Mark 14:16

New International Version

The disciples left, went into the city and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover.

For Meditation

I am often amazed at the simplicity of the Lord and the way He exercised authority on earth.

On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, Jesus sent two of His disciples to go into Jerusalem to prepare a place for Him to eat the Passover meal (Mark 14:12). What was the right place for them to go, and how could they get a room for the occasion?

Jesus just told them:

A man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him. Say to the owner of the house he enters, The Teacher asks: Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples? He will show you a large room upstairs, furnished, and ready. Make preparations for us there.

And that was what happened.

Simple minds have postulated that Jesus had prearranged all of this before the time. It is a shame for academia to put out such a proposition to confuse and deceive many. Think about it for a minute. 

Where did Jesus go without His disciples? What did He do without their involvement?

Locating the man carrying a jar of water in a crowded Jerusalem during the Passover festival was like searching for a needle in a massive bale of hay.

The location of the meeting, the timing of it, the description of the room, and the obedience of the house owner should baffle the astute inquirer. That is how the sinner meets the All-knowing God, who providentially sets everything up for His purpose, owns everything, and authoritatively commands them for the outworking of His redemptive plan.

Notice what He told the disciples to ask the man for: MY guest room (14).

How could anybody miss Jesus through these scriptures preserved to reveal Him to the world as God incarnate? He is the Savior and the only way to the Father, the only truth to believe, and the only One in whom is life (John 14:6).

May you find Him today and live! Amen.