Reflections on Matthew 20:17-28 (Br David Arulanatham)

"Can you drink the cup that I am going to drink?”

The question that Jesus posed in yesterday’s Gospel Reading (Matthew 20:17-28) has left quite a challenge to me personally.

As I listen to this question again and again I feel that the question is indeed addressing me in my struggles trying to understand and find myself in the call that I am responding to. ‘Jesus’ who by accepting death on the Cross and by surrendering himself in obedience – not of his will but the will of the father by posing the question to me again, reveals to me the risk of discipleship,. Over time I have grown to understand that when I accept an invitation, I make a commitment and thus accept the risks associated with it, whatever the consequences of that commitment, whatever they may be.

After firmly holding the cups of our lives and lifting them up as signs of hope for others, we have to drink them. Drinking our cups means fully appropriating and interiorizing what each of us has acknowledged as our life, with all its unique sorrows and joys. How do we drink our cups? We drink them as we listen in silence to the truth of our lives, as we speak in trust with friends about ways we want to grow, and as we act in deeds of service. Drinking our cups is following freely and courageously God's call and staying faithfully on the path that is ours. Thus, our life cups become the cups of salvation. When we have emptied them to the bottom, God will fill them with "water" for eternal life.

There will be moments for one to feel despised and misunderstood resulting in feelings like relenting, wanting to give up and these feelings so appropriately describe what Jesus himself faced and affirms that these are the challenges anyone wishing to live the life intended of God for them, cannot avoid but must face. We are called to accept whatever may be asked of us but not fall prey to the lure of perfectionism or hypocrisy which will only undermine us. One need not be perfect, it is sufficient to be good enough. We need however the courage to live at depth.

The question, "Can you drink the cup that I am going to drink?" invites us to move from living life on the surface like the visible waves in the sea which rises to great heights but also dies of prematurely and easily. We are called to have a strong founded and deep rooted faith, to live a life of depths like the undercurrents. A faith that is not foam or splash sounds but something that may move against the prevailing tide or run along the shore.

In a nutshell, in accepting our call to respond to our baptismal calling we do not choose the risk we need to face or be challenged but we have to strive to accept and live the consequences of that response, whatever it/they may be. Therefore, this is the risk of discipleship which does not end but keeps recurring again and again till we see God face to face one day.

So then, Let us keep listening to Jesus' question echoing to us as we struggle with our lives but not just gaze at the cup but to start drinking the cup while trusting in the Lord.

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Stay tuned for the next post by Br Joseph Zhang on 7th Mar 2010.