Opportunities

The festival of Unleavened Bread, which is called the Passover, was near. The chief priests and the scribes were looking for a way to put Jesus to death, for they were afraid of the people.

Then Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot, who was one of the twelve; he went away and conferred with the chief priests and officers of the temple police about how he might betray him to them. They were greatly pleased and agreed to give him money. So he consented and began to look for an opportunity to betray him to them when no crowd was present.

Then came the day of Unleavened Bread, on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. So Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover meal for us that we may eat it.”

They asked him, “Where do you want us to make preparations for it?”

“Listen,” he said to them, “when you have entered the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you; follow him into the house he enters and say to the owner of the house, ‘The teacher asks you, “Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?” ’ He will show you a large room upstairs, already furnished. Make preparations for us there.” So they went and found everything as he had told them; and they prepared the Passover meal. (Luke 22:1–13)

Both Mark and Luke explain how Jesus told his disciples to find the place for the Last Supper. Jesus’ instructions are reminiscent of the story of Abraham’s servant who went to find a wife for Isaac. He prayed that she would be the one who drew water for both him and all his camels. So the location for the Last Supper was revealed by someone carrying water. That it was a man carrying a jar of water was unusual, since only women normally carried water for their households. Given the wording, “The teacher asks you, ‘where is the guest room’” most commentators think that Jesus had already arranged for this room.

Each year, Passover celebrated Israel’s deliverance from slavery in Egypt. It was no accident that Jesus was crucified during that holiday. Just as God rescued his people from physical slavery, so Jesus would rescue his people from spiritual slavery.

Although Jesus was facing a horrible death, he worked on getting ready for the Passover celebration. Jesus did not worry about his tomorrow; he only focused on his today. He has asked us not to worry about tomorrow as well. All we have is today and that is more than enough to keep us occupied.

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About R.P. Nettelhorst

I'm married with three daughters. I live in southern California and I'm the interim pastor at Quartz Hill Community Church. I have written several books. I spent a couple of summers while I was in college working on a kibbutz in Israel. In 2004, I was a volunteer with the Ansari X-Prize at the winning launches of SpaceShipOne. Member of Society of Biblical Literature, American Academy of Religion, and The Authors Guild
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