Sunday
Author: Bruce Wong, Pastor, Cumberland Peninsula Community Church, Millbrae
7 Then came the day of Unleavened Bread on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. 8 Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover.” 9 “Where do you want us to prepare for it?” they asked. 10 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, 11 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?’ 12 He will show you a large upper room, all furnished. Make preparations there.” 13 They left and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover. (Luke 22:7-13, NIV)
By the time Jesus arrived, the Jews were well-versed in how to eat the Passover. After reading the Law and following the traditions and interpretations attached to it for hundreds of years, they knew when and how to celebrate it. Perhaps the only question in the disciples’ minds was where.
Jesus did not answer that question directly by telling them exactly where to go; instead, He told them to look for a man carrying a jar of water. But the disciples might have wondered: Where would he be? What time would he be walking? How full would the jar be? What if the room was not ready? How much might he charge us? The bottom line was that the disciples would have to have faith that Jesus knew beforehand that they would meet this man and that things would be as He said, and not as they wondered.
That’s what it means to follow Christ — to trust in the assurance that He knows what He is doing. Just as Abraham took Isaac up the mountain, trusting that God would provide a sacrifice, just as Joshua marched the Israelites around Jericho thirteen times in seven days, and just as Jeremiah kept preaching even though no one responded to him, we too, have to keep trusting in Jesus, even if we don’t know the whole plan.
He will provide, quite often in ways we don’t expect and always in ways we don’t deserve. That’s grace on His part. And for us to receive that grace requires faith on our part. That’s the beauty of Ephesians 2:8-9.
So however dark or difficult the path may be, know that God has a purpose and that He will always come through. He is faithful; we can trust Him.
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The ISAAC 2009 Lenten Devotional, edited by Rev. Dr. Johnson Chiu. This devotional was written by Asian American English ministry leaders and pastors in the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond. To purchase, click here: Road of Suffering, Road to Glory: A Lenten Adventure with the Savior
