"But Jesus answered, 'Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink?' They said to him, 'We are able.' He said to them, 'You will drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.'"
Devotion
Go deeper
"Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink?"
The Cup You Cannot Refuse · poterion · G4221 · GREEK
Cup — used in Scripture to mean both literal drink and the appointed portion of suffering, destiny, or calling that God places before a person
James and John came to Jesus asking for the best seats in the kingdom — seats of glory and power and honor. Jesus responded not with a lecture but with a question: "Can you drink what I am about to drink?" He knew what was coming: Gethsemane, the arrest, the cross. The question is always the same before any true following — not "do you want the reward?" but "can you take the path?" James said yes before he knew the full cost. He kept saying yes until the sword fell.
📖 Matthew 26:36–39 · The Cup in the GardenJames was in Gethsemane the night Jesus prayed. He heard the words — or should have, if he hadn't fallen asleep: "My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will."
Jesus was drinking from the very cup he had asked James and John about. The cup of suffering, of obedience at total cost, of laying one's life in the hands of the Father and trusting what he does with it.
James had said "we are able." A few hours later he ran. But that was not his final answer. The Spirit of Pentecost would return his courage to him — and more.
Years later, when Herod drew the sword against the church, it was James who drank the cup first. He had finally caught up to his own declaration.
"We are able."
The Declaration Before the Cost · dynamai · G1410 · GREEK
To be able, to have the power or capacity — a claim made here in confident ignorance, but honored in the end by grace
James and John answered immediately. "We are able." It was partly bravado, partly genuine love, partly not knowing what they were saying. Jesus did not correct them. He accepted the declaration and then gave them the full truth of what it would mean. God often accepts our incomplete commitments and then does the work — over years and a lifetime — of making them true. James meant it when he said it. He just didn't know yet how right he was.
📖 Acts 12:1–3 · The Sword and the First FallenLuke records it with almost brutal brevity: "About that time Herod the king laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church. He killed James the brother of John with the sword."
Two sentences. The first apostle to die for Christ, and the record is two sentences. No speech. No last words. Just the fact of it, and the fact that it pleased those who hated the church.
But those two sentences complete something that began in an earlier scene — a young fisherman, full of fire, saying to Jesus: "We are able." He had no idea. And yet, somehow, he was.
He had drunk the cup. He had followed the path. He had kept his word, even if the keeping of it looked nothing like what he had imagined when he first said yes.
"You will drink my cup"
The Cup That Binds Us · pinomai · G4095 · GREEK
To drink — to partake of, to receive into oneself, to participate fully in; here, to share in the appointed suffering of Christ
Jesus did not warn James. He promised him. "You will drink my cup." It was not a threat or a curse — it was an honor and a prophecy. To drink the same cup as Jesus is to be united with him in the deepest possible way. James didn't receive the seat of honor he asked for — he received something greater: participation in the suffering of the one he loved. And in the economy of God, that is the higher honor.
📖 1 Peter 4:12–14 · Fire That Does Not SurprisePeter — who had also run, who had also wept, who had also been restored — wrote to believers facing persecution. "Do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you."
Do not be surprised. As if the cup was always part of the offer. As if Jesus had told them so. He had. James knew.
Peter continued: "But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings." Share. Participate. Drink the same cup. The word is almost identical to what Jesus told James and John: you will drink my cup.
This is the counterintuitive math of the kingdom: the cup that looks like loss is the cup that connects you most deeply to the life of the one who conquered death. James discovered it first.
Declarations
- ✦ I say yes to God before I know the full cost — and I trust him to make me able to keep my word. (Matthew 20:22)
- ✦ I am willing to drink the cup God gives me, because it connects me to the life of Christ. (1 Peter 4:13)
- ✦ The suffering of this present time is not the end of my story — glory is coming, and it is incomparable. (Romans 8:18)
- ✦ I will be faithful to the end, knowing that Jesus receives those who follow him all the way. (Revelation 2:10)
Prayer
Father, I confess I often want the glory without the cup, the crown without the cross, the harvest without the dying. Thank you for James — who said yes impulsively, ran in fear, and ultimately kept his word. Make my commitments to you more than words. Give me courage to drink what you give me, trusting that nothing in your cup is wasted. In Jesus' name, Amen.
Think about it
What is the "cup" in front of you right now — the hard thing God is asking you to say yes to? What would it mean to respond as James ultimately did: not with bravado, but with faithful, embodied obedience?
I will say yes to the cup God gives me today, trusting that his presence makes me able to drink it.
Open my personal devotional →Want daily reminders on your phone? Get the Witness Health app.