Matthew 20:22

THE CUP IN SERVICE

Are ye able to drink of the cup …? They say unto Him, We are able.’

Matthew 20:22

It is a grand answer. Both these disciples are accepted. There is no promise given of crown or rule, but they shall be with Him in His sufferings.

I. The promise fulfilled.—Both had the cup. Was it more bitter to one than the other? St. James was called to drink very soon after the Lord was gone, killed by the sword of Herod. By the baptism of blood he went to Jesus. St. John’s reward was different. It was his lot to wait, until when he was a hundred years old the call name, and he entered into the kingdom for which he had so long before desired. They drank, they were baptized, and they are with their Lord.

II. Its modern application.—Jesus Christ is in the world still, and still He calls men to follow Him. Some have the thought of serving Him in His priesthood, others of entering the religious life as Sisters or Brothers. Some may have in mind service in the missions of the Church, not held back by the knowledge that many have there suffered and died. Others whose life is to be lived at home may have seen a light that pointed them to more faithful service there in devotion to Jesus, in the lot where He has called them. It is the cup of Jesus they all desire; it is work, suffering, danger for Him, and He will be with them in it. There is a thought for us all, not to be afraid of enthusiasm in our religion, not to be ready to check it in ourselves or others. Many fail; they have not learnt to say, ‘We are able.’ And how many there are who have not responded to some special vocation of God we shall never know.

III. Not always the same cup.—The cup was not the same for both the Sons of Thunder. So now there are different ways in which prayers are answered, and the gifts of God come in different ways. If another seems to have a special call, do not be jealous. God has a call for you, whether greater or less you do not know. Be true to your own call.

—Bishop E. W. Osborne.

Illustration

‘The night before his consecration a Bishop of Mashonaland was presented with a beautiful cross engraved with the Greek word Dunametha, “We are able.” No man has greater need of enthusiasm in his work, far off in the interior of Africa. Think what that cross must be to him. In long journeys by train or in bullock-waggons, by the side of gold mines, amid, perhaps, reckless Europeans, or in native kraals, amid untaught, copper-coloured men and women; in heat by day and freezing cold by night, when baptizing with joy many followers of Christ, or hearing some sad story of dejection or disappointment, the cross and its message are ever there, “We are able.” It tells him of the two great souls who first said the words, and were accepted. It tells him of the call that came to him, and of his response when God chose him for a bishop, and so awakes in him, again and again, the spirit of enthusiasm, of devotion. And if ever in weariness and sorrow he waits on his knees for help, the cross upon his breast will tell him of the nearness of Him for whom he carries it, and he too will hear the voice, “You shall indeed drink of My cup; but fear not, for I am with you.” Will he not again rise up, and, joining himself in spirit with the other two, say humbly and confidently, “We are able”?’