June 8, 2008
"Drinking Jesus' Cup"
Mark 10: 32- 45
When I first moved to Iowa, I remember asking someone in church for directions to go somewhere. The person told me to turn on the blacktop by the big cottonwood tree.
“What’s the number of the road?” I asked.
I received a blank stare. The person asked someone else. And neither could tell me.
“It’s a huge cottonwood tree. You can’t miss it,” he repeated.
Botany is not my strong suit. I can generally tell a maple tree from an oak tree, but, beyond that…. I really wasn’t certain what a cottonwood tree looked like. Yet, I also didn’t want to let him know of my ignorance. I figured I would just look for a big tree.
And so I took off. When I got of town I continued to slowly chug along, looking for the big cottonwood. (I think probably had 2 or 3 cars behind me, which is a fairly long string in rural Iowa. You have to go pretty slow.) But, no matter how carefully I looked, I couldn’t find a big tree. There was a lot of corn stalks, some smaller trees, but no big cottonwood.
Finally, I just turned down the first blacktop road I came across. And believe it or not, I eventually found where I needed to go. But there certainly was no big tree at the beginning of that road. The next time I saw the person who gave me the directions, I told him that I found the right road, but I sure didn’t see a tree.
He turned to his wife.
“Oh, they cut tree down two years ago.”
Giving good directions is sometimes very difficult, isn’t it? What about when someone asks you, “how do I get to heaven?” What directions would you give? A good answer would be the one Paul and Silas gave to the Philippian jailer in Acts 16: 31,
They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.”
But, what would you say if the person responds, “What does it mean to believe in Jesus?” How would you help that person understand what true saving faith is—faith that will get the grace you need to arrive in heaven?”
Is it enough to simply tell them to believe that Jesus paid for their sins? What about all the people who say they believe that, but continue to live lives that seem to indicated that they don’t? As you reflect on that question-- And certainly it’s not only a question others might ask, but a question we might ask ourselves during those times when we wonder about our own faith-- as you reflect on that question, it certainly is very important to go to God’s Word. And there are many places there that explain what true faith is and what it means to be follower of Jesus who is bound for heaven. One of those is Mark 10:13 and following, including the scripture we read this morning.
Mark relates a couple of stories in which Jesus taught something about the faith we need in order to share in the Kingdom of God. Let’s look briefly at these stories; then let’s read our scripture lesson for this morning.
In the first story mothers are bringing their children to Jesus. When the disciples tried to stop them, Jesus rebuked them and said,
Mark 10:14 - 15 (NIV) to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 15I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”
Children are generally not known for their great accomplishments. They are still learning and are dependant on adults. Jesus is saying that the only way that we can get to heaven is to not rely on who we are or on anything we have accomplished, but rather to depend on him and on what he did for us on the cross.
The second story is about the rich man who wanted to know what he must do to inherit eternal life. What was Jesus answer? He first pointed to God’s will in the law. But, then in verse 21 he said, Mark 10:21 (NIV) “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
True saving faith is shown by what we do. But Jesus requires that we do more than just obey some rules and laws. He requires that we give ourselves to him just as he gave himself to us. We must give Jesus everything we have and are. We must trust and follow him, even when everything we have has been taken away from us. And Jesus promises that when we do that we will inherit more than we’ve ever given up, both in this life and the life to come.
Now that sets the context for our scripture this morning. Let’s read it, keeping that context in mind (i.e. what we must do to inherit eternal life and have part in the Kingdom of God.)
They were on their way up to Jerusalem, with Jesus leading the way, and the disciples were astonished, while those who followed were afraid. Again he took the Twelve aside and told them what was going to happen to him. 33“We are going up to Jerusalem,” he said, “and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles, who will mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him. Three days later he will rise.”
35Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. “Teacher,” they said, “we want you to do for us whatever we ask.”
36“What do you want me to do for you?” he asked.
37They replied, “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.”
38“You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said. “Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?”
39“We can,” they answered.
Jesus said to them, “You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with, 40but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared.”
41When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with James and John. 42Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 43Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 44and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. 45For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Our scripture begins by saying that that Jesus was traveling with his disciples to Jerusalem. And it mentions that those going with him were frightened. The reason was obvious. They knew it was dangerous for him and his followers to go there. They knew the Jewish leaders were trying to kill him. But rather than reassure them, Jesus tells them that this is exactly what will happen.
And you should know that this is not the first time Jesus told them this. He did so twice before. The first is recorded in Mark 8: 31 and following; the second, in Mark 9: 31 and following. Here he emphasizes it with even more detail than he did the first two times
But, let us see Jesus statement in context. He had just spoken about eternal life and the Kingdom of God. There was something about the Kingdom of God that the disciples had better realize. That is that the Kingdom of God comes at a tremendous cost. In order for the Kingdom to come Jesus had to suffer and die.
After Jesus says this, James and John, two of Jesus’ closest disciples, do something we would not have predicted. Instead of focusing on that terrible cost and being moved to wonder and thanksgiving, they totally blew it off. Instead they wanted to know more about the Kingdom, specifically, what was in it for them.
Jesus had promised
“I tell you the truth, ….no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life. Mark 10:29 - 30 (NIV)
They want to know what place they will have in Jesus’ eternal kingdom. Now, before condemn them for saying this, could it be that the disciples were not that different from us. Oh, their understanding of the kingdom was different. They probably weren’t that clear on reigning with Jesus after they died or about the resurrection and the new heaven and earth. They were more focused on Jesus throwing out the Romans and establishing an earthly kingdom. But, like we sometimes do, they were focusing solely on victory to come and not on the battle ahead. Like an overconfident basketball team they were already basking in the glory of victory, without giving heed to the struggle that made victory possible.
And that struggle was a terrible struggle that cost God tremendous grief and pain. The Bible certainly teaches that God is sovereign—that he is in control of all things and that he is powerful enough to carry out all that that he has foreordained and planned. But, knowing that should never make us think that God is stereotypical top executive just coolly sits back in heaven and uses his power to order what he wants to happen without ever breaking a sweat or getting his hands dirty. The God of the Bible is the God who gave up everything to redeem his world. The Father gave up his only Son; the Son became a human creature who suffered the pangs of hell;
[he] made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death—
even death on a cross! (Philippians 2: 7-8)
Our redemption cost God everything.
But, another thing Jesus pointed out concerns the faith needed to have a part in his kingdom. That is found in his question to his James and John,
“Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?”
To believe in Jesus is to drink his cup and to be baptized with him. True faith makes us one with Jesus. In a few moments we will be partaking of the Lord Supper together. As we do, we should think about what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10: 16,
1 Corinthians 10:16 (NIV) 16Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ?
Eating and drinking in true faith means that we are one with Jesus Christ. This truth is also evident in our baptism. Listen to Colossians 2: 12
having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.
It is because we are one, his suffering and death can pay for our sin; because we are one, we arise with him to eternal life; because we are one we will reign with him in heaven.
But, here in our scripture for this morning Jesus points out that being one with him also requires a cost from us. Because we are one, we are must be a suffering servant with him. Just as he made himself our suffering servant, so must we. There is no other way.
The grace—the undeserved love of Jesus that saved us cost our God everything; the faith by which receive that grace must cost us everything.
In his book, The Cost of Discipleship, the World War 2 theologian and martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer put it this way
“Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, communion without confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate. Costly grace ... is the kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble, it is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows him.”
Did you note that this is the very same point that Jesus made to the rich man in verse 21. He is simply reiterating that point here and refocusing his disciples minds on this important teaching. Their minds had become so distracted with thoughts of kingdom bliss and of the life they would have someday that they were ignoring the tremendous cost of faith and discipleship. A time was soon coming that would try their faith and it would be found weak and wanting. When the soldiers came to arrest Jesus, the disciples would abandon him. Peter would deny him. And they would all be ashamed. Thankfully, God’s grace to them was greater that their sin and lack of faith. After he arose Jesus restored them. But even after he did, we should consider what he said to Peter about what its means to belong to love and follow him,
I tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” 19Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!”
For Peter following Jesus eventually meant dying for his Lord, probably being crucified upside down. For Dietrich Bonhoeffer following Jesus meant returning to a Germany ruled by Adolph Hitler and eventually facing a firing squad. For some brothers and sisters around the world, who face persecution, it may mean something similar. For some here this morning it means struggling with temptations, with tragedies and frustrations in our lives and families, and with painful diseases and illnesses—physical and mental—while still clinging to Jesus. For some of us, whose lives are going relatively well, it may mean entering into the frustration and suffering of our brothers and sisters.
Beloved in the Lord, today our Lord is calling us back to true faith and costly grace. Sometimes like the disciples we become distracted: thoughts about heaven, fears of what we face on this earth, poverty or prosperity are all powerful distractions. And we begin to lose our way. We can’t find the old cottonwood tree. Today, the Lord is helping us find our way again. That’s what this table is all about. It is a marker to strengthen our faith and show us the way.
He calls us to his table to eat and drink. Certainly as we eat and drink we are reminded of the promise Jesus made in Matthew 26: 29 that someday we will drink the cup with us anew in his Father’s kingdom. And as we drink we know the promise of heaven. But also, as we eat and drink we also are reminded of the tremendous cost that Jesus paid to make heaven possible. And then we hear the words,
1 Corinthians 10:16 (NIV) Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ?
And then we find our way again. It’s a road we would rather not take. The clouds are dark down that road. It’s a way marked by struggling and pain and hardship and self denial. But we know we need to go down it, for it is the only road to heaven. Yet, it’s a road we cannot take without having the faith of a little child. Oh, Lord grant us all such a faith. For Jesus sake AMEN!