Pass the Cup

Mark 10:35-45

Today is a beautiful day to be alive in Christ.  Celebrate!

We are fully into the the Fall season. This is definitely not summer anymore. This is my favorite season of the year. I love the mild temperatures. I love the changing colors. I even prefer wearing long pants. There is one more thing I appreciate about the passing of summer: the reduced likelihood of potato salad. I don't like the stuff. It's cold potatoes and mayonnaise. What's to like? When there is no potato salad there is no question: “What? You don't want any Potato salad?” as I pass the bowl at the dinner table from the person on my right to the person on my left with out taking any. Wouldn't it be nice if we could just pass on other things in life that we find unpleasant? I'll pass on sickness and disease. I'll pass on war and violence. I'll pass on suffering and greed.

We face what is before us. The cup that we are given is the experiences that lie before us. Some of us actively try to shape our lives while others are more passive about what our course of life.

I would really have liked to meet the Apostles James and John. The were bold; they were full of zeal; they weren't afraid of taking a risk; they were willing to try at the risk of being wrong. In this scripture they approached Jesus and asked him to grant them whatever they requested...

Say what now?

These two brothers have it in their minds that they are going to have some sort of high position in Jesus' glory that is to come, so they tell Jesus that he ought to get on board with the idea.

Can you imagine? I mean what would your reaction be? Imagine if you had a small group of people that you loved and cared for, that you were trying to teach, that you were trying to equip. Imagine that you knew that this small group of people was going to face difficulties that they could not yet fathom, then suddenly two of them come and make this demand. “Do for us what ever we ask of you.”

Now, I am glad that the job of savior of the world has been taken by Jesus because if I were in this situation I would have told James and John to go sit down and, “You better watch how you talk to me!” But Jesus isn't like that. Jesus asks the obvious question, “What is it that you want me to do for you?”

“Grant that, in your glory, we may sit at your left and right hand.” Bold! Bold, bold, bold. I love it! -reminds me of the first days when I came to faith as an adult and joined a church. I wrote a letter to the pastor saying that I was willing to serve in whatever way I was needed. Give me the word and I will and I'll do it!

I anticipated the answer. I waited for a reply. Nothing came. Weren't they just pining away to employ everything I had to offer? Weren't they deficient in some way that I could ride in and add my presence and make the church all that it could be?...The answer and the response to the my letter never came. Instead I got a call from Mr. Campbell, a humble man that was a very long-time member of the church. Mr. Campbell invited me to Saturday morning men's bible study that he led. In that group of men the next youngest was 30 years my senior. In that group of men I learned how to pray. In that group I learned how to listen. In that group I learned what it meant to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.

Jesus said to James and John, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink and are you able to be baptized with with my baptism?” He is asking them if they realize what he is facing. It is his purpose to reconcile humanity to a right relationship with God. To do that he will suffer and die. The prophet Isaiah said “Wake up! Wake up! Get up, O Jerusalem! You drank from the cup the lord passed to you, which was full of his anger! You drained dry the goblet full of intoxicating wine.” but a little later he writes, “This is what your sovereign master, the Lord your God, says: “Look, I have removed from your and the cup of intoxicating wine, the goblet full of my anger. You will no longer have to drink it.

He will give everything for those he loves. Jesus is asking James and John if they understand that is what it means to be his disciple. They claimed that they understood. Jesus affirmed that they would indeed suffer and sacrifice, but that doesn't mean that Jesus wanted it that way.

Remember Jesus prayerful words in the garden the night before his execution. He was facing his own death and he prayed, “My Father, if this cup cannot be taken away unless I drink it, let your will be done.” Jesus didn't want to suffer and die but that was the path that was before him and he walked it in faith.

The cup that we are given is the set of life experience that lie before us. It is not some script that is predetermined it is a set of choices. When we make the choice to follow Jesus, when we live by faith, when we finally trust in the power of God, what ever our cup is we can drink of it deeply because it will be filled with God's blessings.

I'm not saying everything in the life of a disciple of Christ is easy. There are certainty difficulties that come with being a follower of Christ. God expects us to be good stewards of what we are entrusted with. We are expected to feed the hungry, cloth the naked and visit the sick. We are supposed to trust in God even when the world is crashing down around us. We are supposed to be witness for Christ in a world that is becoming increasingly hostile and increasingly intolerant of people of faith.

God does not make people hungry, but God gives us the ability to feed them.

God does not does not give us cancer but God does give us and intellect, the desire and a wisdom to fight it.

The world may be hostile to the message of Christ but that is nothing new! They crucified the author and originator of this message.

We are not called to let the cup pass from us. We are called to know Christ and to make Christ known. We are called to actively step into a life of discipleship and to drink deeply of the cup that God lies before us.

All those difficulties that impede us. All those “Red Lights” along our faith journey are opportunities to sharpen our faith. They are opportunities to hone our understanding of God's will for us.

So, how is it with you today? You may be facing a very significant challenge. You may not be in the place you want to be. You may not have achieved all the things you wanted to achieve to this point in your life but God is calling you to be present in your life right now, to drink the cup of discipleship. To follow his way. Don't let the cup pass you by.