Filled To Overflow

James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Jesus and said to him, "Teacher, we want you  to do for us whatever we ask of you." He replied, "What do you wish me to do for you?"  They answered him, "Grant that in your glory we may sit one at your right and the other at your left." Jesus said to them, "You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup that I drink or be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?" They said to him, "We can." Jesus said to them, "The cup that I drink, you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized; but to sit at my right or at my left is not mine to give but is for those for whom it has been prepared."

When the ten heard this, they became indignant at James and John. Jesus summoned them and said to them, "You know that those who are recognized as rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones make their authority over them felt. But it shall not be so among you. Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all. For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many." (Mark 10:35-45)

Many of us have special cups for our drinks – coffee, tea, or perhaps milk.  I have two special cups.  One has a quote on its side from Matthew 19:26, “with God all things are possible.” Never a truer word spoken.

The other cup has a Gary Larsen cartoon depicting Satan pitch-forking a man standing before two doors. Carved into one door is “Damned if you do” while the other door reads, “Damned if you don’t.” Satan says. “C’mon, c’mon – it’s either one or the other.” 

That Larsen cup reminds me that life isn’t easy, and sometimes I just can’t seem to win – I cannot please everybody.  Most of us likely feel this way.  Some will drink from the cup we offer.  Others might smash that cup on the floor.

A cup figures prominently in today’s Gospel reading. Jesus asks us, “Can you drink the cup that I drink?”  In other words, “Can you live the way that I do?” 

I’ve read: If we look in the Old Testament, we find that the cup metaphor represents our lives, which can be filled with a variety of things. Our “cup” can be filled with blessing and salvation (Ps. 23:5; 116:13), or it can be filled with wrath and horror (Isa. 51:17; Ezek. 23:33). 

Frequently, the cup stands for God’s judgment and wrath. Consider, for example, Isaiah 51:17: “Wake up, wake up, O Jerusalem! You have drunk the cup of the LORD’s fury. You have drunk the cup of terror, tipping out its last drops.” Many other Old Testament passages use the metaphor of the cup as a reference to God’s fierce judgment. Thus, when Jesus prays about avoiding the cup, he is alluding to these images from the Scriptures.

And then we have Psalm 23: You set a table before me in front of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Indeed, goodness and mercy will pursue me all the days of my life; I will dwell in the house of the LORD for endless days. 

Our cups – our lives – should be filled with goodness and mercy.  Jesus insists we fill our cups to overflowing with that content.  We must live the way that he did.

Deacon David Pierce