Summary: The cup of suffering our Lord drank of has been passed down through time to each of us, and He has given us the example of how we should partake.

INTRO:

1. Nobody wants to talk about suffering.

a. Many people who are suffering don’t want to talk about what they are going through.

2. Suffering takes on many forms:

a. It comes in the form of sickness.

b. It comes at the hands of others.

c. It comes at the hand of the enemy of our soul.

d. It comes as a part of life in this fallen world.

3. I don’t want to take lightly anyone’s suffering – but sometimes it’s good to put our suffering into perspective.

a. Illustration of Nazi Death Camp Prisoner “Almost 50 years ago Elie Wiesel was a fifteen-year old prisoner in the Nazi death camp at Buna. A cache of arms belonging to a Dutchman had been discovered at the camp. The man was promptly shipped to Auschwitz. But he had a young servant boy, a pipel as they were called, a child with a refined and beautiful face, unheard of in the camps. He had the face of a sad angel. The little servant, like his Dutch master, was cruelly tortured, but would not reveal any information. So the SS sentenced the child to death, along with two other prisoners who had been discovered with arms. Wiesel tells the story: One day when we came back from work, we saw three gallows rearing up in the assembly place, three black crows. Roll call. SS all around us; machine guns trained: the traditional ceremony. Three victims in chains—and one of them, the little servant, the sad-eyed angel. The SS seemed more preoccupied, more disturbed than usual. To hang a young boy in front of thousands of spectators was no light matter. The head of the camp read the verdict. All eyes were on the child. He was lividly pale, almost calm, biting his lips. The gallows threw its shadow over him. This time the Lagercapo refused to act as executioner. Three SS replaced him. The three victims mounted together onto the chairs. The three necks were placed at the same moment within the nooses. “Long live liberty!” cried the two adults. But the child was silent. “Where is God? Where is He?” someone behind me asked. Total silence throughout the camp. On the horizon, the sun was setting. “Bare your heads!” yelled the head of the camp. His voice was raucous. We were weeping. “Cover your heads!” Then the march past began. The two adults were no longer alive. Their tongues hung swollen, blue-tinged. but the third rope was still moving; being so light, the child was still alive...For more than half an hour he stayed there, struggling between life and death, dying in slow agony under our eyes. And we had to look him full in the face. He was still alive when I passed in front of him. His tongue was still red, his eyes were not yet glazed. Behind me, I heard the same man asking: “Where is God now?” And I heard a voice within me answer him: “Where is He? Here He is—He is hanging here on this gallows.” That night the soup tasted like corpses.” Elie Wiesel, Night, Bantam, 1982, pp. 75-6, quoted in When God Was Taken Captive, W. Aldrich, Multnomah, 1989, pp. 39-41.

4. According to Jesus, suffering is to be expected, and even embraced.

a. Matt.16:24 “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.”

b. Paul embraced suffering when he said “Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.”

5. Seeing how Christ handled suffering gives us strength as we follow in His footsteps.

I. Christ Took the Cup

A. Christ has never asked us to do anything He Himself would not do.

B. In His humanity He was no different then you or I – He wanted to avoid the cup if at all possible (v.36)

1. But He did take it.

C. Christ’s cup took Him all the way to Golgotha. (hill of suffering – shame)

D. Where will the cup lead you?

1. No one knows – only God

2. Rest assured he will not leave you nor forsake you.

3. Just be willing to take it.

II. Christ Gave Thanks For the Cup

A. Christ not only took the cup, but the way He took it is a testimony of grace in action.

1. He took it with a thankful heart.

2. He knew the cup He held in His hand represented His death.

3. He also knew the cup within His hand was for all of humanity.

B. Think back to a cup you have had to take.

1. Be thankful – that cup may have been a blessing to someone else.

III. Christ Gave the Cup

A. You see, in Christianity, the cup of the master is passed into the hands of the disciple, whom ye are.

B. You may ask, “Why would Jesus pass such a dreadful thing to us.”

1. Is the servant above the master?

2. Jesus said in John 15:18 “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.”

C. Peter and John probably had no idea what they were asking for in Mark 10:35-39.

D. That night in the upper room, Christ took the cup, He gave thanks for the cup, and then he passed the cup to His friends.

1. Expect at this very moment that His hands are extended, cup held out, passing it to you as well.

E. But that is not the end, the story went on…

IV. The Disciples Drank Of the Cup

According to Foxe’s Book of Martyrs:

A. Stephen was cast out of the city and stoned to death.

B. James the brother of John was beheaded. It is said that his accuser, repented of his accusations and was beheaded with James.

C. Philip was scourged, thrown into prison, and afterwards crucified.

D. James the less, at the age of ninety-four he was beat and stoned by the Jews; and finally had his brains dashed out with a fuller’s club.

E. Matthias was stoned at Jerusalem and then beheaded.

F. Mark was dragged to pieces.

G. Peter was crucified upside-down believing to be unworthy to suffer in the same manner as his Lord.

H. Paul was beheaded.

I. Thomas was thrust through with a spear.

J. And so the cup continues to be passed on. Are you willing to be the next in line to grasp the cup and drink of it, dregs and all?