:1-2).

The irony of this whole process is we tend to acknowledge our walk with God during the high points in life, not in suffering. But it is in the suffering where the greatest strides are made. There are plenty of stories where the cup God has given have been so significant, that the suffering would almost cause the individual to doubt the presence of God. The author states this in the form of a series of questions: "How long are you able to walk with God through suffering, sorrow, repeatedly unanswered prayers, hopelessness, and spiritual darkness?...Perhaps in its simplest terms, how long can you wait on God until you give up on Him and put down the cup He offers?" In the pinnacle of His suffering, did not Christ cry out, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?"

Here's the good news: Jesus drank His cup. Jesus drank His cup so we wouldn't have to drink ours for eternity in hell. We are indeed sharers of the glory He has prepared for us. To truly experience the relationship with God we cannot even fathom, we must go through a temporary life of suffering in this world which will undoubtedly yield to the culminating relational peak with heaven's effervescence, Christ.

I know I've been humbled to re-evaluate my heart during times of prayer, and to seek understanding in what it is I'm really praying for. What are the costs of my desires? Jesus Christ calls people to take up their crosses and follow Him, and he who doesn't is not worthy to follow Christ. Just as it cost the Father absolutely everything to reconcile us back to Himself, it will cost us everything to follow Him - every desire, every aspiration, every wish, everything needs to be re-routed from satisfaction in ourselves to the glory of God. Perhaps the most fitting prayer for any Christian genuinely desiring God would be to pray that he/she be worthy of the cup God has called him/her to drink.

There is a pervasive question the author writes throughout the course of the second chapter of The Cup and the Glory, and it is this:

"By the way, what do you pray for...when you pray?"