Drink the Bitter Cup

In the most recent general conference, Elder Christopher H. Kim encouraged us to not harden our hearts. He taught that the Savior was the ultimate example of this by humbling Himself before the Father. Elder Kim added, “At the end of His mortal life, Jesus Christ submitted His own will to His Father by partaking of the bitter cup. This suffering caused Him ‘to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit.’ The Savior asked that He ‘might not drink the bitter cup, and shrink.’ ‘Nevertheless,’ He said, ‘glory be to the Father, and [He] partook and finished [His] preparations unto the children of men.’” The Savior also referred to this “cup” He was to drink shortly before His crucifixion. After Peter cut off the ear of Malchus when Jesus was being arrested, the Son of God said, “Peter, Put up thy sword into the sheath: the cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?” (John 18:11) Jesus was determined to drink the cup, no matter how bitter, in order to do the will of the Father. He had had a similar experience with Peter about six months prior when the chief apostle suggested that He would not suffer and be killed as the Savior alluded. Jesus responded, “Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men” (Matthew 16:23). I believe the Savior wanted those closest to Him to support Him in drinking this cup despite the unimaginable pain it would cause Him. And after fulfilling His mission, He wanted it known that He had drunk the cup as the Father had required. He announced to the people at Bountiful, “I have drunk out of that bitter cup which the Father hath given me, and have glorified the Father in taking upon me the sins of the world, in the which I have suffered the will of the Father in all things from the beginning” (3 Nephi 11:11).

               As I ponder this symbolic cup that the Savior drank, it reminds me of the scene in the 6^th Harry Potter book when Dumbledore forced himself to literally drink a bitter substance as a part of his efforts to save the wizarding world from Voldemort. He said to Harry before he began, “This potion must act in a way that will prevent me from taking the Horcrux. It might paralyze me, cause me to forget what I am here for, create so much pain I am distracted, or render me incapable in some other way. That being the case, Harry, it will be your job to make sure I keep drinking, even if you have to tip the potion into my protesting mouth. You understand?” With those instructions Dumbledore started to drink, and as he predicted, he did not want to keep drinking. He cried out in agony, “I don’t want… Don’t make me… don’t like… want to stop….” But he kept drinking and it continued to get worse. “Make it stop, make it stop…. No, no, no, no, I can’t, I can’t, don’t make me, I don’t want to.” Eventually he cried out, “I want to die! I want to die! Make it stop, make it stop, I want to die!” But with Harry’s prodding he kept drinking until the whole cup had been drunk and Dumbledore was nearly dead. He survived and Harry helped him make it back to Hogwarts, where he there gave up his life voluntarily and was killed as a part of his plan to help Harry defeat Voldemort. I can’t help but see the similarities with how the Savior drank His bitter cup in Gethsemane, only to then offer His life on Calvary willingly for the salvation of all mankind. The Savior did not want to drink the cup, but He did and fulfilled the plan of the Father for us all.

               Elder Maxwell applied the Savior’s bitter cup to us when he said this: “As we confront our own lesser trials and tribulations, we too can plead with the Father, just as Jesus did, that we ‘might not … shrink’—meaning to retreat or to recoil (D&C 19:18). Not shrinking is much more important than surviving! Moreover, partaking of a bitter cup without becoming bitter is likewise part of the emulation of Jesus.” We must keep drinking the bitter cups that we are given when it is the Father’s will that we do so. In other words, we must hold fast to our covenants with the Lord no matter how hard it gets or how tempted we are to shrink from them. And as we drink the bitter cups and resist the temptation to become bitter, we will find as Elder Kim taught, that “there is peace and joy” in following the example of the Savior.