Charles Ellicott Commentary Matthew 20:22

"But Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink the cup that I am about to drink? They say unto him, We are able." — Matthew 20:22 (ASV)

You do not know what you ask — The words come to us as spoken in a tone of infinite tenderness and sadness. That nearness to Him in His glory could be obtained only by an equal nearness in suffering. Had they counted the cost of that nearness?

To drink of the cup that I shall drink of — The words that follow, 'to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with,' are not found in many of the best manuscripts and have probably been added to bring St. Matthew’s narrative into harmony with St. Mark’s. For the sake of completeness, however, they will be examined here.

First, we must ask: How did the two disciples understand our Lord's words? We are familiar with their meaning, but was it equally clear to them? As far as the cup is concerned, there can be little doubt that any reader of the Old Testament would at once recognize it as a symbol of good or evil fortune. There was the cup running over of Psalm 23:5, the wine-cup of fury of Jeremiah 25:15, and the cup of astonishment and desolation of Ezekiel 23:33.

The meaning of 'baptism' was perhaps less obvious (see the note on Matthew 20:29 regarding our Lord’s use of this symbolism). Yet here also, Old Testament imagery provided context, such as the overwhelming proud waters of Psalm 124:5 and the waves and billows of Psalm 42:7. The very verb 'to baptize' (that is, to plunge into the deep) was used by Josephus for the destruction of a city (Wars, iv. 3, § 3) and by the Septuagint for 'terrifying' in Isaiah 21:4. Our Lord Himself had already used it in a dim, mysterious reference to His coming passion (Luke 12:50).

There was enough, then, to lead them to see in their Master’s words an intimation of some great suffering about to fall on Him, and this is, in fact, implied in the very form of their answer. 'We are able,' they say, in the tone of those who have been challenged and accept the challenge. Of course, their insight into the great mystery of the passion was minimal compared with their Master’s; this lies in the very nature of the case. When the beloved disciple, in later years, taught by his own experience and by his brother’s death (Acts 12:2), reflected on the words, Let this cup pass from Me (Matthew 26:39), he must have seen much more clearly into its depth of meaning.