In my Bible reading today we learn of the cup that Jesus is to drink. This is the cup that is filled with the anger of God about our sin. Jesus’ fate is to drink this cup and suffer for us the eternal punishment that is associated with our sin.
The image of the cup is really interesting. The vessel that holds our drink, so necessary for our lives. We must drink, without it we cannot survive. Yet it also represents the vessel that holds many other things. God’s anger, our rewards (when our cup runners over!), and the cup of the last supper, maybe the Holy Grail.
It is our portion. It is provided for us. We do not pour our own cup. It is given to us and we must accept it as the drink that has been put before us at the meal (life). We may not like its contents but God has filled the cup.
I think it is also interesting that Jesus has also taught lessons regarding that which “defiles” us. He states that what goes into us is not that which makes us evil, but what proceeds out of us. He was, of course, referring to the challenge made to him for gathering grain on the Sabbath, but it really lends a lot of support to the notion that that which we consume can simply go through us and out. But it is what we DO with that which we consume that makes the difference.
We might, for instance, come across someone attractive and be attracted. It is not the consumption of beauty with our eyes that makes us evil but what we do with it. We can simply have it come in and pass out of us.
This is really a lesson, as well, about accepting the cup that has been brought to us. In fact, going along with the meal analogy, unless we take in the cup that has been filled for us, the host will not know to fill our cup again. By doing the things that God has laid before us now, we open ourselves to the next thing that he has for us. But we need to focus on the cup in front of us, maybe still filled with luke warm water…and we drink it, before the cup of wine comes later.
It is our actions in regard to the cup that is in front of us that is that which proceeds out of us and either glorifies God or defiles us. It is our actions once we have taken in the contents of that cup.
I’m thinking to he analogy that Jesus uses to describe the impact of the word on different people that hear it. The seeds cast out on the road. Some will fall on stony ground, some will fall in thorns, some will be snatched away, and some will find good earth. Similar we have our approach to drinking the cup put before us.
I might have to think about this a bit, but there are ways we can approach the cup:
- We can reject it and not drink of it and stay thirsty.
- We can take small sips of the drink and “never” really finish it, thus never fulfill what God has put before us.
- We can toss it aside and attempt to “fake” that we have drunk of it, guessing at what we would be like if we HAD drunk the cup.
- We can drink and bring in the contents of the cup as it is served to us by God.
There is room here for a longer essay on cups!
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Mark K.