Drinking of this cup
Gospel of Mark: Jesus a life to serve • Sermon • Submitted
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· 3 viewsA personal request with a heavenly teaching by the Lord
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The Heart of the Servant
The Heart of the Servant
The journey continues toward Jerusalem and the cross. The heart of the servant has been prophesied (Isa42:1-4; 50:7) and has been foretold (Mk8:31; Mk9:31; Mk10:32-34) and now today we see the heart of the servants
I think It best that I briefly encourage us to turn and look back at the previous passage, as well as the prophesy by Isaiah about the heart of the servant.
The heart of the servant foretold (Isa42:1-4; 50:7)
You can see the heart of God here as He used Isaiah to prophesy about the suffering servant to come
1 “Behold, My Servant, whom I uphold; My chosen one in whom My soul delights. I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the nations. 2 “He will not cry out or raise His voice, Nor make His voice heard in the street.
3 “A bruised reed He will not break And a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish; He will faithfully bring forth justice. 4 “He will not be disheartened or crushed Until He has established justice in the earth; And the coastlands will wait expectantly for His law.”
You can see the heart of the suffering servant being prophesied here.
7 For the Lord God helps Me, Therefore, I am not disgraced; Therefore, I have set My face like flint, And I know that I will not be ashamed.
The sacrifice of the Servant told, again (Mk10:32-34)
May we remember that Jesus is fulfilling the prophesy of Isa50:7, He has set his face on Jerusalem and is headed there to the cross.
32 They were on the road going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking on ahead of them; and they were amazed, and those who followed were fearful. And again He took the twelve aside and began to tell them what was going to happen to Him,
33 saying, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death and will hand Him over to the Gentiles.
34 “They will mock Him and spit on Him, and scourge Him and kill Him, and three days later He will rise again.”
Mark in his very abbreviated description of things had to have these things in mind, the heart and the sacrifice of the suffering servant as noted in Isaiah as he penned these words.
We know the people were already astonished at what they were hearing and seeing (Mk10:26) This was not what they were expecting, a suffering servant, they were expecting a conquering king! They were looking for an earthly kingdom and Jesus is describing an spiritual and heavenly kingdom.
Each time the announcement of Jesus death was made it had different reactions
Peter rebuked the Lord (Mk8:32)
The apostles argued about greatness (Mk9:30-34)
So, may we not be shocked at our passage today at the response
Interesting fact, Mark and Matthew have the request a little different, Matthew brings in Salome, John and James mother speaking for them, but Mark does not. Mark chooses to focus on the request not the requester per se. We will look at both accounts while we do this study this morning.
35 James and John, the two sons of Zebedee, came up to Jesus, saying, “Teacher, we want You to do for us whatever we ask of You.” 36 And He said to them, “What do you want Me to do for you?”
37 They said to Him, “Grant that we may sit, one on Your right and one on Your left, in Your glory.” 38 But Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?”
39 They said to Him, “We are able.” And Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you shall drink; and you shall be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized. 40 “But to sit on My right or on My left, this is not Mine to give; but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.”
Mk10:37-38
What do you see, what do you notice, what sticks out to you?
Now we should bring in the Matthew account too (Mt20:20-23)
20 Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to Jesus with her sons, bowing down and making a request of Him. 21 And He said to her, “What do you wish?” She said to Him, “Command that in Your kingdom these two sons of mine may sit one on Your right and one on Your left.”
22 But Jesus answered, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?” They said to Him, “We are able.” 23 He said to them, “My cup you shall drink; but to sit on My right and on My left, this is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by My Father.”
Mt20:20
The Narrative
The Narrative
Having your bible open, looking at the Mark passage may we see what we can see, glean what we can glean from the narrative (Mk10:35-40).
The request and the requester (Mk10:35, 37, 39; Mt19:28)
Who makes the request in Mark?
What is the request?
What is the assumption being made? (that they would be in heaven, in His glory)
What is their claim (v.39)? that they can drink and be baptized with what Jesus is.
28 And Jesus said to them, “Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
The willingness and the response (Mk10:36, 38, 39, 40; Jn14:13-14)
What is Jesus response (v.36)? Do you see even though they are claiming a promise of God (JN14:13-14) and their ask is from selfishness, just as it was in Peters rebuke, John’s contention previously? Still Jesus was willing to listen.
Jesus asked a question (v.38) what do you see is missing? (the definition of baptism and drinking from the cup?
13 “Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 “If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.
Jesus asked a question (v.38) what do you see is missing? (the definition of baptism and drinking from the cup?
What is Jesus response, promise to them (v.39)
They would drink of the cup
They would be baptized with the baptism.
Again notice, we do not have a definition of these things in context as of yet.
What more do we know, learn from (v.40)
Jesus claims it is not for His to give who sits on the right/left.
Further observations from the narrative
Remember they (apostles) are looking at greatness and jockeying for it so the request is selfish and God does not answer selfish prayers (Jm4:2-3; Mk10:41)
2 You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.
They, like Peter, like John previously lust for position, they become indignant with each other (Mk10:41); they are trying to protect legacy of power and position in an earthly kingdom. They are thinking of earthly greatness. They have the wrong standard.
41 Hearing this, the ten began to feel indignant with James and John.
41 Hearing this, the ten began to feel indignant with James and John.
Prayers need to be in accordance to God’s will (1Jn5:14-15)
14 Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “Behold, you have become well; do not sin anymore, so that nothing worse happens to you.” 15 The man went away, and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.
Prayers need to be in accordance to God’s will (Jn5:14-15)
Jesus had just told them of the suffering He was going to endure and this is on the heals of it, they did not realize the cost, though He told them, and did not understand they too would pay a price too.
14 This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.
Speaking of standard, I can’t move on yet, need to touch on that for a couple of minutes.
Greatness in servitude and God’s standard vs. man’s
Standard of rank: Man looks at the Roman standard, right side is position of honor and God’s standard of greatness is not based on position but on participation
Standard of power: Power struggles bring strife and division (see Mk10:41) Jesus will address the problem with an illustration (Mk10:42) that is for another day, but the true power is found in serving,
Standard of servanthood: In the world greatness is though of when you have people who serve you; in the kingdom greatness if found when you serve others. And Jesus had even offered himself up as the illustration of the standard (Mk10:45)
Cup of suffering
Cup of suffering
Jesus equates what is coming (the cross) as a cup of suffering and baptism (death, burial). and that it would be a devastating ordeal that He was willing to endure for them, and for us.
Cup of suffering He was willing to endure (Mk8:31, Mk9:31; Mk10:32-34); baptism willing to undergo (Lk12:50)
50 “But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is accomplished!
Yes James and John would participate, share in the cup of suffering in the future, they just did not know it and understand it yet (Act12:1-2)
James was the first of the apostles martyred
1 Now about that time Herod the king laid hands on some who belonged to the church in order to mistreat them. 2 And he had James the brother of John put to death with a sword.
and John was exiled to island of Potmos; in fact it was ordered by Domitian (Roman Emperor) that John be boiled in oil to death but it was not carried out and he died shortly thereafter.
Cup of suffering, we are invited to share in it too (Php3:10; 1Pt4:13)
10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death;
and look what Peter said
13 but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation.
The baptism was one of suffering too (Lk12:50; Rom6:3-4)
Look at the NLT how it words Lk12:50
50 I have a terrible baptism of suffering ahead of me, and I am under a heavy burden until it is accomplished.
Our baptism while it is a type of suffering, it is putting to death our ways, our thinking. It is putting to death self and self reliance, it is a death of our flesh and fleshly ways.
3 Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection,
`Just a minute or two more on cup of suffering and baptism of suffering, today here we may not have the physical extent that Jesus and the apostles had, but there is suffering.
In Muslim countries, many are put to death for their faith in Christ
In communist nations put to death or imprisoned
Here we may have people who are ridiculed for faith, rejected by people, over looked by others and divisions within community and family because of our faith.
Having looked at the suffering aspect now may we shift to the cup of blessing
Cup of blessings
Cup of blessings
The cup of blessing, the baptism of blessing, may we stop and count our blessings that we have in Christ Jesus and how we receive them, acknowledge them and walk in them.
There is a cup which we bless (1Cor10:16)
16 Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ?
It is the fruit of the vine (1Cor11:23-29)
23 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread; 24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”
25 In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.
27 Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. 28 But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup.
29 For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly.
We drink of this cup of blessing in remembrance and in proclamation (1Cor11:25-26)
We drink of this cup of blessing to share in, to participate in the blood of Christ; which Jesus commanded we do (1Cor10:16; Jn6:53; Lk22:19).
16 Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ?
53 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves.
and then look at this
19 And when He had taken some bread and given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”
The cup of blessing is for those who believe, who know, who partake of it.
Baptism of blessing
Commanded (Mt28:19; Mk16:15-16)
Go make disciples and baptize, name of Father, Son and Holy Spirit
Purposed (Act2:38-39)
For forgiveness of sins, for all
Defined (ACt8:35-38; Act10:47-48)
Done from a place of belief
Timing and appeal (Act22:16; 1Pt3:21)
Done immediately; calling on the name of the Lord
The results (1Cor5:17; Gal3:26-27)
You are born again, a new creation
Clothed in Jesus Christ through faith.
The power (Col2:12-13; Tit3:4-7)
Where you are transferred out of the darkness into the kingdom of the beloved son, by the power, washing and regeneration of the Holy Spirit.
The baptism of blessing is for all who believe and submit in faith and repentance!
So, Jesus foretold of his cup and his baptism and foretold that which John and James would face too, as well as people today who are invited to share in it too. We share in the suffering because we shared in the baptism (our death, burial and resurrection) and continue to share in the cup of blessing when we celebrate the Lords Supper.
(close in prayer)