That Lonesome Cup

Meditation on Matthew 26

The cup was in hand,

Passed around, shared,

Communion enjoyed amongst those who cared,

That merry band,

Together in thick and thin,

The Man in the centre they surround,

Who would soon be crowned,

And let them in,

And so that cup, together,

At the feast of feasts,

The greatest to the least,

With Him, share.

A beautiful dream,

Not one missing,

Hugging and kissing,

Near the King Supreme.

“Pass this cup as a seal,

Of My will to be done,

To gather you as One,

In days yet to reveal.”

For this He came,

To be with them,

And they with Him,

Divine fellowship to gain.

But then, the room left,

A garden again,

Pour out His soul’s pain,

Of friends bereft.

Another cup in hand,

Of fellowship not,

A lonesome lot,

A solitary stand.

His “friends” asleep,

While He can but kneel,

Accept the Father’s will,

Then they flee.

A cup together,

A cup alone.

Which to drown?

Which is better?

He stood for his own,

That was never a doubt,

But there on the mount,

He stood alone.

We had fled,

Unwilling to share,

In that dreaded affair

Of the dead.

How say we,

“See, I am left alone”?

When it is we who have flown,

And never He.

With that lonesome cup,

He slaked His thirst,

To share the first,

With us.