Thursday, September 22, 2022

Mark 14:12-16


12 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?”
 
13 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. 14 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?’ 15 He will show you a large room upstairs, furnished and ready. Make preparations for us there.” 16 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

Today, we continue our study of Mark 14 where a clear contrast 
has been established between those who are defined by the God of truth and those who are not. With that in the background, the scene shifts to Thursday of the final week of the Lord Jesus on this earth. It was the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread.

In v.12 of today's passage we read, "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?'"

On Passover, the Hebrews gathered to share a meal which celebrated the Exodus, the nations deliverance from slavery in Egypt. The time of Israel's slavery in Egypt was so hard, yet it was the will of God for them. As with all things, good or bad, there is always to be found the purposes of God for our lives and the lives of those whom we love. Sometimes, we find it difficult to imagine that God causes or allows certain things in our lives. But, we can be assured that His will is the best for us and it will come to meaningful fruition. 

For the Jews in Egypt so many years ago, it was during that 400 year period that God grew their nation from one family to up to 2 million people. God clearly uses the trials that come into our lives to tune our hearts and souls to be able to recognize and follow Him. Without tests, there are no testimonies. 

In his first epistle, the Apostle Peter wrote, "These (trials) have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith, of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire, may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed."

Within the celebration of Unleavened Bread and the Passover is seen the beauty of this mysterious principle. During the tenth plague in Egypt, those who trusted the LORD applied the blood of the sacrificial lamb to the doorposts of their home. As a result, the death angel passed over their house and their firstborns were spared from death.

When we are going through the intensity of a trial, we struggle to see that each trial has meaning and purpose. And, that purpose is primarily that we would know the LORD and His culture. We must rest in this fact: God is sovereign, He is good, and He has our best interest in mind. But we have difficulty seeing this because we lack the experience with Him to see these most awesome truths.

Max Lucado puts it this way, "God views our lives the way we view a movie after we’ve read the book. When something bad happens, we feel the air sucked out of the theater. Everyone else gasps at the crisis on the screen. Not us. Why? We’ve read the book. We know how the good guy gets out of the tight spot. God views our lives with the same confidence. He’s not only read our story…he wrote it. His perspective is different, and his purpose is clear."

In v.13-15 of today's passage we read, "13 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. 14 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?’ 15 He will show you a large room upstairs, furnished and ready. Make preparations for us there.'"

In the culture of that day, men generally carried water in animal skins, while women carried it in jars. These skins retained water naturally and therefore were useful for carrying water. A man carrying a pitcher of water was unusual in those days and would have been an obvious signal to the disciples. And, of course, that was what the Lord Jesus told the disciples to look for when they went into Jerusalem.

There is another feast of the Jews which centers around the carrying of a jar of water by a man. It is referred to in John 7 where the Lord Jesus said, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, 'Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water.'" 

We do not know what the next moment of our lives will bring. But, we have come to know the One who has invited us to follow Him through the ebbs and flows of life. As we follow Him through prayer and scripture reading primarily, we learn to see Him with our hearts and our souls. This is not an easy habit to form. It takes time. But, He has promised that if we do that, out of our hearts will flow rivers of living water.

In v.16 of today's passage we read, "The disciples left, went into the city and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover."

It all happened as the Lord Jesus had told the disciples. When they arrived in Jerusalem, the sent disciples immediately saw a man carrying a jar of water. The disciples, therefore, followed the instructions of the Lord Jesus and made preparations in a large upper room in a man's house in Jerusalem.

The Lord Jesus very subtly illustrated the beauty of His will and His culture. He gave the disciples reassurance by showing them His omniscience, for He knew in advance that there would be a room and an accommodating owner of the room. The disciples, as a result, obeyed the Lord Jesus, and, as a result of their obedience, they enjoyed the omniscience and omnipotence of the God of the Bible. This all aided the deepening of their relationship with Him. The more they saw Him in control, the more they trusted Him. This is the way it works. Such is the process of knowing God, His power, and realizing His will in and through our lives daily.