My Cup and My Baptism

His disciples are called to self-sacrificial service for others just as Jesus gave his life to ransom many from sin’s bondage – Mark 10:35-45.

After predicting his impending death, two disciples began jockeying for high positions in his future Kingdom. Thinking according to the ways of this world, they did not comprehend what kind of Messiah Jesus was and what it meant to follow him. However, in Jerusalem, he would demonstrate how to become his disciple and achieve “greatness” in the Kingdom of God when he was nailed to the Roman Cross.

Jesus revealed what Kingdom citizenship means through his words and deeds - Self-sacrificial service to others – Self-denial daily, taking up his cross, and following him wherever he leads. However, as they approached the city of Jerusalem, even his closest followers continued to hold a worldly understanding of his Kingdom.

[Photo by Luis Georg Müller on Unsplash]

James and John asked Jesus to install them at his right and left sides when he came “into his glory.” Despite all they had witnessed, they remained incapable of understanding the words and actions of the Son of God. They remained “dull of hearing,” just as humanity in general, and, unfortunately, many in the Church today.

Contrary to the political ideologies and practices of the “present evil age,” suffering and death precede glory and exaltation in his Kingdom. To be the Messiah and King of Israel meant becoming the ‘Suffering Servant of the LORD” described in the Book of Isaiah.

The disciples expected Jesus to manifest his glory upon his arrival in Jerusalem, impose his reign over others, and destroy Israel’s enemies. However, to reign with him his disciples must first “drink my cup” and undergo “my baptism.”

• (Mark 10:35-40) - “Grant to us that we may sit in your glory, one on your right and one on your left. But Jesus said to them, You know not what you are asking. Can you drink the cup that I, myself am drinking, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I, myself am being baptized?”

The image of the “cup” symbolizes something given or allotted by God in the Hebrew Scriptures, usually in the negative sense of judicial punishment for sin. In this passage, it points to Jesus enduring the wrath of God for the sins of others. Likewise, the context indicates the same sense for his use of the phrase “my baptism.” He meant not immersion in water but his submission to an unjust death for the sake of others- (Psalm 11:6, 16:5, Isaiah 57:17-22, Jeremiah 25:15-28).

James and John declared they were prepared to drink from his “cup,” but Christ’s response demonstrated they had no idea what he meant. Eventually, however, they would drink the same “cup” when they suffered for his sake and that of others.

In the English translation of the Greek passage, the clause “I, myself” represents the emphatic first-person pronoun or ‘egō’. It occurs four times in the Greek text and stresses the Messianic role of Jesus. The sacrificial death of the “Son of Man” was the event that inaugurated the Kingdom and the Gospel.

Contrary to this world, “greatness” in the Kingdom of God is measured by self-sacrificial service for others, not political power, rank, or dominion over others. His disciples are called to serve, not to exploit or tyrannize others.

The disciple who wishes to become “great” must first become the “servant” and “slave” of all. This is what it means to “drink his cup” and undergo “his baptism.”

RANSOMING MANY

• (Mark 10:41-45) - “Jesus says to them, ‘You know that those considered rulers of the nations, lord it over them and their great ones take dominion over them. Yet not so is it among you, but whoever desires to become great among you, he will be your servant, and whoever desires to be chief among you will become the slave of all, for even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his soul a ransom instead of many.”

Jesus came “not to be served, but to serve and to give his soul a ransom instead of many.” That is how he fulfilled the role of the Messiah though, paradoxically, God had appointed him to reign over the “nations of the Earth.” His self-sacrificial death is the foundation of his reign, and one cannot be understood apart from the other– (Psalm 2:6-9, Luke 22:26-27).

Christ became the “servant and slave of all” when he offered his “soul” as the ransom for others. He used the term “soul” as in the Old Testament to refer to the whole person, including his physical and non-physical aspects. Thus, he gave his entire being or “life” on behalf of others.

The Greek preposition translated as “instead of” or ‘anti’ means “on behalf of, in exchange for.” Behind the saying is the passage describing the ‘Suffering Servant’ in Isaiah:

• (Isaiah 53:11-12) - “Therefore, will I give him a portion in the great, and the strong shall he apportion as spoil because he poured out to death his soul, and with transgressors let himself be numbered, Yea, he the sin of the many bare, and for transgressors, he intercedes.”

Jesus referred to the “many” for whom he gave his life. This did not mean a limited or exclusive company. It is a verbal link to the passage in Isaiah where “the many” referred to the “transgressors.” The contrast is not between “many” and “all,” but between the one Messiah who gave his life and the many beneficiaries of his sacrificial act.

The passage in Isaiah is also his source for the term “soul” heard on Christ’s lips. Just as the “Servant of the LORD poured out his soul,” so the Son of Man offered his “soul” as the ransom price for the “many” to free others from slavery to sin and death.

His real-life example becomes the pattern for how we follow Jesus, reign with him, and achieve “greatness” in his Kingdom - By sacrificing our lives in service for the sake of others. That is how we “drink his cup” and immerse our lives completely in “his baptism.”  It is also how we will be judged when it truly matters – “As you did to one of these, the least of my brethren, you did it unto me.”

“No man has greater love than this, that he lays down his life for his friends.” Yet Jesus gave his life to reconcile us to God when we were yet the “enemies of God.” For those with “ears to hear,” who are no longer “dull of hearing,” this is how we follow the “Lamb wherever he goes.”

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SEE ALSO:

• Following the Lamb - (The Messiah of Israel submitted to the way of the Cross and now summons us to follow his example in our daily lives)

• Mercy and Enemies - (When disciples react to hostility with hostility, whether by government, society, or individuals, Satan triumphs)

• Overflowing Righteousness - (Mercy and love are defining characteristics of the disciples of Jesus, reflecting the true nature of his Father – Matthew 5:43-48)