Who Is Your Portion and Your Cup?

Last updated on: June 30, 2019 at 6:38 am by Anne Kennedy

Who Is Your Portion and Your Cup? 2019-06-30T06:38:11-04:00 Anne Kennedy

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

I couldn’t help, scrolling through this morning’s lessons, but circle back to that Atlantic article of a week ago, the one that begins with the vivid description of a man slumped over in an airplane,

“It’s not true that no one needs you anymore.”
These words came from an elderly woman sitting behind me on a late-night flight from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C. The plane was dark and quiet. A man I assumed to be her husband murmured almost inaudibly in response, something to the effect of “I wish I was dead.”
Again, the woman: “Oh, stop saying that.”

Arthur Brooks goes on from there to consider his own looming irrelevance, the inevitable intellectual decline faced by everyone as they go forward to the grave, step by step. You see it coming and ought to responsibly consider what to do. Do you dig in your heals and refuse to acknowledge it? Do you run? Do you make some kind of grand statement? Do you write a self-justifying book? Do you make sensible decisions about what’s coming next? Do you give way to other people? Do you despair?

If you’re wandering around in the Bible, Sunday lectionary in hand, looking for answers or something, you are welcome to despair. Elijah, ascending to the heights with signs of power, zealous for the Lord, nevertheless, when another round of trouble rises to great him, just can’t take it anymore. Crushed to earth, exhausted in the wilderness, as far away from the center of action as he can get, his plaintive, “I, even I only, am left” is me every morning, trying to face the bright dawn, not having the wherewithal to even begin to cope with another onslaught of evil, trouble, sin, inconvenience, personal misery, and occasional peril.

So the angel of the Lord feeds him, which, if you flip back over to Luke, so does the Lord feed all those exhausted wanderers in the wilderness, 5000 of them at least, a little earlier in that chapter.

The binding is Psalm 16—surely what Elijah meant to say if he hadn’t been so disappointed and tired. “I have set the LORD always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.” Except that he is, utterly shaken. As indeed are the three nameless seekers Jesus encounters on his flinty way south, to Jerusalem.
‘I’ll follow you,’ says the first, ‘no matter where you go.’
‘Probably not though,’ discourages Jesus, ‘you won’t be comfortable. There will be nowhere to sleep. Wild animals will be more settled than you if you come with me.’
‘I’ll come,’ says the second, ‘only let me go bury my parents,’ who, we might speculate, even if they had just died, would still need a year, at least, of burial attention. In other words, I’ll come, but not just now, because I have some important stuff to do.
‘I’ll come,’ says the third, ‘only let me first go say goodbye to my family.’ And you’d think Jesus would consider the offer, because it’s not like there are tons of people lining up to follow him—of his meager inner circle, one of those is a devil.

Because the way is hard. Terribly hard. There is really no ‘peak’ for the person who, like Elisha, sacrifices his plough oxen and burns up the plough itself and then, not looking back, goes rushing after the Lord. The peak is the cross, is defeat, is humiliation and death. That’s what you get to look forward to. Which is probably why, when God coaxes Elijah out of the cave, Elijah still covers his own face with his cloak because he just can’t bear to think about it. Not fire and a mighty wind, but a “thin silence.” That’s the promise if you take up Jesus’ invitation to pick up your cross and follow after him.

Maybe the Psalmist is deluded to be so cheerful, carrying on about lines falling in pleasant places, about being secure, about having the deep abiding inclination to rejoice. You could read it that way—the annoying optimist—or you could notice that this is the Psalm that Peter quotes on the day of Pentecost. It’s not about Elijah, or you, or me, it’s a Psalm about Jesus. Which makes it even stranger.
…Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge…he says on the way to the cross.
…The sorrows of those who run after another god shall multiply; their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out or take their names on my lips…he says to the world as he drinks down the foaming cup of God’s wrath down to its very dregs.
…The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup…he says as he dies.
The bit that Peter mentions is verse 10. And so does Paul somewhere…for you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, nor let your holy one see corruption.

Because that’s the true anxiety. However tired and disappointed you are by this life, there is always looming the complete disappointment of death and the dark, opaque unknowing of the next. Counting over your portion and your cup now, however great it is, you won’t be able to hold onto it. It will slip away from you and be left for other people to sort out.

Whereas, if you find that Jesus is your portion and your cup, the One who is always at your right hand no matter how far you run away, no matter the fire, the wind, or the thin unnerving silence, then you will never be abandoned to the corruption and darkness of Sheol. That is not the inheritance, the legacy, the hope you have to look forward to.

I’ll follow you, you might say to Jesus, hoping that he will make it easier now, better now, more bearable now. And so, as you are constantly confronted by the valley of the shadow of death you feel yourself longing to look back over your shoulder at the soft bed, the soothing meals, the pleasant company of this life. Don’t look back, says Jesus, it’s not worth it.

Only he can show you—in devastating and disagreeable trials—the path of life. Which is him. His presence, his person. That’s what you can look forward to, but that’s also what you have now.

Previous Post

June 27, 2019

Response to Official Nigerian Statement

Next Post

July 3, 2019 I’m Sorry I Didn’t Write, I Was Sleeping

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category books Catechesis of the Good Shepherd Children in Conversation culture watch Daily Devotions Demotivations with Anne faith alone for the grandparents GAFCON In conversation with children In the News Kitchen Notes Lambeth Learning Notes Life Going On Men are Human Notes from Home Pictures Reading the Bible Saturday Links Sermons Signs of the Apocalypse The Bad Word Association The Prayer of Jonah Travel Notes Uncategorized Witless Wednesdays Work and the Christian

Select a Month June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 July 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What does "Messiah" mean in both Hebrew and Greek?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Chosen Sacrifice Anointed one Beloved

Books by This Author Books by Anne Kennedy

See All Titles »