A PLACE

Can I pray for you in any way?

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Where do you want us to make preparations for You to eat the Passover?”

He replied, “Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, ‘The Teacher says: My appointed time is near. I am going to celebrate the Passover with My disciples at your house.’” So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them and prepared the Passover.

Matthew 26:17-19

On the first day of the Festival 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 room upstairs, 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.

Mark 14:12-16

Then came the day of Unleavened Bread on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover.”

“Where do you want us to prepare for it?” they asked.

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, 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?’ He will show you a large room upstairs, all furnished. Make preparations there.”

They left and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover.

Luke 22:7-13

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Jesus didn’t have much time left. In a day, He would endure an unjustified arrest, an unjust trial and rejection by the very people He came to save, a brutal and abusive beating, and as if this wasn’t enough, a crucifixion where He would draw His last breath while nailed to a cross. Not exactly something to look forward to.

But as we find Jesus on this day, He seems strangely focused on other things, in particular, the final Passover meal He would share with His disciples before His passing. There was still much to do in the way of teaching and preparing His followers for His pending absence.

Now it was customary in the day of Jesus for the Passover to be celebrated in two different ways. People could go to the temple for the special observance or they could choose to carry out the ceremonial meal at home. As we look at our scriptures for today, we find Jesus and His disciples opting for the latter option but there was only one slight problem.

Jesus and His disciples had no home in Jerusalem to observe the Passover.

This is why we find the disciples coming to their Master for guidance. They wished to do all the preparations needed for the meal but needed a place to carry out those responsibilities. It’s obvious they had confidence in Jesus to tell them what to do and He didn’t disappoint that trust for we find Him providing very specific instructions to His disciples.

First, they were to go into Jerusalem and meet a certain man carrying a jar of water. Note that the man would actually be looking for the disciples, amazing since Jesus hadn’t went in advance to make arrangements. We are reminded of the incredible supernatural power of Jesus and His ability to make things happen without even being present. His sheer will was enough to influence others.

Well, once the disciples rendezvoused with the man, Jesus tells them he would lead them to a house and once there, they were to talk with someone else, the home’s owner, giving him the following message from their Master:

“The Teacher asks: ‘Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with My disciples?’”

Matthew’s gospel account removes the question mark and makes Jesus’ request more of an order. He writes:

“The Teacher says: ‘My appointed time is near. I am going to celebrate the Passover with My disciples at your house.’”

Two different statements. One a question and one more of a heads up from Jesus. Each really intended to gain the same outcome:

Jesus was coming with His disciples and they were going to celebrate the Passover at the man’s house. End of story. In fact, Jesus even knew what room they would be given for the special observance, informing His disciples that they would be given a large, furnished upper room where they were to get things ready for His arrival with the others.

And so they did. We read where the disciples went into Jerusalem and found that everything happened just as Jesus said it would. Soon, Jesus would share His last supper with them.

As I read the way things played out in this build up to Jesus’ final Passover, I couldn’t help but think about the challenges and difficulties He faced when He entered into the world, born from a virgin named Mary in a lowly Bethlehem stable. That was thirty three years prior to where Jesus was as Passover arrangements were being made on the day before His death. On that day in Bethlehem, no one had room for Jesus but as we see in our devotion today, Jesus had a place this time where He would nourish Himself for the arduous, painful day ahead.

And soon, He would be granted an even better place, a place at God’s right hand where Jesus would sit in authority over everything in heaven and on earth, a place He still occupies today.

Now I don’t know where you are today, what place you might be in, but I do know that through the same Jesus that suffered and died for your sins, you can be assured of a place where there will be no more pain or suffering or hardship forever. For God, Your Father and Maker and Master, did not wish for you to perish from your sins but be pardoned and saved through the atoning work of His Son Jesus on the cross.

Yes, you can have a place, a place Jesus has already prepared for you, and through Him, experience your own personal Passover after this life ends as our Savior brings you victory over death and the grace.

Thanks be to God for His gift of salvation, freely granted through His Son, the Lamb of God who truly came to take away the sin of the world (John 1:29), the Son who is the only way we can come to God the Father (John 14:6).

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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