FROM THE SERVANT GENERAL
THE WAY FORWARD IN CHRIST
(Part 185)
THE GLORY AND THE CUP
July 25, 2020
Today’s reading:
2 Corinthians 4:7-15
Psalm 126:1-6
Matthew 20:20-28
Salome, the mother of James and John, asked Jesus for choice places for her sons in Jesus’ kingdom, to sit at his right and his left. Jesus replied, “You do not know what you are asking.” (Mt 20:22a). Many Christians too look to the glory that comes with being with and serving Jesus. And rightly so, for blessings will be bountiful indeed. But many also who come to Jesus may become dismayed or discouraged, when what come are not blessings (according to how they define blessings) but challenges, difficulties, trials and suffering.
And so Jesus followed up his response with a question, “Can you drink the cup that I am going to drink?” (Mt 20:22b). What Jesus is saying is this: suffering comes before glory. Put another way, glory is by way of suffering. Yes, there will be glory, being with Jesus and ultimately sitting in his presence eternally,1 but first there is the cup, which is a cup of suffering. After all, we follow Jesus in order to come into his glory. But if we follow Jesus, we follow him by way of the cross. He drank the cup; we too need to drink the cup.
This was the experience of Paul and ministers of the gospel. “We are afflicted in every way” (2 Cor 4:8a). Of course, since this is part of God’s plan, then God Himself provides, cares for, and protects us. If we see what God is doing, then we need not despair or be dismayed or discouraged. We are “perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed” (2 Cor 4:8b-9). As we follow Jesus all the way to the cross, we move closer to glory, as we are “always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our body.” (2 Cor 4:10).
So we begin to see the intimate relationship between the cup and the glory. Why does God allow suffering and pain in our lives? It is so that we may attain to glory. “For we who live are constantly being given up to death for the sake of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh.” (2 Cor 4:11). The goal is to be able to sit with Jesus in his Kingdom. We must know “that the one who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and place us with you in his presence.” (2 Cor 4:14). Then this will “cause the thanksgiving to overflow for the glory of God.” (2 Cor 4:15c).
The cup of suffering is cause for tears. But “those who sow in tears will reap with cries of joy.” (Ps 126:5). Tears before joy. The cup before the glory.
Going back to James and John, when Jesus asked them if they can drink the cup, they said, “We can.” (Mt 20:22c). Indeed, we all can, by the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit, even as we are human and fragile. God provides “the grace bestowed in abundance” (2 Cor 4:15b) and “we hold this treasure in earthen vessels, that the surpassing power may be of God and not from us.” (2 Cor 4:7).
1 At that time, it will not matter to us where we sit, at his right, at his left, at his feet, or a bit farther away, as long as we are in his presence.
