Jesus the King by Timothy Keller
Week 11: Chapter 10 — The Cup
Read Chapter 10 of Jesus the King. Primary text: Mark 14:12–72.
Previewing Week 11 of Jesus the King
Read 3 of 7 discussion questions below. Unlock the complete 14-week guide when you’re ready.
Gethsemane and the arrest — Keller takes us to the dark heart of the story, where Jesus faces the cross alone, and every disciple fails; this is the chapter where the cost of our salvation becomes most viscerally real.
Discussion Questions
7 questions1.At the Last Supper, Jesus takes bread and wine and declares them his body and blood. Keller argues that Jesus is not just instituting a ritual but making a breathtaking claim — that he himself is the Passover Lamb, the sacrifice that liberates God's people from the ultimate slavery. How does this Exodus background change the way you understand the Lord's Supper? What should it feel like to participate in it?
2.In Gethsemane, Jesus prays: "Father, everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will." Keller spends a great deal of time on what "the cup" means — drawing on Old Testament imagery where the cup of wrath is God's response to human sin. What is the cup Jesus is asking to have removed? Why is his willingness to drink it the hinge of the entire gospel?
3.Jesus is "deeply distressed and troubled" in Gethsemane — language that Mark uses to describe extreme emotional anguish. Keller argues this is not a failure of nerve but a real reckoning with what the cross will cost. How does the full humanity of Jesus in this scene affect your understanding of his suffering? Why does it matter that he was genuinely afraid?