“My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done,” so Jesus prayed on the eve of his suffering and death. (Matthew 26:42) Later that night, he took the cup and said during the Last Supper, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” (1 Corinthians 11:25) All take the cup that Jesus drank from, and drink from it.
Imagine a cup with wine continually pouring into it and overflowing. Underneath the cup are more cups. The wine from the top cup spills into the cups below it. When they fill, they overflow into cups under them. This continues until a multitude of stacked cups fill and overflow, all receiving wine from the first cup, a pyramid of cups.
The wine that the cups receive is the sufferings and comfort of Christ (5). We share in sufferings (7; Acts 9:4; Colossians 1:24). The suffering comes first, and when we approach him, we receive his comfort. The comfort we are given is learned (6). “Although Jesus was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered” (Hebrews 5:8)
The commandment we receive from the Son is love. Love and compassion are not part of the sinful, fallen nature. Apart from God, we did not know love. (1 John 3:10, 16) We need to learn love. And so we learn love through obedience. The wine of compassion we receive is learned and passed on. We drink from the cup of Christ as he taught us.
