The sword and the cup.
To ordinary human nature work is easier than patience, and resistance than submission. Our Lord, in this crisis of his history, both adopted the more difficult course for himself, and commended it to his disciples.
I. CHRIST'S DISAVOWAL OF THE SWORD.
1. The sword is the symbol of physical force, of resistance. Properly a weapon of attack, it may nevertheless be used for defense. The sword is in the hands of the soldier who withstands his foe; of the magistrate who maintains order and vindicates justice, and who bears it not in vain. It is the emblem of secular authority, of carnal power.
2. There was a sense in which the use of the sword had been sanctioned by Christ. When he had said, "I came, not to send peace, but a sword," Jesus had referred to the conflicts which should arise in society as a result of his mission to earth. But he had, almost immediately before the occurrence in connection with which the words of the text were spoken, expressly directed his disciples to arm themselves, telling them of the perils they should encounter, and bidding them even to sell their garments in order to procure the means of defense. Evidently there were some kinds of danger against which they were at liberty to arm.
3. The time of Christ's sacrifice was not the time for resistance. Peter, indignant at his Lord's betrayal, impulsive in his nature, and impetuous in his action, seeing his Master in danger, drew and used his sword. But Jesus forbade and disclaimed the use of carnal weapons in his cause. His kingdom was not of this world, and it would not have been consonant either with his gentle character or with the nature of his religion—a spiritual religion relying on conviction and affection—to sanction the promulgation of his doctrine, the extension of his Church, by means of the sword. Christ's people were not prohibited from taking advantage of their privileges as citizens, from using lawful means to secure protection and safety, from defending themselves against lawless violence. But to resist civil authority by force, in the name of Christ and for the spread of Christianity, was certainly forbidden, both by the language and by the example of Jesus.
II. CHRIST'S ACCEPTANCE OF THE CUP.
1. The nature of this cup is apparent from the context as well as from other parts of Scripture. By "the cup" we are to understand suffering and sorrow. This is its meaning in the question, "Can ye drink of the cup which I drink of?" and in the prayer, "If it be possible, let this cup pass from me." The bitter ingredients in Christ's cup were the suffering and agony of body involved in crucifixion; the mental distress involved in his betrayal, denial, and forsaking by his disciples, in the apparent success of his enemies' plot, in the fickleness and ingratitude of his fellow-countrymen; the anguish of soul consequent upon his consciousness of the world's sin, its estrangement from God, and ill desert, the heavy burden (to change the figure) of his sacrifice.
2. Christ's shrinking from this cup was natural; for his bodily frame was sensitive, and his heart was tender. He would fain have avoided drinking the bitter draught. He even prayed to be relieved from the distressing experience, if such avoidance and relief were compatible with the Father's will, and with his own purpose to redeem mankind.
3. The inducement to accept the sorrow was the highest and the most constraining possible; the CUP was "given" him by his Father. Apparently it was prepared and handed to him by his foes. But really, in a wonderful, mysterious sense, it was the appointment of the Father's wisdom. This was not at the time understood by Peter or by the other disciples; Jesus alone comprehended the nature of this crisis in the moral history of mankind. The cup was not given as a sign of the Father's displeasure, but as a means to a higher spiritual end, which was dear to the Father's heart.
4. The resolve of the Son of man to drink the cup, when this was seen and felt to be the Father's will, is very instructive. This was part of his perfect obedience, of obedience taking the form of submission. Thus was he made "perfect through suffering."
5. The results of this sacrifice have been most beneficial and precious to mankind. By drinking the cup of suffering our Savior has released us from drinking the cup of personal guilt and merited punishment.
PRACTICAL LESSONS.
1. Gratitude and faith towards a Savior so compassionate and self-sacrificing.
2. Patience and submission beneath the trials and sufferings of life. When seeking for motive and for strength to drink the bitter cup of pain and grief, let Christians recur with humility and with sympathy to the incomparable example of their suffering Lord.—T.