Full
He began to sup the cup of suffering
the night He changed the plan.
We see His life, His acts, His steps
and ask, “Who is this Man?”
Molecules obeyed and were transformed,
not needing fruit or vine
for clear water in purified jars
to darken into wine.
What need has He for every step,
who treads on water like stone
and who convinces essences of things
to change at His word alone?
He filled the jars, He filled the reveling,
His deeds unseen by most,
He the secret Banquet Master
and most generous of Hosts.
With His mouth He said His time,
the one He set above,
had not come, but with His choice
He said much more of love.
With His life, He drained the cup
full to the brim with pain,
the one He plead to let pass by,
but, o, He plead in vain,
surrounded not by fruits of vine
but by fruits of the trees,
olives meant to be pressed as He,
crushed, o, crushed for me.
Honored fruits, honored oil,
witnessing sublime,
an incomplete anointing of the One
anointed before all time.
The cup He began at Cana,
a drink years deep, yes, three,
He saw the vessel’s bottom
that night among the trees
and drained the dregs, He drank them dry
in a manmade triad forest,
branches empty except for men
and for heaven’s purest.
Deep into the wilderness strode
the only Lamb who had a choice,
yet chose not to defend Himself,
nor to raise His voice.
Vulnerable by no will but His own,
accepted our filth to His own wool,
emptied His cup, emptied Himself,
in order to make ours full.
Background:
In the last few months, people at my home church have gathered to watch the show, The Chosen, on most Fridays and use it to start discussions about Jesus, His life, and His ministry. The last time I was able to go, we watched the episode about Jesus’ first miracle changing water to wine at the wedding in Cana.
During the show and our discussion, it hit me that in the garden of Gethsemane, before His sacrificial death, Jesus asked for the cup of suffering to pass from Him if there was any other way, and His first miracle was making wine. In His first miracle, He filled the cup in more ways than one. He told His mother that His time hadn’t come yet to begin His ministry, but He listened to her and did what she asked anyway. He changed the plan. From what it sounds like, He started drinking the cup of suffering early. O, what a Savior!
Those are the roots for this piece. I have been feeling convicted lately about lukewarmness in my own life. What better step away from that and back in the right direction than looking again at Jesus?
Wishing you goodness without end,
Jess