There are times in life when we step into the unknown. We have no idea what is on the other side of the door, but we open it anyway. Law Enforcement personnel live with this reality every day. They get a call and they must respond without knowing everything they would like to know about the situation. They must open doors knowing that death might await them on the other side. And yet they open the door.
Two of the disciples have made a request of Jesus, and Jesus is giving them an answer. It is probably an answer that they didn’t expect. And I am sure in the future they will wish He had given them a different answer! Sometimes we don’t get the answers we want. Sometimes we get more than we bargained for.
Jesus begins His answer by telling them they are clueless about their request. Their perspective is so limited that they could probably be convinced that the moon was made of cheese. They have no idea what drinking Jesus’ cup entails. They have yet to watch His final hours. They have yet to see His suffering. They have yet to be filled with the Holy Spirit. They are still on the foggy side of the mirror.
There is an identification with Jesus that requires us to follow Him in death. For some this means actual physical death at the hands of an enemy of Christ. The Christians living in predominantly Muslim territories, both in the Middle East, the Far East and Africa have been facing this for years. They know what it means to have their churches burned, their lives threatened, their pastors killed, their homes burned, their children stolen, their women raped, their men killed, all in the name of Islam.
The disciples lived in a world that would soon be hostile toward Christians because it posed a threat to both Rome and to the Jewish status quo. Because Christ claimed supremacy, and the disciples came to understand that supremacy, the early Christians were killed for refusing to put anyone or anything above their loyalty to Christ.
Both the cup and the baptism Jesus speaks about this type of identification. Jesus affirms that these two disciples will die as martyrs. They will make this kind of commitment. But they won’t necessarily get their request. Those seats, those places of honor, have already been assigned. And Jesus doesn’t tell us who will occupy those places.
Never answer a question until you understand the question and its implications. The disciples didn’t have a clue what they were asking. They also didn’t know what Jesus asked them in return, and yet they answered in the affirmative. Wisdom dictates that we answer slowly and with deliberation. The only request to which we should jump is the request from Jesus that says, “Come.” Let’s come!
The Arnold Journey 