Mark 10:38 – 40
“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, 40 but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared.”
Ah these boys, so full of confidence, coming to Jesus like they would to a genie in a lamp expecting to be granted whatever they want. Their heads are still full of an earthly kingdom, with a throne and important seats next to that throne, status and recognition. But Jesus knows that the path to that kingdom must first pass through a cross, rejection and betrayal, death and burial. This is the bitter cup that he drank on our behalf. He grants us access to the kingdom and to have everlasting life with Him.
The brothers didn’t comprehend yet what this meant. They were happy to sign up for anything without realising that there was nothing they could do, Jesus himself had already signed up to be saviour of them and us. The conditions they thought they could meet, are about to be paid in full by the King on the cross.
Instead of coming to the Lord with our wish-list, let us come with grateful hearts that he drunk the cup that was unbearable, that He went into the depths of the tomb, and that He rose victorious so we too may enter the kingdom of life.
Nicole Davenport – Creek Road
