Did they know what they were asking? (Mk 10:38-10:38)

“But Jesus said to them.

‘You do not know

What you are asking?

Are you able

To drink

The cup

That I drink?

Are you able

To be baptized

With the baptism

That I am baptized with?’”

 

ὁ δὲ Ἰησοῦς εἶπεν αὐτοῖς Οὐκ οἴδατε τί αἰτεῖσθε. δύνασθε πιεῖν τὸ ποτήριον ὃ ἐγὼ πίνω, ἢ τὸ βάπτισμα ὃ ἐγὼ βαπτίζομαι βαπτισθῆναι;

 

There is something similar to this in Matthew, chapter 20:22, but slightly different.  Jesus answered them (ὁ δὲ Ἰησοῦς εἶπεν αὐτοῖς) by asking if they knew what they were requesting (Οὐκ οἴδατε τί αἰτεῖσθε).  Were they able to drink the cup (δύνασθε πιεῖν τὸ ποτήριον) that he was about to drink (ὃ ἐγὼ πίνω)?  The idea of a cup as suffering or the cup of wrath could be found among the major prophets in Isaiah, chapter 51:17, Jeremiah, chapter 25:15, and Ezekiel, chapter 23:31.  Jesus asked them if they were ready to be baptized with the baptism that he was going to undergo (ἢ τὸ βάπτισμα ὃ ἐγὼ βαπτίζομαι βαπτισθῆναι)?  This baptism was a form of suffering.