11/6/10- Luke 22:7-13 Jesus' Arranging Events

7 Then came the day of Unleavened Bread on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. 8 Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover.” 9 “Where do you want us to prepare for it?” they asked. 10 He replied, “As you enter the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him to the house that he enters, 11 and say to the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ 12 He will show you a large room upstairs, all furnished. Make preparations there.” 13 They left and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover.

(A reading in the Upper Room Crusader Church- it was this upper room in the City of David part of Jerusalem in which the Lord's Supper was held, where Jesus appeared after the resurrection, and where Pentecost began).

Thoughts: Some have thought Jesus had already arranged for the guy carrying the jar to meet them.  But there is no real indication of that.  In fact, it is far more likely that Jesus foresaw this event (and arranged it providentially rather than secularly), and his telling John and Peter about it was memorable because he was prophesying this.  It would be hard for a man to be walking around with a water jar all day waiting for two disciples.  Getting ready for the Passover was not taken lightly but was rather a major event.  In Jewish tradition, even the looking for the last crumb of leavened bread was turned into a liturgy.  The prophesying of where the Last Supper was to take place makes the event that much more special, and even the details of it were not taken lightly by Jesus.  Too often we take our celebration of communion too lightly.  The celebration of The Lord's Supper is the remembering and celebrating of Jesus as our Passover Lamb, and a recognition that He is alive to commune with us each day. 

Prayer: Lord, all things are under your control.  Thank you that you know all things and arrange much more than we recognize.  Give us grace to trust in  your plans.  Give us grateful hearts that you commune with us.

John Calvin: Christ performs this miracle of arranging the supper in order to strengthen their faith- because they would soon see Him in a state of weakness.  The Passover was not just that they would remember their deliverance, but also that they would look forward to their deliverance by the messiah.  Paul says, "Christ our passover lamb was sacrificed" (1 Cor. 5:7). It should be noted that the disciples did not question Jesus, nor did they question the man (even though many were out to get Christ).  But they peaceably submitted to Him.  So we too should be satisfied with the command alone and go forward wherever God commands;  We should expect the success He promises and not indulge in excessive anxiety.