Keith Battle - The Cup of Suffering - Part 1

My subject for today’s message in this new series is «The Cup of Suffering.» I was first introduced to a drink called Miralax some years ago when I had to take my first ever colonoscopy. If you’re not aware of Miralax as a beverage, I don’t even know how it is so nasty; I can’t even describe it. I lack the language or adjectives to adequately and sufficiently express what Miralax tastes like. All I can do when I think of Miralax is make faces. What is also so rough about Miralax is that you don’t just get a little bit of it; you get a whole gallon. So not only is it nasty, but it’s a lot of it. In order to have this procedure, which has life-and-death implications, a colonoscopy is very important for treatment. You must drink the entire gallon of Miralax. You can’t drink 50% of it, you can’t drink 85% of it, you can’t drink 99% of it; you must drink every single drop of the Miralax to qualify for the procedure that has life-and-death implications. It is an example of something that is good for you but not good to you. Even if there are others around you who feel sorry for you that you have to drink such a terrible drink and they pull their cups out, saying, «Let me share some of this with you,» you can’t do that. It is your drink, and you must drink it yourself.

Now, for those of you who’ve had a colonoscopy, you may be able to relate to me. But whether you’ve had a colonoscopy or not in your life, one thing we can all relate to is that in this life, you will have to drink something that is painful to consume, and you do not want to drink it. Sometimes what you are drinking, which I’m calling the cup of suffering, feels like it’s just too much to bear. You might feel like, «Lord, I can’t; I just can’t.» It’s interesting that in life, when we have this cup before us, our natural reaction is to avoid it. What I’d like to do is walk through this passage and raise a few observations that I hope will be helpful along your spiritual journey in your life. Once again, thank you all for tuning in, and thank you to all of you online for being with us as well.

Now here’s the first thing I want to point out: in verse 1, which gives us the scene and context of this passage, it says that Jesus is crossing over the Kidron Valley and heading to a place with a grove of olive trees, which we know as the Garden of Gethsemane. It is here where his cup of suffering will begin, where he will be betrayed, arrested, and start the process of paying for the sins of the world and accomplishing his mission through a very painful ordeal. On his way, it says he crossed over the Kidron Valley. I thought that was significant because the Kidron Valley is a dry place; it is almost always dry except after a tumultuous rain. I found it interesting that Jesus went through this dry area on his way to drink the cup of suffering. Let me ask you a question: do you know what it’s like to go through a dry place in your life, an arid space? Maybe some of you are going through a dry place right now. A dry place is painful; it is a time when there is a wrestling of wills: my will versus God’s will. No wonder that night in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prayed for hours in that place of suffering, saying at the end of each prayer, «Nevertheless, not my will, but your will be done.»

It is a place where we have to choose between what pleases us and what pleases Him. We must make a choice between making people happy and doing what brings honor to the Father. It is a struggle between what is best for now and what is part of God’s ultimate plan, recognizing that all things work together for good. The dry place in our life is not a place of celebration; it is more a place of surrender. Do you know what that’s like? That’s where Jesus is, and it is the prelude to his drinking the cup of suffering. But not only is it a dry place, it is also a sacred place because it’s somewhere he went often to pray. Our dry places should be sacred too, for in those times, we need God more than we ever have. In this story, there are characters that stand out, the first being Judas. In verses 2 and 3, we are introduced to Judas, described as the betrayer in verse 2. Judas knew this place where Jesus would be because he had been there many times with Him. Verse 3 states that, based on his relationships with the leading priests and the Pharisees, he was able to betray Jesus.