Then the mother of Zebedee's sons came to Jesus with her sons and, kneeling down, asked a favor of him. "What is it you want?" he asked. She said, "Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom." "You don't know what you are asking," Jesus said to them. "Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?" "We can," they answered.“ (Matthew 20:20-22)
Why did the Zebedees' mother request this?
This clearly indicates that the woman is not realizing what this would curtail. She wants the best for her children and this is portrayed in her request.But she doesn't realize the work needed and the change of heart needed for one to return to the spiritual realm. And she doesn't realize the process that is required.
In other words, the Supreme Being doesn't want us to return to the spiritual realm unless we are ready. The citizens of the spiritual realm want to be with the Supreme Being. They love Him and want to please Him.
But because love requires freedom, the Supreme Being gave all of us the freedom to love Him or not. Those who didn't want to love Him became self-centered due to the void created by not loving God. As a result, we were sent away from the spiritual realm to the subtle and gross physical realm.
After becoming oriented, we were given physical bodies within the physical realm. These physical bodies allow us not to see the Supreme Being.
Within the physical realm, we can forget God and pretend He doesn't exist.
This means returning to the spiritual realm requires a significant change of heart. One's self-centeredness must be healed before one can return to the spiritual realm. Otherwise, it would be like being a bull in a china shop for a self-centered person to return to the spiritual realm.
What does Jesus mean by the 'cup'?
The word "cup" is translated from the Greek word ποτήριον (potērion) meaning "cup" or "drinking vessel." This is its literal meaning. According to Thayer's lexicon, when ποτήριον is used metaphorically, it means, "one's lot or experience, whether joyous or adverse, divine appointments, whether favorable or unfavorable."The “cup” that Jesus is referring to is his service to God and the forthcoming sacrifices that Jesus must make in his service to please the Supreme Being. Jesus illustrated this in a prayer that preceded his arrest:
“My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as You will.” (Matthew 26:39)Notice that Jesus uses the metaphor of the cup in his prayer as well. Jesus is the pure lover of God, and he wanted to make sure his actions were pleasing to his Beloved.
Thus when the woman asked that his sons get to return to the spiritual realm, Jesus is indicating the extent of the commitment necessary to do this: To dedicate one's life to pleasing the Supreme Being.
This means having a change of heart. It requires significant effort and focus, and gradual progress, and then a complete commitment. It requires a complete change of consciousness - from self-centeredness to becoming God-centered.
This does not come easily. It is not a matter of just proclaiming we are saved. Graduating to the spiritual world requires making a complete change in direction and focus: One where we seek to please the Supreme Being rather than seeking to please ourselves.
Are we understanding the spiritual world?
Many imagine heaven as a nice place - but absent of God. Michelangelo painted heaven as a place where people sat around playing harps and such - while God sort of floated above them. Others have also portrayed a place where people are relaxing in lawn chairs sipping lemonade.Still, others misquote Jesus' statement about "inheriting the earth" and imagine a heaven on earth after Jesus rides across the sky on horseback and kills all the "heathens."
All of these depictions of the spiritual realm miss the reality: That in the spiritual realm, the Supreme Being is the center. It is a place where everyone is participating in a particularly loving relationship with God, and their lives are focused on pleasing God and His associates. There is much activity surrounding these relationships.
We are originally from this spiritual world, and we each have a unique relationship with God. Our spiritual identity has nothing to do with the physical bodies we temporarily wear. These physical bodies last for a few decades and then they collapse. After that, they simply decompose. Our spiritual selves move on.
Should we redevelop our innate love for God, we may return home to the spiritual world and resume our loving relationship with Him. It is a matter of relationship. This is why Jesus also said:
“Not everyone who says to me ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 7:21)
