The cup which my Father has given me, shall I not drink it

The cup which my Father has given me, shall I not drink it? is the question Peter recalls from the night Christ was seized. Spoken as Peter reached for his sword to defend him, it rejects armed resistance in favor of accepting the suffering appointed by the Father; in the scene, the remembered words become the reason Peter stopped fighting.

The Arrest Peter Recalls

Peter tells the gathering that a company of men and servants of the priest came to seize Christ. When Christ asked whom they sought, they answered, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Peter says that Christ identified himself, and the men fell to the ground; they dared not seize him until he asked them again. The detail makes the arrest a moment of choice rather than simple overpowering: Christ allows the seizure to proceed.

Peter’s Sword and Christ’s Reply

Peter remembers the night as cold, while his own heart was seething. He drew his sword in defense of Christ and cut off the high priest’s servant’s ear. Christ then told him to put the sword back into its sheath and asked whether he should not drink the cup his Father had given him. The question presents the impending suffering as something Christ willingly accepts, not an outcome Peter should prevent through violence.

A Memory Interrupted

As Peter recounts the episode, he pauses, places his palm on his forehead, and falls silent, trying to hold back the recollections before continuing. His testimony therefore gives the saying a personal weight: Peter is not merely repeating a teaching but recalling the moment when his impulse to defend Christ met Christ’s refusal of the sword. Ursus, unable to restrain himself, rises, trims the light on his staff until sparks scatter and the flame rises, then sits and begins an interruption of his own. The account leaves Peter’s story unfinished at this point, with the remembered command still defining the conflict between armed defense and accepted suffering.