Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Amen!
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ:
[Intro]
Have you ever volunteered for something before you knew all of the specifics? I have, and likely you have too. We say, “Sure, I’ll do it. When do you need me?” “Now.” We often find ourselves caught in situations such as this, because we jump in before we know what we are getting ourselves into.
James and John, the sons of Zebedee, volunteered before they knew all of the specifics. In fact, they volunteered before even the question occurred. James and John asked Jesus: “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory” (Mark 10:37). Jesus replied to them saying, “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?” (Mark 10:38). Promptly they said to Jesus: “We are able” (Mark 10:39a).
This seems out-of-character for James and John. We would think that this is something that Peter would ask, since he usually finds himself in a situation like this. But, this is James and John. Keep in mind, this is the same John that Jesus calls “the disciple whom He loved” (John 19:26; John 21:7). This is the same John — who with the Holy Spirit’s inspiration —wrote the Gospel of John, the Epistles of John, and Revelation.
Now, do James and John know what they are asking Jesus? Has this occurred to them? And for us, are we sure we are able?
[Jesus’ Cup and Baptism]
Like James and John, we don’t always know what we are volunteering for. Jesus will drink from this cup and be baptized, but this cup and this baptism that Jesus is referring to is not what James and John likely had in mind. And frankly, us too.
Jesus will not be drinking wine from this cup. Instead, this cup is the cup of rejection. This cup is the cup of suffering. This is the cup of death filled with the sin of the entire world. Jesus would drink from this cup not because it is tasty, but because it was the will of His Father. This cup is enduring God’s judgment upon the sin of the entire world that only Jesus as the Son of God is able to endure.
Likewise, Jesus tells of a baptism that He will soon be baptized. Now, this baptism may not be what you expect either. This baptism is not a “ritual washing,” like that of John the Baptist. This is not a “baptism of repentance.” This baptism is not a washing from sin. Instead, this baptism signifies only death.
This has been planned by God from the very beginning, since He foreknew Adam and Eve’s fall into sin. And since Adam and Eve fell into sin, all of their descendants —you and me — have done the same. We, like sheep, have gone astray. For this reason, Jesus’ ministry began with a sinners’ baptism in the Jordan River where He placed Himself under God’s wrath on behalf of all humanity. And Jesus completes His ministry with a bloody “baptism” on the cross, where the full wrath of God is placed upon Him as He atones for all sin (1 John 5:6-8).
So ever since His Incarnation — when God became man — Jesus has been on a death march. This is His purpose. This is what He came to do. Now, His disciples did not quite understand this as of yet, but they will follow their Lord on this journey to the cross.
This march toward Calvary began in Bethlehem, continued to the Jordan River, and finishes in Jerusalem, where Jesus would be condemned and delivered up to the chief priests and the scribes, who would deliver Him to the Gentiles, where He will be mocked, spit upon, flogged, and killed, and where He will rise again.
This is just as Jesus said would happen. In fact, in Mark’s gospel, Jesus predicts His death three times. This third time, Jesus is the most specific and this is what we heard today.
Now, this is not what the disciples wanted to hear. For them — and us — success and glory do not look like a dead man on a cross. This looks more like failure than anything. So, how can humiliation and death have anything to do with God’s restoring His kingdom?
James and John were no different than the other disciples, since they were all more interested in their future careers of presumed earthly glory. For James and John, they must have figured that they were special already. They were two of the first four disciples called by Jesus. They were among the inner circle of the Twelve. After all, they were invited to events that not all of the disciples witnessed. They were invited to the transfiguration, along with Peter. But, they wanted to get the jump on Peter and the rest. They assumed that since there is only a right hand and a left hand, they would volunteer for those positions, before anyone else tried.
This seems so underhanded, since elbowing your way to the top is hardly loving your neighbor. And when the other disciples heard of this, they were upset. But, likely their anger and annoyance was only because they didn’t have the idea to ask Jesus first. So, like children shoving their brothers and sisters out of the way, the disciples, too, wanted to be noticed.
What the disciples didn’t know is that these positions were already filled. God the Father had already made those choices and they were filled by criminals who would be nailed to the cross to the right and to the left of Jesus.
[Our Cup and Our Baptism]
We are all not immune to this. Our sinful nature often leads us to be selfish and leads us to think that we need the glory and we need the power. And even if we do not want to be in charge, we often do want to have input, and we definitely do not want to be ignored and treated like we do not really matter.
Like the disciples, we get caught up in ourselves. We stop looking at our neighbor as someone to serve, and instead look inside and say, “What do I want?” So, our families and friends become fractured and split. Husbands and wives divorce. Children and parents stop talking to one another.
This is not how God created it to be. “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve” (Mark 10:45).
So, Jesus dismissed the request of James and John. After all, this is not His to grant, but the Father’s. However, they will all drink the cup that Jesus would drink. They would all suffer for proclaiming Christ crucified for the forgiveness of sins.
For the disciples, none of them would have a celebrity life. Instead, they were often hated and reviled, stoned, stabbed, and crucified. They would all drink from the cup of suffering. They would all face the prospect of a bloody baptism. James would be beheaded by Herod Agrippa (Acts 12:1-2). John would survive an attempted assassination with poisoned wine. Although John would die, but in exile for daring to preach Christ crucified and risen.
Jesus indeed warned them and us: “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?” (Mark 10:38).
Within our own families and friends, how many of us avoid talking about Jesus in fear that by doing so, we could cause conflict? We often try to avoid hostility, but we will all experience it as a consequence of our baptismal incorporation into Christ as Jesus teaches us in John 15:18-25. So, if the world persecuted Jesus during His earthly ministry, the world will persecute Christ’s followers. You see, opposition to Jesus will split families and friends. But even if we are forsaken and persecuted by the ones we love, Christians are all part of the family of God through the new kinship of all who hear the Word of Jesus.
Did James and John know the hostility with which they would be received? Did they know that they and future followers of Jesus would be beheaded, burned alive, tortured, and drowned for taking up their cross?
Did you know that you would be mercilessly ridiculed and derided by the sinful world when you were baptized? Did you know that when you were confirmed in the one true Christian faith? Did you know that’s what you said when you stood up here and said that you would rather die than fall away from the faith?
It’s not easy when the tide of opinion turns against you, when the shouts of “Hosanna!” change to “Crucify!” It’s not easy when those around you pit you against “science” or “fairness.”
[Jesus Serves Us Through His Love]
We certainly have our own bitter cup to drink from. It’s hard to drink the suffering and death, the disappointment and heartache that can come with this life. It’s hard, but this is not impossible. Even unbelievers experience suffering in this life. But we — as followers of Christ — have something else. We have the promise. We have the covenant. We have the new covenant!
The world has its false gods of fairness and being nice and living life to its “fullest.” But all that leads only to eternal death. All the good deeds in the world cannot keep us alive. All the fairness and equality in the world cannot forgive our sins. Fairness and equality cannot take away our sin and guilt. We will still suffer. We will still die.
Jesus is different. Jesus is life. He offers us all the cup of salvation. He baptizes us into His household. Our Father in heaven sent His only begotten Son so that whoever believes in Him would not perish, but have eternal life (John 3:16).
Jesus marches on to the cross to save you, in order to serve you. Jesus enters into Jerusalem in order to be the High Priest who offers up the once-for-all sacrifice for your sins and the sins of the whole world. Jesus was born into this world to be that sacrifice, for without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness.
On the cross, Jesus drinks the cup of God’s wrathful judgment against sin, and Jesus has done so in the place of all people. This is the true glory of Jesus!
Our song is love unknown because we cannot fathom that kind of sacrifice. We cannot fathom the boundless love for you that loves to the point of suffering God’s wrath for our sin — all the sin of the world, focused on one, poor, frail, broken human body. Mocked, spit upon, flogged; nailed to a cross; lifted up and gasping for breath. Unfairly, undeservedly, and willingly.
Are you able to be
baptized into the Baptism with which Jesus is baptized? I hope so. The hymn God’s
Own Child, I Gladly Say It proclaims our baptism into Christ’s death as we
earlier sung:
Sin, disturb my soul no longer:
I am baptized into Christ!
I have comfort even stronger:
Jesus’ cleansing sacrifice.
Should a guilty conscience seize me
Since my Baptism did release me
In a dear forgiving flood,
Sprinkling me with Jesus’ blood? (LSB 594, stanza 2)
In your baptism into Christ, you were baptized into His death, killing your sinful flesh. We are indeed set free from Satan’s bondage and all enemy forces under his control. And that Baptism baptizes you also into His resurrection from the dead, giving you new, bodily life in heaven.
Are you able to drink the cup that Jesus drinks? I hope so. He has taken away the sin and the punishment from you so that the cup that you drink at this altar is only His blood, shed for you for the forgiveness of sins, for your salvation and eternal life.
By grace through faith in Jesus Christ, He comes to you by these means — not to lord it over you, but to serve you as He continues to do at each Divine Service through His Means of Grace in Word and Sacrament. And by the power of the Holy Spirit, you are brought to faith and sustained in it — not to lord it over one another, but to serve.
There is no other person like Jesus. No other person loves the way Jesus loves you and this is the place where you receive this love through His Word and Sacrament. We receive His grace in the cup, in the font, and in His promise. As we make our way through the sufferings of this life, Christ sustains you. He will lead you to paths of righteousness and holiness. He has already accomplished salvation for you, just as He promised. Amen.
The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.
T SOLI DEO GLORIA T
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