Clear Communication & Darien

It was pointed out to me last night that I may have misspoken on Sunday. As I talked of the cup that Jesus told the disciples (and you and me) that they would indeed bear, what I hope was communicated was that they would later understand that he meant that their cup would bear an essence of the suffering and sacrifice of THE cup (the one and only atoning cup) that he cried out to the Father to remove in the garden, not that they were the same cup. Jesus was taking them from talking about his arrest, death, and resurrection (the one and only atoning cup) in Matthew 20:17-19 and with great intention uses cup as the metaphor, so they would know that true followers would have a SIMILAR, not the same bloody cup of atonement that only he could bear, cup that he predicts for them in verse 23. If I said they were the exact same cup, that was not my intent and I apologize because it would be heretical. There is one cup of salvation (Psalm 116) and only Jesus has drunk from that cup. However, we do have to be willing to bear and drink from a cup that contains the essence of its suffering and sacrifice. That was the point as He led us to understand the depth of servanthood -- that ours would resemble His which cost Him His life (vs. 28). Jesus said, “You will indeed drink from my cup.” So, the question that was posed is fair, “Are you ready to suffer and sacrifice for the sake of the Kingdom?”

While I am writing, I am trying to work through this Darien Black thing in my mind. Darien is the young man from Justin’s class who tragically ended his own life in the last week. I found out yesterday that there was a testimony given at his funeral that he had always told people that he got saved at a youth camp at The Bridge. This caused my mind to start racing. The first church camp of The Bridge in the summer of 2006 was in Eminence and there were some absolutely unforgettable events that took place there. Andy Sherrill’s talk along the river during the float trip on JOY (Jesus first, then others, then you), Derek Franklin getting bit by a poisonous snake and the frantic drive to the emergency room, and the youth band wowing us with their worship are all etched in our minds. Darien was a big part of that memory because he was the cow bell player in the band and he played loud and did not hit on the beat one time during the whole camp, but wow did he have a good time. It was fine and nobody said a word because he was new to church, and we were just ecstatic to see him so engaged. Somehow though, Darien got lost in the shuffle. He had not entered my mind for a long time until I heard of the tragedy. How can that be? How can people just slide into our frame of reference and back out again so easily. Apparently, he was dealing with things that nobody knew about. It makes me wonder who is in our midst right now that is dealing with things that nobody knows about, and maybe I am too busy to care? I pray that Darien’s family receive some peace from his encounter with the Gospel for a few days as he banged a cow bell way off beat.