James and John asked Jesus if they could sit one on his left and the other on his right hand in the kingdom. When the Lord responded, ‘”Can ye drink of the cup that I drink of? and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?’ They said unto him, ‘We can.”
The Lord was speaking in figurative, not literal, terms. The “cup” and “baptism” both allude to the experience of suffering and death that lay before him. He would plea in the garden, “…take away this cup from me” (Mk. 14:36). Earlier he had expressed, “I have a baptism to be be baptized with; and how am I straitened (pressed in mind) till it be accomplished!” (Lk. 12:50).
Did James and John understand the Lord was speaking figuratively? They probably did, but they had no idea of the fullness of suffering which lay before Jesus and before themselves.
Yet Jesus does not rebuke them for being presumptuous, either in their request or in their confident assertion; rather he says, “Ye shall indeed drink of the cup that I drink of; and with the baptism that I am baptized withal shall ye be baptized” (Mk. 10:35-39). While they did not realize the full implication of the words, Jesus did! He knew that they, too, would be betrayed, falsely accused, reviled and physically brutalized for the gospel’s sake.
Jesus does not set out his own experience as something apart from anything his followers will know. Rather he invites us to look at what was done to him and relate it to our own lives. And as we marvel at his response every step of the way in the last hours of his mortal life, he invites us to learn from him and to seek to implement his example in our lives.
Betrayal
The betrayal is mentioned in the same breath as the crucifixion. “And while they abode in Galilee, Jesus said unto them, The Son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of men: and they shall kill him…” (Mt. 17:22,23). The fact he would be betrayed by one of his own clearly lay heavily on the mind of Christ. Here was one of his closest companions, “Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil? He spake of Judas Iscariot…for he it was that should betray him, being one of the twelve” (John 6:70-71).
Hostility from open enemies is to be expected, but there is something about betrayal by one we have loved and taught and cared for that grieves the soul and depresses the mind. The followers of Christ were armed they would share in this trial: “And ye shall be betrayed both by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolks, and friends [for even as Jesus found] …the hand of him that betrayeth me is with me on the table” (Lk. 21:16; 22:21).
When we know the betrayer
Once we identify the betrayer, we have great difficulty with bitter feelings toward him. Our natural reaction is to greet him with an icy stare and freeze him out of our love. In the case of Judas, “Jesus knew from the beginning…who should betray him” (Jn. 6:64). Yet never once did he treat Judas differently from the others. Even at the end, when the identity of the betrayer was the very topic and Judas was told, “That thou doest, do quickly,” no one suspected. “Now no man at the table knew for what intent he spake this unto him” (Jn. 13:27-28).
We marvel at what Jesus did — day after day, week after week he could walk the same paths and stay in the same homes as Judas, giving him the same attention and love as the others. We marvel and pray for strength that we might at least sometimes do the same to those who betray ourselves.
False Witness
“Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad…for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you” (Matt. 5:11-12). Those who carry forth the Truth invariably create enemies who attack the messenger with false accusation.
Open lies, insidious gossip
False witness was prominent in the trial of Jesus. But those lies were only the last of a steady stream of false witness hurled against him. Some of the false accusations had been blatant “This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils” (Mt. 12:24), others had taken the form of scurrilous gossip, “We be not born of fornication [as thou art]” (John 8:41). If we stand for the Truth, we will find the same things happening to us.
False accusation can be answered, and should be whenever possible. Christ, for example, exposed as folly the charge that he defeated Beelzebub by being in league with him.
Gossip, however, is much more difficult to correct. The source is hard to locate and our enemies will have subtly spread it far and wide. If we are victimized by gossip, the temptation is to withdraw from the scene, retiring to the background as we seek to eliminate ourselves as a target for slander. Yet, if withdrawal means silencing our stand for what is right, we will have put our own concerns ahead of the well being of those who will benefit from our efforts.
Sometimes we cannot answer
While it is right to answer false charges, there may come a time in our lives, as it did with Christ, when we cannot do so. During the course of his trial, he could have exposed one lying witness after another, but he remained silent. If he had at that time delivered himself, he would have stopped the process of redemption for believers of all ages. During the trial, Jesus did speak, but only to proclaim elements of the gospel. He did not open his mouth in his own defense, so that the end might come and he might bear the iniquity of us all.
There may be times in our own lives when we must remain silent for the sake of others. To explain our own conduct would expose another to ridicule or attack. If we have been in that situation, we know the tremendous pressure Christ was under to answer his false accusers. But he did not; he willingly endured for our sakes.
Ridicule and Insult
“Blessed are ye when men shall revile you…” We may silently endure vilification from a superior, even when we don’t deserve it, but we find it almost impossible to endure ridicule from an inferior. In such a case, the human reaction is angry retaliation.
This is why the conduct of Christ during his trial is wondrous.
Before priests and council
Seeing the chief priest and the council condemn Jesus, those “that held Jesus mocked him, and smote him. And when they had blindfolded him, they struck him on the face, and asked him, saying, Prophesy, who is it that smote thee? And many other things blasphemously spoke they against him” (Lk. 22:63-65). They were ridiculing the Lord who had been given power and authority without measure; they knew he had cured lepers and raised the dead; what kind of fools were they to risk his wrath? But he submitted.
From Pilate to Herod
Meeting at sunrise, the Sanhedrin quickly confirmed the priest’s false judgment and took Jesus to his first trial before Pilate (Lk. 23:1). Knowing he was dealing with an innocent man, Pilate sought relief by sending Jesus to Herod — the lecherous ruler who had “honored” his oath by ordering John the Baptist beheaded. Now faced with the true Prince of Israel, the King of the Jews, “Herod with his men of war set him at nought, and mocked him, and arrayed him in a gorgeous robe, and sent him again to Pilate” (Lk. 23:11).
It is one thing to endure such “hostility of sinners” (Heb. 12:3 NKJV) when one has no choice, but Jesus could at any time exert all the force of heaven against this vile man. “Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?” (Mt. 26:53). As we think of the Lord before Herod, we watch in awe; how did he ever control himself?
Before Pilate again
Jesus was taken before Pilate a second time; the Roman procurator quickly capitulated to fear of a riot “and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified. Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall, and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers [at least 200 men]. And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe. And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews! And they spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head. And after that they had mocked him, they took the robe off from him, and put his own raiment on him, and led him away to crucify him” (Mt. 27:26-31).
While this conduct was an utter surfeit of despite and insult, any one else would be helpless before the power of Rome — but not the Son of God. He is the stone who is to smash into pieces all such brutal kingdoms. He is the Lord who will require all kings and armies to bow before him and “Kiss the Son lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way” (Psa. 2:12).
As “He is despised and rejected of men” (Isa. 53:3), we see him set his face like a flint (Isa 50:7) and voluntarily submit to the derision of wicked men. Looking to him, surely we can take courage to do better when faced with ridicule and insult for the gospel’s sake.
The Physical Pain
Scourging was brutal. Any who have read the definition -whipping with thongs laced with bits of stone and bone -wonder how anyone survived. Some did not.
Crucifixion was reckoned the most agonizing form of execution. The stretched muscles cramped and throbbed with indescribable agony. But there was nothing the victim could do, not even kill himself. Those who were crucified often lasted 72 hours before they died of thirst and suffocation.
Yet God was not interested in tormenting His Son. In Jesus’ case, the agony was shortened to six hours so that “Pilate marveled if he were already dead” (Mk. 15:44). We can take courage from this. There were objectives to be achieved — a deepening of Christ’s character, an example to be set for us — but once these were accomplished, death brought relief. Our troubles are likewise supervised by the Father for our good and will not be allowed to go on interminably.
The yearning for relief
At present, few of us drink the cup of pain because of religious persecution, but most of us know the meaning of severe, even long-term pain. When suffering pain, we know the overwhelming desire for relief; we have some idea of how Jesus felt when he was offered “vinegar to drink mingled with gall” (Mt. 27:34). Any relief would have been gratifying but he refused it that his senses might not be dulled. There was a thief to be saved; forgiveness to be sought for his murderers; Psalms to be reflected upon; despair to be rejected; the sin power to be destroyed. He had a work to do and he would see it through until it was finished. Always he put his work ahead of himself.
If we know long hours of pain, we know how it wears us down and how we yearn to escape it, if only we could. He could! He could come down from the cross. But he had already made that decision: “Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify thy name” (John 12:27,28).
The challenge to faith
There is something else we see the Lord experiencing that many of us have known: unremitted pain presents a challenge to faith. Jesus felt that challenge: “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?…be not thou far from me, O LORD: O my strength, haste thee to help me” (Psa. 22:1,19). In these words, Jesus teaches us how to express ourselves to the Father; He does not expect us stoically to suppress our feelings. We are to cry out to Him in the day of trouble.
When we do, God will hear us: “Thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns.” Jesus was totally confident he would be raised from the dead: “I will declare thy name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee” (Psa. 22:22). He knew God had not deserted him; he knew “for the transgression of my people was he stricken” (Isa. 53:8). His cry teaches us that when drinking the cup of pain, we can rightly articulate our anguish to the Father, but we should do so with the confidence of help that we see in the Lord Jesus.
The Lord drank the cup of betrayal, false witness, reviling and intense physical pain during the last hours. We will in measure do so over a more extended period of time; we will in some way drink of the same cup and be baptized with the same baptism. The Lord endured every trial without sin, speaking exactly when he should, remaining silent at the right times, expressing his agony in the correct way, showing wonderful love and faith at all times.
We will not do that! But we must try, and when we fail we can look in gratitude to the forgiveness of the Father and to the love of the Son who was wounded for our transgressions and who was bruised for our iniquities, as the chastisement of our peace was laid upon him, for with his stripes we are healed (Isa. 53:5).
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One