The Cup

TO READ: Matthew 26:31-56

Jesus left them a second time and prayed, “My Father! If this cup cannot be taken away unless I drink it, your will be done.”

Matthew 26:42

In the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus was in agony. Not physical agony —that would come later —but spiritual agony, knowing what it would mean to bear the sin of the whole world for us. Jesus knew that God’s will must be done and that it must be done by him alone. There was no one else good enough or powerful enough to deal with sin. Only God could do that. Jesus also understood that his cup would be filled with intense suffering. It would not be a pleasant drink, but he would drink it because it was the Father’s will.

There will be times in our life when, like Jesus, we will have a “Gethsemane experience.” Perhaps with pain and tears, we too may wrestle with a cup of suffering that we know God is asking us to drink. But also, after asking him if there is any other way we can go and receiving a heavenly negative answer, if we say, “Your will be done,” we can know plainly that God will assist us in doing whatever we need to do.

When we have the cup in our hand, it helps to think about Gethsemane. Whatever cup of suffering God asks us to drink, it could never be a cup like his, and it will never need to be drunk alone. It can be a comfort to remember Jesus in Gethsemane, preparing to drink the cup for us.