MM Meditation - Shall I Not Drink the Cup?

John 18
3 Then Judas, having received a detachment of troops, and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, came there with lanterns, torches, and weapons.
10 Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s servant, and cut off his right ear. The servant’s name was Malchus.
11 So Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword into the sheath. Shall I not drink the cup which My Father has given Me?”


Peter just didn't get it. He had heard the Lord Jesus teaching about the suffering He would endure to obtain salvation for the world, but Peter didn't understand. In an act of righteous wrongness, he whacked off the ear of the high priest's servant, thinking somehow, he might protect the Lord Jesus from some terrible tragedy. He was trying to use ways of the world and of the flesh to prevent the very purpose of our Lord's life.

Not only was he a poor swordsman, Peter was a poor Sword-of-the Lord's man. He wrongly handled his physical sword, and he wrongly handled the truth he had been given. He didn't understand the very suffering he was trying to prevent was the suffering that would obtain his salvation.

Then consider the Lord Jesus, who understood the plan of His Father and willingly followed, obedient unto death. Our hearts must burn with spiritual purpose, understanding and submission as we face our own circumstances, our own garden of Gethsemanes, and calmly state like our Savior, "Shall I not drink the cup which My Father has given Me?" If Jesus hadn't taken the cup, He couldn’t have provided salvation for the world. What good things is the Lord trying to work through the ministry of suffering He has offered us?

May we drink of our cup, may we face what the Lord has given us with wisdom and courage and may we not use the ways of the world to try to protect us, shield us and keep us from that path of obedience.