There is a line in a well-known story of Jesus (Matt. 20:20-28) that often gets overlooked. James and John have just allowed their mommy to ask Jesus for permission for them to sit at his right and left hand in his coming kingdom. Jesus ignores the mother and speaks to the two men: “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink?”

They (foolishly) reply, “We are able.”

Jesus counters, “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.”

The story continues as the other ten disciples get upset with the two brothers, setting the stage for a powerful lesson by Jesus on servanthood, which is the main point of the recorded dialogue.

But did you pick up what Jesus told the disciples? Jesus predicted that they would drink his cup! This statement takes your breath away when you recall that at the Last Supper Jesus symbolized the blood that would pour from his own body with a cup of wine (Matt. 26:27-29), at Gethsemane Jesus agonized that the cup of suffering might be removed from him (Matt. 26:37-39), and at his arrest Jesus told Peter to put away his sword, adding: “shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?” (John 18:11).

Let me anticipate a question that might have already entered your mind: Wasn’t Jesus’s suffering unique — something only he could do? Yes, Jesus’s cup of suffering on the cross was unique; only his death could provide substitutionary atonement for our sins. That may be why Jesus rebuked the arrogance of James and John who thoughtlessly supposed they could drink his cup.

But there’s more to say. Jesus invites every disciple into suffering; there is a cup of suffering every disciple must drink. “A servant is not greater than his master” (John 15:20). Servants suffer along with their master.

So when the Apostle Paul reminds us that we share in Christ’s sufferings (2 Cor 1:5; Phil 1:29; 3:10), he’s just following the teaching of Jesus. Paul writes:

“we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings” (2 Cor 1:5)

“For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake” (Phil 1:29)

“that I may know him…and may share his sufferings” (Phil 3:10)

We shouldn’t expect our lives to be free of suffering, whether the kind we face when someone doesn’t like that we’re Christians, or the common kind of pain or disease or loss that everyone in a fallen and broken world experiences. If somehow you started your Christian life without someone explaining that you were signing up for suffering, it’s time to break it to you: there is no such thing as a Christian life without suffering.

But I find Paul’s openness to talk about suffering strangely comforting. He doesn’t try to hide the truth. When my wife and I lived in the Middle East, an elderly man — wise and godly — met with some of us who were serving the Lord there. One evening he cautiously reminded us that our decision to live as ambassadors for Christ in a difficult part of the world could place our long-term mental health at risk (not to mention other kinds of health). His words helped, since they validated what we had already begun to observe and experience. But isn’t Jesus worth even that? Thanks be to Jesus — we don’t suffer alone! We share in his sufferings. He walks with us through our suffering. He is with us in our sufferings because we are connected to him in his sufferings. Sharing Christ’s sufferings is one more aspect of what it means to be in Christ.

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This post was adapted from devotional #45 in How to Live an ‘In Christ’ Life: 100 Devotional Readings on Union with Christ.

This post and other resources are available at Kindle Afresh: The Blog and Website of Kenneth Berding.