What was love if not protecting and providing for those who needed you?”
–John Deacon (A Man Called Justice)
“Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief…”
–Isaiah 53:10 (NKJV)
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If Lent is important to you, that’s fine. I was raised a Pentecostal Protestant, therefore Lent was not celebrated in our home. Plus as I became older I could never figure out the reason to party-hardy then give up something the next day. However, if practiced correctly, the giving up of something, not just for several days but for a lifetime, plus the fact that fasting and prayer are to go along with Lent, then the practice could be very beneficial. My view has always been that we should give up anything that might hinder us from coming closer to the Lord, and not wait for a particular time of the year.
But I do want to look at a subject that too often has become negligent. What does the “cup” of the Lord’s Supper mean? What does it symbolize? So often we get comfortable with the things of the Lord, and in this case the emblems of the Lord’s supper. “These are tremendously significant deeds and words. It is a pity that we are so familiar with them that they tend to lose their impact. (John Stott)
I was reading last week regarding “the cup.” Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane, praying, knowing what was to come and twice He mentions in prayer the cup. Let’s look at His prayer from the Gospels.
“He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, ‘O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.’ Again, a second time, He went away and prayed, saying, ‘O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done.'” (Matthew 26:39, 42, NKJV)
“And He said, ‘Abba, Father, all things are possible for You. Take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will.'” (Mark 14:36, NKJV)
“Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not My will, but Yours, be done.” (Luke 22:42, NKJV)
“So Jesus said to Peter, ‘Put your sword into the sheath. Shall I not drink the cup which My Father has given Me?”” (John 18:11, NKJV)
Read the accounts. Jesus was in intense agony while He prayed in the Garden. The disciples are sleeping, they can not, do not understand the strain that He is under. They don’t recognize the suffering that He is going through at the moment, and He must go through it alone. This is a strong emotional scene. Jesus is pressed, to the point of torment over the cup. His heart was tormented, and He had a tremendous aversion to the cup that was before Him. This cup was to be an ordeal for Jesus. It was a bitter cup that He prays that if possible it be taken from Him.
Over the years, we have had many films portray the crucifixion of Jesus. The Passion, The Greatest Story Ever Told, and others, but the portrayal is always centered upon the physical ordeal. Yes, it was terrible, but Jesus didn’t flinch from the pain, insult and death. He was indomitable in His courage. The question as to His torment lies with the cup. Think of martyrs in history. Most of them were joyful in their suffering. Read the writings of Paul. There was something else–what was in that particular cup?
I have never thought that the extreme agony of the cross was the physical torture and ordeal. Here was the Son of God, a man who knew no sin, now was to drink the cup of sin. I like what John Stott writes, “The cup from which he shrank was something different. It symbolized neither the physical pain of being flogged and crucified, nor the mental distress of being despised and rejected even by his own people, but rather the spiritual agony of bearing the sins of the world, in other words, of enduring the divine judgment which those sins deserved.” He was to be identified with sinners, the Son of God, the sinless One. He was to bear their judgment. “From this contact with human sin his sinless soul recoiled. From the experience of alienation from his Father which the judgment on sin would involve, he hung back in horror.” (Stott) However, He did not rebel, for He realized that it was for this very reason, this hour in time, that He came to earth (John 12:27)
So this season of Lent, if that is your practice, think of the cup. The next time you partake of the emblems of communion, think of the cup. When Good Friday comes, take time to think of the spiritual agony that faced Jesus rather than just the physical ordeal. I know, it is something that we cannot gather in our finite minds. Jesus became sin; yours and mine. WOW! the agony of sin touching His being…
–Isaiah 53:10 (NKJV)
———————————-
If Lent is important to you, that’s fine. I was raised a Pentecostal Protestant, therefore Lent was not celebrated in our home. Plus as I became older I could never figure out the reason to party-hardy then give up something the next day. However, if practiced correctly, the giving up of something, not just for several days but for a lifetime, plus the fact that fasting and prayer are to go along with Lent, then the practice could be very beneficial. My view has always been that we should give up anything that might hinder us from coming closer to the Lord, and not wait for a particular time of the year.
But I do want to look at a subject that too often has become negligent. What does the “cup” of the Lord’s Supper mean? What does it symbolize? So often we get comfortable with the things of the Lord, and in this case the emblems of the Lord’s supper. “These are tremendously significant deeds and words. It is a pity that we are so familiar with them that they tend to lose their impact. (John Stott)
I was reading last week regarding “the cup.” Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane, praying, knowing what was to come and twice He mentions in prayer the cup. Let’s look at His prayer from the Gospels.
“He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, ‘O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.’ Again, a second time, He went away and prayed, saying, ‘O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done.'” (Matthew 26:39, 42, NKJV)
“And He said, ‘Abba, Father, all things are possible for You. Take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will.'” (Mark 14:36, NKJV)
“Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not My will, but Yours, be done.” (Luke 22:42, NKJV)
“So Jesus said to Peter, ‘Put your sword into the sheath. Shall I not drink the cup which My Father has given Me?”” (John 18:11, NKJV)
Read the accounts. Jesus was in intense agony while He prayed in the Garden. The disciples are sleeping, they can not, do not understand the strain that He is under. They don’t recognize the suffering that He is going through at the moment, and He must go through it alone. This is a strong emotional scene. Jesus is pressed, to the point of torment over the cup. His heart was tormented, and He had a tremendous aversion to the cup that was before Him. This cup was to be an ordeal for Jesus. It was a bitter cup that He prays that if possible it be taken from Him.
Over the years, we have had many films portray the crucifixion of Jesus. The Passion, The Greatest Story Ever Told, and others, but the portrayal is always centered upon the physical ordeal. Yes, it was terrible, but Jesus didn’t flinch from the pain, insult and death. He was indomitable in His courage. The question as to His torment lies with the cup. Think of martyrs in history. Most of them were joyful in their suffering. Read the writings of Paul. There was something else–what was in that particular cup?
I have never thought that the extreme agony of the cross was the physical torture and ordeal. Here was the Son of God, a man who knew no sin, now was to drink the cup of sin. I like what John Stott writes, “The cup from which he shrank was something different. It symbolized neither the physical pain of being flogged and crucified, nor the mental distress of being despised and rejected even by his own people, but rather the spiritual agony of bearing the sins of the world, in other words, of enduring the divine judgment which those sins deserved.” He was to be identified with sinners, the Son of God, the sinless One. He was to bear their judgment. “From this contact with human sin his sinless soul recoiled. From the experience of alienation from his Father which the judgment on sin would involve, he hung back in horror.” (Stott) However, He did not rebel, for He realized that it was for this very reason, this hour in time, that He came to earth (John 12:27)
So this season of Lent, if that is your practice, think of the cup. The next time you partake of the emblems of communion, think of the cup. When Good Friday comes, take time to think of the spiritual agony that faced Jesus rather than just the physical ordeal. I know, it is something that we cannot gather in our finite minds. Jesus became sin; yours and mine. WOW! the agony of sin touching His being…