MARCH 2 "WILL YOU DRINK THE CUP?"

         These men are a mess, and to think they are men that have been with Jesus for 3 years. They have the boldness to approach Jesus and say, "hey, we need you to do something for us".  Jesus must have thought, "how peculiar this is, I wonder what it is that they want me to do for them? Maybe pray for them that they be filled with my Spirit, maybe teach them a greater understanding of some parables I've spoke, maybe go pray for a sick family member, who knows? Okay, boys, watcha got?  

    And their reply, "we want to be seated to the right and to the left of you, in your glory".  Jesus has only one response, or two..."you don't know what you're asking" [that's for sure] and the next, "can you drink the cup I will drink of?"  Without hesitation they answer, "we can!"   Really?  You are willing to have your back ripped open, your beard pulled out, a crown of thorns crushed into your skull, beat to a pulp and crucified?"  Sure, no problem, yes, now back to our request, what do you think, can we be seated to your left and right in your glory?"

    They are so struck by power, fame and the lusts of the flesh and the pride of this life, they are blinded by "what the cup is" and quite frankly, they don't care.  How bad could it be, after all, this would be a lot of power, we'll go thru whatever to get it.  Many people in the world have said those same words. "how bad can it be, if we can attain these riches or this power, yes, we will drink the cup.  Blinded by power and greed we set ourselves for a very rough road, down the way.  

     It is amazing that after 3 years with Jesus, these men are still in this state of mind. Yes they've come a long way, but they have still even further to go.  If anything, I'm not so discouraged now, by people that I come across that have been in the church for 3 years; and often I will get with them and I'm shocked to hear what is coming out of their mouths, or to hear things they are involved with or in.  I can now see that this is very realistic, considering these men were with Jesus and were still in this carnal state of mind after 3 years.


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