A Cup of Anguish

Do you ever use the word “anguish” in your everyday conversations? It is such a powerful word. The Oxford English Dictionary defines anguish as “physical pain or suffering, especially intense bodily pain; agony, torment” or “severe mental suffering or distress; intense grief or sorrow.” Physical and mental torture is a simpler way to define this word. Luke, in his Gospel account, captures what it means to be in agony.

“And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground” (Luke 22:44).

Does anguish come to mind when you drink the cup during the Lord’s Supper on Sunday? Do you think about the anguish that Jesus went through? Do you focus on the blood that was spilled? Not only the blood that spilled while He was flogged and while He hung from a cross, but also while He was praying to the Father that this cup could pass from Him. Jesus used the “cup” synonymously with the intense suffering He would go through so that His blood could be spilled. Jesus was approached by James and John’s mom in Matthew 20:20-21 asking if her two boys could sit on His right and left in His Kingdom. Jesus responds, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink?” (Matthew 20:22). What cup was Jesus about to drink? Earlier in the context, Jesus explains to His disciples the anguish He would face. That was also the same cup He prayed three times to have passed from Him in Matthew 26:39. What is so fascinating about that prayer is the ending, “nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will” (Matthew 26:39). What an example of submission and selflessness. 

How much anguish would be too much for you to go through? Could you face the flogging? Would you be able to carry the cross? Could you listen to nails being driven through your hands and ankles? I know I wouldn’t be able to go through much, but I am truly thankful Jesus was able to.

I want to encourage you to be thankful for the anguish Jesus was willing to go through on your behalf.

— Matt Jones