In the center of the All Saints Episcopal Church window is the Cup of Christ. We see a chalice and wafer against a red backdrop. It would be possible to read this element as a reference to Holy Communion. Because of the overall context of the window and the red backdrop we are intended to read the center of the window as the Cup of Christ, that is, the agony which Jesus endured for us. This was a willful act of obedience on the part of Jesus.
The cup being referred to is the cup Jesus mentions in Matthew 26:39 during His prayer in Gethsemane. Jesus’ last words at his arrest recorded in John 18:11 refer again to the cup. This cup is God’s righteous judgment and punishment for sin, which Jesus obediently took on for the world. (See Psalm 75:8, Isaiah 51:17 and Jeremiah 25:15-17).
For Jesus, on a surface level, the cup will manifest itself as mocking, scourging, and crucifixion for us. It goes deeper. For Jesus, the cup goes to a level that I cannot fully comprehend. A sinless Jesus was being made to be sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21). It caused him to cry out: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” This was hell.
Sometimes I simply sit and think on what Jesus has done for me.
In part 4, we begin to move out to the twelve Apostles beginning with the brothers James and John whose lives end in very different ways.