Scripture Daily

Context No. 2541 of 4322 · John

Context · Reflection

John 18:6-11: in context

6When therefore he said to them, “I am he,” they went backward and fell to the ground. 7Again therefore he asked them, “Who are you looking for?” They said, “Jesus of Nazareth.” 8Jesus answered, “I told you that I am he. If therefore you seek me, let these go their way,” 9that the word might be fulfilled which he spoke, “Of those whom you have given me, I have lost none.” 10Simon Peter therefore, having a sword, drew it, struck the high priest’s servant, and cut off his right ear. The servant’s name was Malchus. 11Jesus therefore said to Peter, “Put the sword into its sheath. The cup which the Father has given me, shall I not surely drink it?”

In the garden, the arresting party comes for Jesus, and when he says, I am he, they draw back and fall to the ground. He asks whom they seek, gives himself up, and asks only that his disciples be let go. Then Peter, sword in hand, strikes the high priest's servant and cuts off his ear. Jesus stops him: put the sword away. The cup which the Father has given me, shall I not drink it?

Everything is in that question. Peter reaches for the sword to prevent what is coming; Jesus refuses the sword and receives the cup. He does not see his suffering as an accident or an enemy's victory to be fought off, but as a cup handed to him by the Father, and so he will drink it. There is a world of trust in that. What Peter treats as a catastrophe to resist by force, Jesus treats as the Father's will to accept. When a hard cup is set before me, my hand goes to the sword, to fight, to escape, to make it stop. His went to the cup.

When a hard cup is set before me, does my hand reach for the sword to escape it, or can I receive it as given by the Father and drink it?

Sources