Are You Willing to Drink His Cup?
Monday, July 27th, 2022
He said to her, “What do you wish?” She answered him, “Command that these two sons of mine sit, one at your right and the other at your left, in your Kingdom.” ~ Mt 20:21
Today, I’m choosing to speak about the Gospel reading, which is Matthew 20:20-28.
Regarding the mother of James and John asking Jesus to sit her sons to the left and right of him when he goes back to His Kingdom.
At first, I could think that is somewhat of a nice gesture. Maybe, that’s a mother looking out for her children. You can also look at it as a mother asking for favors.
What’s valuable to note is that, in those days, the mother would get honor from her children. Honor was more important than money or titles. So the children gained honor, the mother improved her status in society.
Hence, it’s interesting that the mom is using her children to increase her status in society.
This prompted two questions for me:
- How many times have I used things to gain favor from God?
- How many times have I ever used other people as a way to gain favor from God?
It seems that’s what’s happening in the Gospel, which sets Jesus response.
First he addresses the sons.
- Are you guys ready to drink from my cup?
- Are you ready to go through what’s going to happen and pay the price of being my followers?
That’s another question I have to ask myself because there many times doing the right thing spiritually has implications of reputation, financially, socially, or culturally.
The second part of Jesus response states He is not the one calling the shots. It’s the father deciding who sits to the left or right on the throne.
It was a wise response by Jesus to have the awareness to address the spiritual and political implications of the mother’s actions.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the other disciples were upset about the scene.
Today, take a few minutes to reflect on:
- How many times do you use certain actions or relationships to gain favor from God, as opposed to just doing it out of good will. And,
- Are you willing to drink from the cup and deal with the consequences that may come from your decisions to follow the word of God?
In peace,
~Juan
