<p>20:23&nbsp;<em>He said to them: You shall drink</em>- Seeing even the Lord baulked at drinking that cup in Gethsemane, this is an incredibly positive comment to make. But none of us, including the twelve, die the death of the cross as Jesus did. He may have seen this as true insofar as by baptism into His death, His personal death and resurrection are counted to us, as if we have participated in it. As we reconstruct in our own minds His death, every fibre in our being cries out: 'I would not have endured that'. The wonder is that by baptism into Him, His death, that death, even the death of the cross, is counted to us. And with that we should be content, rather than seeking for grandeur in the resurrection age as the disciples were doing. When it came to actually giving the twelve His cup to drink, the Lord invited them: &quot;You- drink all of it&quot; (Mt. 26:27). The force of&nbsp;<em>pas&nbsp;</em>there appears to refer to all of the cup, the whole cup- rather than inviting all of the disciples to drink, because it was surely axiomatic that they were to all drink it. The Lord was saying that He counted them as having fully drunk His cup- a cup which He Himself flinched to take. This is the degree to which we are in Him and counted as participating in His death by reason of our status &quot;in Him&quot;. Another possibility is that the Lord spoke these words specifically to the twelve and envisaged that each of them would die through crucifixion- although whether they did is not historically confirmable.</p><p><em>My cup indeed</em>- John's equivalent of this is the Lord's word that unless we drink His blood and eat His flesh, we can have no salvation (Jn. 6:53). This therefore has reference to our participation in His death, and our symbolic acceptance of this in the breaking of bread. To drink the Lord's cup is parallel with partaking at the Lord's memorial table in 1 Cor. 10:21. The breaking of bread means many things, and each time we do it we may likely focus on different aspects. But it is not easy for us, or it should not be easy for us. To drink that cup can never be done in a blas&eacute; spirit of 'Yes, we are able'. Rather with humbled hearts do we accept that our being counted as having participated in it is by grace alone. Peter was amongst those who thought he was able to drink the Lord's cup, and yet the Lord had to rebuke Peter for seeking to deter Him from drinking it- &quot;Put up your sword... the cup which My Father has given Me, shall I not drink it?&quot; (Jn. 18:11). Peter's desire for the Lord not to drink it was psychologically rooted in his recognition that the Lord's cup was to be his cup.</p><p><em>But to sit on my right hand and on my left hand-&nbsp;</em>When the disciples foolishly sought to have what they thought were to be the favoured places at His right hand and His left, the Lord could have answered: &lsquo;You foolish people Those on my left hand will be condemned&rsquo;. But He graciously didn&rsquo;t comment on their glaring error. He pushed a higher principle- that we should not seek for personal greatness, seeing that God is the judge of all (Mt. 20:23). Yet sadly, so much of our preaching has been solely concerned with pointing out the errors of others without being sensitive to what little faith and understanding they&nbsp;<em>do</em>&nbsp;have, and seeking to build on it.</p><p><em>Is not Mine to give</em>- A profound rebuttal of the primitive and mistaken equation of Jesus with God which is found in Trinitarian theology.</p><p><em>But it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father</em>- A specific future is being prepared for each of us in God's Kingdom (22:4; 25:34; 1 Cor. 2:9; Heb. 11:16 &quot;He has prepared for them a city&quot;), a unique place prepared in the Kingdom for us by the Lord's death (Jn. 14:2,3) and yet&nbsp;<em>we&nbsp;</em>are likewise being &quot;prepared&quot; (s.w. Lk. 1:17,76; 12:47; 2 Tim. 2:21; Rev. 19:7; 21:2 &quot;His wife has&nbsp;<em>prepared</em>&nbsp;herself&quot;). God is preparing a unique destiny and role for each of us in His Kingdom, but that preparation work is in terms of how we are being prepared in this life. Therefore all our present experiences are specifically intended to prepare us for the kind of person and role we shall eternally have. In this lies the ultimate significance and meaning to human experience if we are indeed Kingdom people. A huge amount of intense preparation is being packed into a very short space of time in this life. The lack of meaning and significance attached to even is what causes the depression which dogs each secular person, especially as they grow older. The Lord's point was that He was going to the cross to prepare places for them all in the Kingdom (Jn. 14:2,3 s.w.). He had just predicted His death. This was where their focus was to be, rather than seeking something for themselves.<br />It&rsquo;s often been commented that God is beyond or even outside of our kind of time. God pre this present creation may have been like that, and He of course has the capacity and possibility to be like that. But it seems to me that particularly in connection with those with whom He is in relationship, He chooses to not exercise that possibility. Instead, God Almighty throws Himself into our experience, by limiting Himself to our kind of time- with all the suspense, hope, excitement, joy, disappointment which this involves. Time and again we read of how God says He is &ldquo;shaping evil against you and devising a plan&rdquo; against His enemies (Jer. 18:11; Jer. 26:3; Jer. 49:20,30; Jer. 50:45; Mic. 2:3; 4:12). For the faithful, He says that He is making plans for them for good and not for evil, &ldquo;to give you a future&rdquo; (Jer. 29:11). The Lord Jesus had this sort of thing in mind when He spoke of how the Kingdom will have been being&nbsp;<em>prepared&nbsp;</em>for the faithful from the beginning of the world (Mt. 25:34; Mt. 20:23).</p><p>John the Baptist was to &ldquo;prepare&rdquo; the way for the Lord&rsquo;s coming- evidently a process- in reflection of how God had been working a long time to &ldquo;prepare&rdquo; same Greek word the way for His Son&rsquo;s coming (Lk. 1:76; Lk. 2:31; Lk. 3:4). We likewise, in our preaching work in these last days, are working in tandem and in step with God. The idea of God 'preparing' implies that there is therefore a gap between the plan being made, and it being executed- hence &ldquo;The Lord has both planned and done what He spoke concerning the inhabitants of Babylon&rdquo; (Jer. 51:12; Jer. 4:28; Lam. 2:17; Is. 22:11; Is. 37:26; Zech. 1:6; Zech. 8:14).</p>