Trusting God in the Midst of Suffering: Taking up the Cup

 

How can I repay the LORD for all his acts of kindness to me? I will celebrate my deliverance, and call on the name of the LORD.  Psalm 116:12-13

 Jesus’ last night on Earth, prior to His resurrection, was one filled with drama. He sent His disciples to prepare the Passover feast in a room that had already been made ready for them. There, He told them ahead of time that one of them would betray Him, someone who had dipped their bread into the same bowl. He shared with them the first communion, telling them that the bread represented His body, broken for them and the cup represented the blood of the covenant, His blood poured out for the forgiveness of sins. They sang hymns together, one of which was Psalm 116, our passage for today, then they went out to the Garden of Gethsemane. Here Jesus prayed deeply and poignantly, to the point where He sweat drops of blood (Luke 22:44), but the disciples were so worn out that they could not stay awake, keeping vigil with Him. Into this precious scene, marched a crowd, led by Judas, one of Jesus’ disciples and now His betrayer. Intending to identify Jesus to His captors with a kiss, Judas approached, but Jesus asked him, “Judas, would you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?" (Luke 22:48). The disciples lept to action, drawing their swords – one of them cutting off the ear of the high priest’s slave. Jesus condemned their violence, healed the man’s ear and as they arrested Him, and the disciples scattered, one man ran away naked (Mark 14:51-52)! The crowd took Jesus to the High Priest where a slew of false witnesses testified against Him, but none of their testimony held up, while outside Peter, one of Jesus’ closest friends, denied knowing Him over and over. What a night! Books have been written, movies made, and yet I believe none come close to the drama that was felt in the moment.

 In the greatest stories, there are often moments of foreshadowing. A little tidbit that hints at what is to come. There is something about our hearts that long to know the future, and we get so much more out of a story when we know what to watch for. Jesus gave us a piece of this in the Passover. He told his disciples that the bread and wine represented His body and blood. This foreshadowing of His impending death was backed up by a musical interlude, not unlike how you would find it in the greatest movie. Together, they sung hymns. Which hymns? Traditionally, at Passover, the Jews sang the Egyptian Hallel Psalms, Psalms 113-118.

 Today we focus on verses 12-13 of Psalm 116. Here the psalmist asks, “What shall I render to the LORD For all His benefits toward me?” The Bible Says shares that, “By asking this question, the psalmist models a willing heart ready to respond to God’s kindness with devotion.” As Jesus sang this in the upper room, He meant it. His heart was ready to respond to God’s kindness with devotion, even to death. Oh, to have a heart like that when singing hymns! Jesus knew what was coming, all of it. He knew the horror, the pain, the separation. Beyond that, He knew we didn’t deserve it and so many of us would not even accept His sacrifice on our behalf. And still, He sang this hymn, giving up His very self for the LORD.

 In verse 13, the psalmist declares, “I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the LORD.” Jesus had just offered the cup of salvation to His disciples in the form of the communion cup. Here, He sings that He will take up the cup of salvation, which represents accepting God’s deliverance and celebrating His rescue. Jesus knew that His death, while terrible, was not the end, not by a long shot! Taking up the cup is a public declaration of gratitude and dependence on God, which Jesus willingly did, but lest we wonder if He did so lightly, only a few hours later He begged God that the cup be taken from Him in the Garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:39). This cup factored powerfully three times in Jesus’ last time with His disciples. It is no accident.

Here’s the Thing: Just before He faced trial, torture, and death, Jesus lifted up this praise to God, thanking Him for all He had done and would do on His behalf. May I face the trials of this life with the same heart, the same song!

I found this Hebrew singing of Psalm 116 particularly moving as I studied today. I thought you might enjoy it too!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

When Hate Begets Hate

Image
 Well, this is a post I never thought I'd be writing! I'm going to start with the backstory, which I didn't get until we were pretty far into this but which I think will help it be clearer for you to understand.  Evidently my nephew who lives in Tennessee has been up to no good. For quite some time he's been driving around baiting people of other races (he's white) with terrible racial slurs and trying to get them to fight him, presumably so he'll feel justified in shooting them. Yeah, that's pretty awful! He's been posting his shenanigans on social media, and while Facebook took his videos down, X has left them up for everyone to see.  As you can imagine, this has caused quite the backlash. People who are offended by his behavior and those that support it, have grouped together and continued the hurt and violence. The group in opposition to him decided that it would benefit them to post his family's names, phone numbers, and addresses on the interne...
Read more

Preparing for Radiation: Cutting my Hair

Image
  Over the next few weeks, I'll be sharing regular posts about how I'm preparing for radiation. I'm hoping these can help someone else, as I struggled to find a conversational source like this that dealt with the subject. For more information on my brain tumor, check out these posts .  There's lots to do before I start radiation in 35 days, and I have to prioritize. When looking at my list, one of the hardest things was cutting my hair. Three years ago, I had three brain surgeries which resulted in a shaved head at the end. That was a tough decision at first, but when I found that I would have several strange, shaved patches, and I had spent two weeks in the neuro ICU not being able to wash or care for my hair properly, it got a little easier. After surgery, I very much wanted to grow my hair back out. There's something about my body and brain that tell me I need to put my hair in a ponytail. If I can't, I just don't feel right. One year later (exactly one y...
Read more

Praying God's Wisdom: When Forgiveness is for Your Healing

Image
  As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. Psalm 103:12  Last month I wrote a post that will likely never see the light of day. You see, someone did great harm to one of my close loved ones, and to me by extension, and I was writing about the impact it had on me, the collateral damage I had become. But, of course, that initial hurt was done to someone other than me, and it is not my story to tell. The thing is, within that, I still have a story. I still have an injury. The trauma is real, but it is not mine to share, so how do I deal with it?   I guess I defaulted to my old ways of dealing with it initially and just stuffed it down. That does no one any good. Our verse today shares the incomprehensible blessing of God’s forgiveness for us and reminds me that He has called me to forgive as well. Forgiveness is crucial in relationships because whenever two or more humans get together, someone will mess up. But what role does...
Read more