Mark 14:12-15
12 Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they killed the Passover lamb, His disciples said to Him, “Where do You want us to go and prepare, that You may eat the Passover?”
13 And He sent out two of His disciples and said to them, “Go into the city, and a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water; follow him. 14 Wherever he goes in, say to the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says, “Where is the guest room in which I may eat the Passover with My disciples?”’ 15 Then he will show you a large upper room, furnished and prepared; there make ready for us

 

These verses are, of course, detailing the events leading up to the Last Supper (The Passover Feast). Most everyone knows the story of the Last Supper and the events that transpired during it, so our focus today is not going to be on The Last Supper itself, rather we are going to look at how Jesus got to the upper room, and how we can apply this to real life……..

 

It is evident from many scriptures in the synoptic Gospels that in addition to helping Jesus teach and being sent on missions, the Disciples were also charged with taking care of the day to day needs of Jesus himself and the ministry as a whole. We still see this even today where most traveling Evangelists (specially the ones who have a large following) have a team of people that support them during the meetings as well as go ahead of the Evangelist into the next city/town where they will be holding a meeting to make sure everything is in order so that when the Evangelist gets there, he or she can concentrate on delivering the message.

 

So it was with Jesus and the Disciples. We see them in 12 coming to Jesus for instructions as to where they should go to celebrate Passover. Having no set home or even a set “base of operations” for any period of time, they bounced around from place to place wherever Jesus was lead by The Father to go and preach. Jesus’ answer to them when they ask about preparing a place for the Passover is to go into a city, meet a man carrying a pitcher of water, follow him and when you see his house, ask him where is your spare room so that The Master (Jesus) and his disciples can celebrate the Passover.

 

We are not told anything about the man who let them use his room, the Bible does not record anything about him other than the fact that he would be carrying a pitcher of water. SO then what is so significant about this man? Why am I devoting an entire sermon to him? Because of his REACTION.

 

When the Disciples came to him and followed him home, Jesus was very precise in his instructions. He told the Disciples to ask him where is your spare room so that the master (Jesus) can celebrate the Passover there. Again, we don’t know who this man was, whether he followed Jesus or the Pharisee’s, nothing….Now this man could have reacted in a lot of different ways. Two guys that he doesn’t know follow him home and say hey, where is your guestroom, we are gonna celebrate the holiday there. In todays world he might have called the cops and reported them for stalking….. The room was already set up for the celebration, so it is not to far of a stretch to think that the homeowner may have had plans to use it himself for his celebration. He could have said uh no, I don’t think so, I was gonna use that myself. Or he could have said, who is your master? Who are you? But he does not do either of these things, instead he shows them to the room, says here it is, you are welcome to it, and that was that.

 

What we can learn from this man is to be ready to receive The Lord without asking questions, or without making excuses. Sometimes, in fact a lot of times, the Lord just shows up, or sends his disciples with a message telling you to do something. As with the man here in these verses, no choice is given, just an offer…. Could this man have refused? Of course, God gave us all free will. Had he refused, they would have went elsewhere to celebrate. So it is with us… At some point Jesus will send His messengers to you with an offer. A chance to do something for Him. How will you react? When they come to your door, will you show them the upper room, inviting them in without question, even if you had other plans, or will you turn them away and tell them that you have other plans for that room (portion of your life)?

 

No matter whether it is The Lord wanting to work in a different way in your life, or something as simple as putting up the guest Preacher that is coming to your church this weekend, I urge you to show Him the upper room and tell him “it’s all yours, use it as you will”. If you do this, you will be blessed beyond measure. God will do great things with what you give him. You may have to change your plans a bit, but the reward will far outweigh any little problems you may have to deal with…..