Luke 22:1–13

Read the passage.

Now the stage is set for the last 24 hours before Jesus is killed. Passover draws close and the chief priests try to find some way to put Jesus to death that wouldn’t cause them backlash from the people, which would disturb the governing Romans. It turns out that the only way they could get to Jesus is by having one of His inner circle betray Him. Judas Iscariot, under the control of Satan, approaches the chief priests and agrees to betray Jesus to them when He is away from any crowds. Because Jesus has established the pattern of leaving the city for the night, Judas knows what part of the Mount of Olives they will be in.

What Judas doesn’t know is where Jesus will celebrate the Passover. Jesus gives instructions to Peter and John to go make preparations, but they have to ask where it will be. The directions Jesus gives them are strange. First, He says a man with a water jar will meet them. In this culture, women carried the water jars from the wells to the houses, while men carried water skins for their personal use. This man may have been very young, thirteen years old perhaps, or there were just no women at his house to do the work. (There is some circumstantial evidence that this man is Mark, who went on a missionary journey with Paul and wrote down the Gospel of Mark under Peter’s dictation.) Peter and John are to follow this man to a house, where they are to ask for the guest room for the Teacher and His disciples.

This must have been a pretty big house. The guest room was able to have at least thirteen men reclining at the table. Providentially (which is just a fancy word for God setting things up without us seeing it), all the furnishings for a Passover meal were there already. It sounds like all Peter and John had to do was get the food ready.

Nothing escapes Your notice and every detail is accounted for in Your plan.