Am I not to drink it?

 This week's verses are John 18:1-11:

When Jesus had spoken these words, He went away with His disciples across the ravine of the Kidron, where there was a garden which He entered with His disciples. Now Judas, who was betraying Him, also knew the place, because Jesus had often met there with His disciples. So Judas, having obtained the Roman cohort and officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, *came there with lanterns, torches, and weapons. Jesus therefore, knowing all the things that were coming upon Him, came out into the open and *said to them, “Whom are you seeking?” They answered Him, “Jesus the Nazarene.” He *said to them, “I am He.” And Judas also, who was betraying Him, was standing with them. Now then, when He said to them, “I am He,” they drew back and fell to the ground. He then asked them again, “Whom are you seeking?” And they said, “Jesus the Nazarene.” Jesus answered, “I told you that I am He; so if you are seeking Me, let these men go on their way.” This took place so that the word which He spoke would be fulfilled: “Of those whom You have given Me I lost not one.” Then Simon Peter, since he had a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s slave, and cut off his right ear; and the slave’s name was Malchus. So Jesus said to Peter, “Put the sword into the sheath; the cup which the Father has given Me, am I not to drink it?”

These verses are a good place to start the week leading up to Easter. They give us a good glimpse of the divine power of Jesus and his willingness to take the hard road to the cross.

Like the Bible itself, it starts in a garden. God and man mingling. Once again, man fails and God stays the course. The enemy slithers out of darkness and into the garden, acting like a friend, but armed with the tools of destruction. But Jesus knows what's coming before it comes. He is God.

He makes the first move. "Whom are you seeking?" In another time and another garden the question was "Where are you?" In both cases he knows the answer before he asks. He doesn't ask out of curiosity but to expose the depraved situation we are in.

The lynch mob says his name. One of us might have responded "I don't know who that is. You've got the wrong guy." People didn't carry driver's licenses back then. There was no facial recognition, no bodycams, none of that. He could have made his escape. But he doesn't.

He says "I am he." The naked truth of it causes people to fall back. One of God's names is "I am," so they are struck with a brief flash of his divinity. We are not wired to handle it. Even the pagan Romans, trained soldiers, are overcome by it.

If one of us was writing the story, this is where Jesus would have made his escape. Or maybe the mob would have had a change of heart and he would have been spared. Instead, Jesus asks again, and reminds them of who he is.

At that point, Peter lashes out with his sword and attacks one of the men in the mob. Again, if we were writing the story, this is the point where Jesus and the other disciples would make their escape. Jumping over the wall and running to safety while Peter goes down in a heroic sword battle with the attackers. Or maybe they all would have fought for their lives. But that's not what happens.

Jesus tells Peter, who is trying to save them all, to cut it out. (No pun intended.) He says "The cup which my father has given me, am I not to drink it?" Drinking a cup together was sometimes how people would officialize deals. You still see the practice in some cultures, when you make a major purchase, where you and the shopkeeper will drink cups of tea together before you pay and collect the goods.

So Jesus is basically saying, "look, I already agreed to this. I have chosen this path. It isn't something that is just happening to me outside of my control." It is the third time Jesus is facing the enemy head-on. The first two times are the betraying friend and his mob, and the last is his well-meaning but overprotective disciple.

Jesus willingly chooses the path of torment, hardship, and shameful death, if it means our salvation and a shot at eternal life. It's not a trap he got caught in unawares, or him running headlong into the consequences of careless behavior. It is the top secret plan to victory, the flanking movement to swallow the enemy's last desperate thrust and defeat him once and for all. And here Peter is stumbling into his path, at the decisive moment, unwittingly standing between him and victory.

We are like everyone but Jesus in these verses. We're like Judas, whose hypocrisy and moral posturing put him at odds with the God he pretends to serve. We're like the mob, overly eager to signal our virtue and react to accusations we know nothing about, or mercenaries just doing our job thinking more about payday than about the consequences of what we've signed on to do. And we're like Peter, whose emotions get the best of him, and who ends up accidentally trying to prevent the greater good from being done, simply because it scares him, and he doesn't understand, and he has his own prejudices of what a just world looks like.

But why can't we be more like Jesus? Jesus' truth speaks for itself. He makes no apologies for the conflict between his kingdom and what is lived out on earth. He doesn't hide the truth, or flee from the consequences of speaking it. He doesn't rally his friends into sacrificing themselves to make his life easier. He doesn't try to correct the false accusations, or bargain his way out. He doesn't call on the armies of heaven to intervene. He doesn't start a go fund me to pay for a good defense lawyer. He simply is what man should be, if man wasn't corrupted.

We can be like Jesus. We just choose not to be. We are narcissistic, cowards, hypocrites, naive dream chasers. When we are persecuted, or faced with hardship, or asked to follow Jesus to the cross, we simply do what all men do, and not what our savior asks of us when he says to follow him. Without the Holy Spirit, that is our fate. We chop each others' ears off, collect our thirty pieces, and run for our lives, leaving Jesus to clean up the mess.

But we should be like Jesus. When we're faced with the hard decision, or the too-expensive price tag of loving our neighbors, or the realization that we may have to give up everything to save a few souls before it is too late, we should be asking "Am I not to drink it?" Are we too good, too educated, or too highborn to wear the same label as our savior? Aren't we just more interested in trying to save ourselves?

This Easter week, when you look at Jesus on the cross, think of both gardens, and what Jesus said to Peter. Think of how good and unfathomably strong he was to go willingly to the cross on our behalf, and ask him for the strength to drink the cup he offers us, filled with the blood of self-sacrifice.