Mark 14:12-16 (NIV): On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, when it was customary to sacrifice the Passover lamb, Jesus’ disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to go and make preparations for you to eat the Passover?” So he sent two of his disciples, telling them, “Go into the city, and 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 upper room, furnished and ready. Make preparations for us there.” The disciples left, went into the city and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover.
As God provided everything for Jesus, so He provided even a place in crowded Jerusalem for Him to celebrate this last Passover feast with His disciples. All that was needed was for His followers to go and find it. And Jesus’ concise instructions were very easy to follow.
Jesus’ death occurring during the Passover had great symbolic meaning. The Passover itself celebrated the Israelites’ release from the bondage of slavery in Egypt 1500 years before. Jesus’ death provided release from the bondage of sin and death. As the blood of the spotless Passover lamb smeared on the doorposts of the Israelites’ houses saved them from death at the hand of the destroyer, so Jesus’ blood, poured out on the cross, saves all who trust in Him from the second death in the lake of fire (Revelation 20:14-15).
The disciples, even after three years with Jesus, were surprised to find everything just the way He had told them it would be. When they entered Jerusalem, teeming with people because of the holiday, they quickly saw a man carrying a jar of water – unusual, because women usually did the work of carrying water. When they followed him to his house and asked the owner where the guest room was where the Teacher could eat the Passover with His disciples, they were instantly shown to the large upper room Jesus had told them about. (This room would actually become their headquarters and gathering place over the next several weeks.)
There is some debate as to whether Jesus had pre-arranged all of this, or whether this was an instance of prophecy on His part. But that debate misses the main point, which is that Jesus went through His whole life and ministry trusting that His Father would provide everything that He needed, right when He needed it, and that He would be shown where to find it. Jesus wanted the disciples to develop that same reliance on God and His provision, so that they would know how to rely on their Father in heaven after Jesus had gone.
Father, I’m afraid that a lot of that discussion and debate comes because we are so used to organizing and orchestrating things ourselves, that we usually have little opportunity to see You work in these kinds of powerful ways to provide for our needs. Help us, Lord, to look to You more frequently for what we need instead of needing to provide our own security by preparing our own way and doing so much in our own strength, according to our own plans. Amen.