Your Cup

When I think of the symbolic Biblical definition of “cup,” I think of the phrases “Your lot in life” or “The hand you are delt.” But these do not quite fit the bill. Those two phrases address a situation that spans a person’s entire life. Yet, sometimes our “cup” can be a temporary situation. Our “cup” can also be the reason we exist. Also, it can be a mixture of all of these.

Let me explain.

Jesus refers to His cup on several occasions. One instance is at His arrest. Peter, in defense of the Lord, pulls out a sword and cuts off the ear of the high priest’s servant. Jesus says to Peter in John 18:11, “Put up thy sword into the sheath: the cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?”

A small army had come to arrest Jesus, tensions were high, at least one sword was flaying around, and one man had suffered a head wound. The cup Jesus refers to is not an ice-cold lemonade. What was he talking about?

This cup that Jesus refers to is the task He is about to accomplish. Jesus’ cup was to be the blood sacrifice needed to wash sins away.

God created humanity. God wants to spend time with us. He wants to live with us forever. Being God, He should get all the glory; therefore, He made humanity with the ability to choose. There is no glory in creating a bunch of robots that follow your every whim. The glory comes when someone decides to follow you. God wants us to follow Him willingly.

When Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, everyone born thereafter was infused with the knowledge of good and evil. Over time, God gave us the scripture, and part of the reason for the Word of God is to show us what sin is (Romans 3:20).

However, as we all know, none of us is perfect; we are all sinners. God is holy, God is righteous, and therefore cannot have sin living in His house. God’s desire to live forever with us can no longer be unless the sin problem of humanity can somehow be erased. Step in God in the flesh: Jesus Christ. God left His throne on high, came to this earth, was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, and died on the cross because the only way to eradicate the sin of the world is through a sinless blood sacrifice (Hebrews 9:22).

Jesus’ cup was to die for our sins; mine, yours, everyone’s. Dying for us was always His cup. The angel told Joseph before Jesus was born that the purpose of the baby’s arrival was to “save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21).

In John 18, when Peter cuts off the man’s ear, Peter has the best of intentions. The Apostles still thought that the Messiah would come and conquer Rome and restore the kingdom of Israel. All of Israel focused on passages like 2 Samuel 7, which tells of David’s kingdom being established forever, and Isaiah 9, which prophesies the birth of a King who would establish an everlasting government and peace. They ignored passages such as Isaiah 53:5-6, “But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

All of Israel, including Peter, was looking for a conquering Messiah, not a suffering one. Peter, unknowingly, was fighting against Jesus’ cup.

We all have our own cup or cups that the heavenly Father wants us to drink.

Being a father or mother is a cup. Being a student or teacher is a cup. Being an employee or an employer is a cup. Having cancer is a cup. Caring for a special needs child or a loved one with dementia is a cup. Being poor or living in a war-torn country is a cup.

We all have our cups, and some cups are more difficult to swallow than others, but the cups we carry are the cups given to us by the Father. Do we like Peter fight against the cup, or are we like Jesus and drink it?

Jesus’ cup was bitter. He had trouble getting it down. In the garden, He pleaded with His Father to relieve Him of drinking the cup of His sacrifice. Matthew 26:39, “And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.” After praying this, He talks to His disciples for a moment, then returns and prays the same thing again (Matthew 26:42).

How do we drink our cups?

Start with what Jesus did: He prayed. He even asked God to remove the cup from Him. For the sake of all of us, that was impossible, but He still requested. Don’t be surprised if God does not remove your cup. Pray for the Father’s will to be done and act accordingly, just as Jesus did.

Another thing Jesus did; He looked at the other side of the cup. There was joy on the other side of that cup, and that joy made the cup a little less bitter. Hebrews 12:2, “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Studying the Word of God will help you swallow your cup, bitter or sweet (2 Timothy 2:15).

Being in God’s house and sharing your cup with others so that they may pray with and for you will help your cup be more palatable (Hebrews 10:25).

When it comes to the cups in your life, are you pulling out the sword, ready to resist, or are you like Jesus, getting on your knees and asking the Father for help?