The Cup

I took another trip to Houston this past week to visit my sister who is now terminally ill with her bout over cancer. Her desire at the moment is to make it to worship this Sunday and have Walter, her dog, come spend a day with her. She said both of those things would make her very happy and at last report the fulfillment of those requests were ongoing. I left to come back home on Wednesday a little after noon. About eight miles into my journey I started smelling anti-freeze and looked in the rearview mirror to discover a cloud of steam rolling out the back of my van. I pulled over and opened the hood to find a broken heater hose connection and surmised I had the tools to fix it; all I needed was the parts. I called my daughter, luckily still in town, to come and rescue me. After limping the van to a safer place to work, I got started on repairs. Still waiting on my rescuer to arrive, I heard the distinct sound of a vehicle coming up the street riding on a flat tire. The car pulled in next to me. A man and woman got out and I joked, “I guess this must be the place to break-down today.” They had just bought the car and had a ‘doughnut’ spare tire, but no jack or lug-nut wrench. We tried everything I had to no avail and about that time my daughter arrived. We looked through her car but nothing would work there either. I informed the couple we were headed to get parts and they were welcome to accompany us if they wished. To make a long story short, the parts house accommodated both our needs and within the hour we were both back on the road. I have to witness here that even though I don’t like to break down on the road, things could have been much worse. I have to praise God for where it happened, it could have been miles further down the road out in the middle of nowhere, and I also got the chance to meet and help someone else in need. I did let that couple know I thought it to be great how the Lord put us together that way so we could help one another through our troubles and trials of the day. I got back a great big, “Amen!”

[Matt. 20:20-23; 26:36-46; John 18:11; 2 Cor. 5:17-21] We read in the Bible of Pharaoh’s cup, Joseph’s silver cup, David’s overflowing cup, wine cups, gold cups, cups of wrath and other cups. Jesus prayed in the garden the night of his arrest, “…if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me.” This cup Jesus speaks of is the experience he was about to go through. Jesus, the Lamb of God was about to have the sins of the world laid upon him, to become the scapegoat of all peoples, then taken outside the city to be sacrificed. Yes, sinless Jesus, become sin, and he knew what would happen to his relationship with the Father. “Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you so that he will not hear” (Isaiah 59:1-2). On the cross, at the ninth hour, Jesus cried out “…why have you forsaken me?” God the Father had separated himself from Jesus who now carried the sins of the world. The earth shook; the sun went dark, graves opened and the dead walked out. Chaos broke out because Jesus, God’s Word, was not a part of God and creation began spinning out of control. Jesus, the man, died and took the sins of the world to the grave. God’s plan was fulfilled and through the obedience of His Son, sinful man can be spiritually reconciled to the Father, sinless and free of guilt. Through baptism we can take our sins to a watery grave and be raise, as Jesus was, a new creature, living in God’s grace. Jesus drank that cup so we won’t have to, in order to be saved form God’s cup of wrath because of our sinful disobedient nature. Jesus has paid the debt and lives to save us.