An ordinary cup

Have you ever seen the movie Indiana Jones And The Last Crusades? Maybe you have, or maybe you haven't. The movie depicts Jones going after the "Holy Grail." This grail or cup was supposed to be the cup that Jesus used at His last supper with His disciples. Jones was trying to find it, and so were others because the cup was said to have supernatural powers and grant immortality to those who drank from it.

Perhaps you haven’t seen the movie, but I am sure you have seen how people have tried to place a special meaning on the cup used in the Lord’s Supper. It's important to remember that the movie we referenced is a work of fiction. There is no 'Holy Grail' or a special cup. Instead, a humble, ordinary cup is used at Jesus' Last Supper. As Matthew 26:27 tells us, 'And He took a cup, and when He had given thanks He gave it to them, saying, "Drink of it all of you.”

Did Jesus take the Holy Grail? Did Jesus take the special cup? Pay close attention to what Matthew says. He notes that Jesus took "a" cup. That one-letter word has a powerful message for us: There is no power in this ordinary cup. Rather, the power lies in the meaning.

The Lord's Supper cup or cups are just ordinary vessel(s) that contain ordinary contents, which would be the fruit of the vine. Here is the powerful part. Those two ordinary things have an extraordinary meaning. The cup may be an ordinary vessel, but it's a vessel that gives an extraordinary message to all of us. A message that the blood of Jesus would be spilled so that the New Covenant could begin (Hebrews 9:16). Understand that the value should not be placed on this ordinary cup but rather on the meaning of the contents in the cup.

I want to encourage you to do something today. Praise God that He can take an ordinary vessel and have it contain an extraordinary message.

— Matt Jones