"Can you drink the cup that I drink . . ?” Mark 10: 35-45

Two men were working in a rail yard, driving spikes into the railroad ties with eight-pound sledgehammers. As they worked in the heat of a summer day, a private railcar and engine came upon them and slowed to a stop. A man stuck his head out of the window and yelled at one of the two workers, “Charlie, is that you, my friend?” One of the workers put down his sledgehammer and replied, “Joe, I haven’t seen you in years.” The man in the window asked Charlie to come aboard.

A little later, Charlie and Joe shook hands and Charlie left the car. His coworker said, “Charlie, do you know that man is the president of the railroad?” “Yes,” said Charlie, “we started working for the railroad together twenty-five years ago.” The friend had to ask, “If you both started swinging sledgehammers together, then how is it that he is the president of the railroad and you are still swinging the sledgehammer?”

Charlie replied, “Twenty-five years ago I came to work for $10.00 an hour. He came here to work for the railroad!”

James and John, in this weekend’s gospel, came to Jesus for their own self-interest. Jesus called them instead to work for the Kingdom. James and John wanted all the glory without the cross.

In this Gospel, Jesus poses the challenge: Can you drink the cup I will drink? Our first inclination is to say, No, Lord, I can't. It's too much to ask.

Jesus promises us that if we try to imitate his compassion, if we seek to do what is right and good, and if we are motivated by generosity of heart, then the strength of God will be ours.  If we work for the Kingdom, we will find that we can drink Jesus' cup. It won't always be easy nor will it go smoothly. Yet, like Christ, when we work for the Kingdom, we come to experience the real joy of God’s presence always. Nothing else can ever compare to it! Put down the sledgehammer and start working for the Kingdom.