On Sunday, the “cup of joy” of not only one team — but an entire nation, Germany — overflowed while the “cup of sorrow” of colossal countries — Argentina and Brazil — if not the whole Latin American continent, brimmed over. The previous Sunday, before Novak Djokovic kissed his Wimbledon Cup, he plucked and chewed on blades of grass. Was that grass-root symbol of the sweat-tears-blood sacrificially shed by champions?
Besides Wimbledon and Fifa World Cups, life is full of cups. Right now, you’re probably sipping your morning cuppa tea. Yet, though certain liquids are best dru-nk in special cups, what matters most is not what the cup is made of but what it is made for and what one makes of it. Biblical writers saw cups as crucial not for their compositions but for their contents: containing blessings if they sustained life, quenched thirst, engendered companionship; holding curses if inducing drunkenness and death.
In Nathan’s parable a poor man loves his lamb so much that he lets it drink from his own cup and Jesus commends anyone who gives the thirsty a cup of water. Isn’t it tragic that many of our Indian sisters and brothers aren’t allowed to drink from the same cup as others?
Since a cup conveys love, comfort, strength and fellowship, the Bible uses cup to symbolise God’s blessings as in Psalm 23: “my cup overflows.”
Conversely, cup can signify divine wrath on the unrighteous when God forces them to: “Drink, get drunk and vomit, and fall to rise no more”.
While drinking wine in moderation is okay, the Bible denounces drunkards who lose their dignity, disobey God, disregard others and drink their own doom “down to its very dregs”.
This also applied to the greedy Corinthians who in the Christian celebration ate and drank to their hearts’ content, before the poor arrived.
Cups somehow marry human and divine, earth and heaven. How elevating to see a footballer reverently touching the field before the game or a goal-getter looking he-avenward in humble, grateful acknowledgement that sans God’s grace all human effort is goalless! Facing death, Jesus prays: “Father, take this cup away from me”.
He then surrenders with heroism: “Shall I not drink the cup my Father has given me?” Indeed, for Jesus, “cup of a new covenant” meant faith, fortitude, forgiveness, love and service.
Messi’s magic, Neymar’s tears, Klose’s tenacity require toasting. But, I toast a louder “Jai Ho!” to that shuttler who recently won the Australian Open and earlier the Swiss Open. Battling bravely with blistered feet, Saina Nehwal confessed: “I’ve never played with such bad blisters. But, I’m so happy.”
Did you notice the tears as she kissed that Cup?
Francis Gonsalves is a professor of theology. He can be contacted at fragons@gmail.com
