Can you drink the chalice that I am going to drink?"
They said to him, "We can."

What does it mean to drink from the chalice that Jesus offers his disciples?   In today’s gospel reading from Matthew’s gospel, Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem for the last time with the twelve and probably other followers.  He has been telling them for a while what will transpire in Jerusalem.  Again he gathers the Twelve around and tells them what will soon unfold. He will be abandoned by friends, condemned by the leaders of his community, handed over to the political authorities. He will be disgraced, tortured and crucified. He will die a slave’s death. But on the third day he will be raised. The Twelve probably heard this and could not wrap their heads around this!

In contrast after this, as if these words had not been uttered, the mother of the Zebedee brothers, James and John appeals to Jesus to give high places to her sons when he comes into his kingdom. She wants her sons well placed. He says to her, you don’t know what you are requesting. He asks James and John if they are willing to drink of the chalice that he will drink. He cannot promise the desired high places in the kingdom of his Father, but to be part of this kingdom he invites them to drink from the chalice. James and John eagerly answer, “We can.”

Do they really know what they are agreeing to?  Jesus again explains what participation in the kingdom means. The greatest are the least; the powerful ones are the servants of all. They are agreeing to radical servanthood.

Leadership in the kingdom is not about the best seats at the table. That’s the way of the world.  In the kingdom all are looking out for the needs and concerns of the other so that all have their needs met. All will have the best seats because those servant/leaders will be caring about their wellbeing. In partaking of the chalice the disciples are agreeing to be servants, to actually take the last seat at the table!

There is no getting around it, if I want to participate in the work of the kingdom; I want to drink of the chalice. Being a disciple means being as close as possible to the teacher and learning from him. “Can you drink the chalice that I am going to drink?” What does that mean for me in my life?  I don’t know. I trust in that unfolding on a daily basis and I hope in God’s mercy. I pray for the grace to accept the chalice, to be faithful to the life it imparts on me and to be as close as possible to where my teacher is.