The Cup

 

The Cup

 

By: Robert L. Withers (by Christ’s grace)

(Revised March 2021)

 

O Father let this cup please pass away

If it be possible, this I pray

I long to be with You always,

But to drink this cup is to drink the pain

And sin of all humanity,

It is to cry, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

 

Born to drink this cup I know I am

From Mary’s breasts in Bethlehem to

This garden named Gethsemane,

Right named Olive Press, for my soul is

Pressed with impending death and separation,

And I will cry, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

 

From Mary’s arms to this garden cup

To sour wine offered upon the Cross

Which soon shall be, I’ll drink the dregs

Of humanity, of men and women,

Of boys and girls,

And as I drink my cry will be, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

 

 

 

Down the corridors of time, from ages past

To ages future, as long as they shall last

I’ll go to each person who is living now,

Who has lived in the past and who is yet to come.

I’ll take their cups and pour in mine, their sin, their death, all of their crime.

I’ll drink it down, all of their cups, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

 

My soul is sorrowful unto death,

I am pressed down with little breath

Left in this body, left in this soul,

But drink I must, and drink it whole, I must empty the cup

With all it contains, the death, the sin, the separation, the pain

And as I drink darkness will descend, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

 

Who will watch with me this hour?

Who will resist Satan’s power?

Who will surrender his will to God?

Who will share my Cross, my shame?

Who will embrace Him who is despised?

Who will hear the depths of my cry, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

 

I drink your cup of sins, I drink them

Little or big; black or white lies it matters not,

They have all separated you from your God.

I drink your pride and ego too, I take into me

All there is of you, my cry is because I bear your sins,

I bear you too, you are in my heart as I cry, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

 

I must go now, my betrayer is at hand,

The cup I shall drink, it is in my Father’s plan,

I shall drink it for Him, and I shall drink it for you,

I shall drink the cup and enter the abyss of pain,

And before the sun sets tomorrow, the heavens shall

Hear my cry, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

 

But know that you are my joy and I did this for you,

To bring you home to my Father, and your Father too.

For after that questioning cry on the Cross, will be

“It is finished.” “Father into your hands I commit my spirit.”

I drank the cup of sin and death for you, a cup I’d not tasted till I drank it for you.

I now offer you my cup of love and of life - forged on the Cross; what will you do?

 

Barefoot in the Church - Part 4

 continued from yesterday...the conclusion

I have a friend who gave a deposition in a legal case.  In depositions lawyers often spend the first hour asking you questions about your life, where you were born, where you went to school, the various jobs you held…they go on and on.  After he’d received a printed copy of the deposition – which was quite thick, my friend pointed to it and said to me, “Read this and you’ll know all about me, all about my life.”  And I thought, “I already know all about your life, it’s stamped with “Paid in Full, by the Blood of Jesus.”

            What did I mean?  I meant that I choose to see people in Christ.  I meant that I choose, as much as possible by God’s grace, to view people in their Upper Rooms, in their new rooms in Jesus Christ.  I know everyone has a lower room, so I’m not usually surprised when I see someone living out of that particular room…sure it can hurt me, but seldom surprise me…I choose to see people in their Upper Rooms and to affirm who they are in Christ, not who they are in the lower room of self-centeredness.

            Next week is communion, and communion is not just about a vertical relationship with Jesus Christ, it is also about a horizontal relationship with our brothers and sisters – and frankly the two cannot be separated.

            The saddest relationships – if you can call them that – are the ones where people would rather die than have reconciliation, they would rather die than admit their attitudes are wrong, they’d rather live in a straight – jacket of unforgiveness and isolation than open up their hearts to others.  They will keep their shoes on at all costs, shoe strings knotted tight, double and triple knotted…before they’ll allow their hearts and spirits to be loosed in the love of Jesus and the freedom of the Holy Spirit.

The freest people I know are the ones who can say, “I am sorry, please forgive me.”  The best marriages I know are the ones where husbands and wives say, “I’m sorry, please forgive me.”  The best parents I know are the ones who say to their children, “I’m sorry, please forgive me.”  The best friendships I’ve ever seen are the ones where friends say, “I’m sorry, please forgive me.”  And without a doubt the best and healthiest churches on this planet are the ones where the family of God has learned to say on a regular basis to each other, “I’m sorry, please forgive me.”

Are we learning what it means to live with each other with our shoes off, are we learning what it means to wash the feet of our brother and sister, are we learning what it means to allow our feet to be washed…are we learning what it means to go barefoot in the church?

Whose feet are you being called to wash this week?

Who will wash your feet?

“If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.”

Barefoot in the Church - Part 3

 Continued from yesterday...

Now let me say something else that may be a surprise to you, if you have trusted in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you are perfect and complete and fully loved in Him. 

It’s almost as if we have two rooms inside of us…an old nasty room that is furnished with pictures of “Me, me…me!” and a new room that God has furnished for us to live in with His Son Jesus Christ.  In the old nasty room there is a map on the wall and we are at the center of the universe, in the new room there is a map on the wall and the Lamb of God is at the center of the universe.  We can choose to live in that old nasty room with its self-righteousness and pettiness and self-centeredness, we can run through life shouting, “Look at me, notice me, put me first.”  We can nurture unforgiveness like a favorite plant, we can make it a cherished part of our lives…or we can take off our robe, wrap a towel around our waist, pour water in a basin…and wash the feet of our brothers and sisters in Christ…and then…we can remove our shoes and allow our feet to be washed by others. 

            Jesus could wash the feet of these men because He knew who He was.  The apostles were having a fit about being first because they didn’t know who they were.  When we know who we are we can wash even the feet of Judas Iscariot.  There are times we’ll minister to people, we’ll serve people, and we’ll know that they’re going to turn around and bite us, but it’s ok because we know who we are in Jesus Christ, and if Jesus could wash Judas’s feet then we can wash the feet of people who will take advantage of us or talk about us or gossip about us.

            Didn’t Jesus cry out on the Cross, “Father forgive them for they don’t know what they do”?

            Jesus knew who He was and He knew He had a purpose, a destiny…He knew He’d come from God and was going to God.  I am reminded of a statement that one of our parishioners made during an ALPHA retreat; Bill Robinson was in his 60s or 70s and had been in church all his life; but he never knew that God wanted an intimate relationship with him, he said, “We’ve got an inheritance in Jesus Christ.  This is great.”  When we know who we are in Christ, when we know how much our Father loves us, when we know that God has a destiny for us…we can wash feet…and we can allow our own feet to be washed.

            Now next Sunday is a communion Sunday, and the Sunday after that is Palm Sunday, and the Sunday after that is Easter.

            Is there any barrier or sin between you and God this morning?  Is there anything between you and a brother or sister in Christ?  If there is anything between you and a brother or sister, then there is something between you and God.  Are you holding unforgiveness in your heart toward someone?  Is there bitterness to be found?  Are you part of the argument about who is going to be the greatest?

            Have we learned to allow our feet to be washed?  Have we learned to wash each other’s feet?  Do we know what it is to pray for each other?  Are we speaking words of love and encouragement to one another?  Have we learned to look beyond the old nasty room in our brothers and sisters and to see them as God the Father sees them…in that nice new fresh room filled with Jesus Christ and God’s love and acceptance?