Preparations for the Passover
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.
Horsham: 23rd October 2025
Sometimes, we make preparations in advance a celebration, especially when food is involved. As a family, we plan where to meet over the Christmas and New Year period far in advance. Moments of coming together to share a meal with those that we love are profoundly important. Such moments are about much more than the food.
At times like that, the first thing to get sorted is normally the location. With all the tension during the build up to Passover weekend, it’s not surprising that the disciples were asking Jesus where they would be meeting for the meal which is at the heart of the celebration. One might have assumed that one or more of the disciples would do the leg work to find a room big enough for Jesus, the twelve, and those who were with them. Yet it turns out that Jesus has already got it all in hand. The level of planning is extraordinary. Two unnamed followers of Christ are dispatched into the city to look for an unnamed man carrying a water jar. In a city, swollen with visitors, that sounds like looking for a needle in a haystack, until we recognise that culturally, carrying the water jar was invariably a job for a woman. A man carrying water would be unusual. He would stand out.
This reads like a sub plot in a spy novel. There is an air of intrigue and secrecy, perhaps because Jesus does not wish to give Judas advance notice of the venue (Pawson, p277). The alley ways of Jerusalem are crowded and noisy. Somehow, the man with a water jar is in exactly the right place at the right time to meet the disciples. Without a word he leads them to a house, where someone is clearly expecting them. The right passwords having been given, they are shown to an upstairs room (which may or may not have been in the same house). The disciples arrive at what is about to become the most famous room in history. The room is clean and ready for them.
There is much preparation to be done. The lamb itself has already been found, procured and then killed as a sacrifice at the heart of the meal (v12). After the animal had been cleaned, it would have been roasted on a spit over an open fire. The table had to be arranged appropriately for the right number of people. Unleavened bread (without even a trace of yeast), salt water, bitter herbs, spices and cups of wine.
Everything has to be right. For Christ and his disciples, this is the Passover feast. The disciples can still not have grasped the special, world changing importance of this particular Passover. This was to be what Tom Wright calls the ‘’Passover with a difference’. (Wright, p192). The end is near. This is the last supper.
End Piece
‘As we read the narrative of the last week of his life, we cannot help being struck with the efficiency of his arrangement.’ (Barclay Loc 6648)
If we pause and reflect, we cannot help but notice that Jesus had a plan. The plan was in place long before the disciples knew about it. Jesus is in absolute control of events. Two of his followers are dispatched to do his bidding. He didn’t give them every detail, but he told them everything they needed to know. Whilst they didn’t fully grasp the enormity of the risk, they know that Jesus is a target for the authorities. They know that this places them in a risky place. They had to use their common sense, initiative and confidence to complete the task. It is their obedience, and their readiness to servve faithfully, to see the job through to completion, that brought about the most celebrated meal of all time.
I need to learn from this. Jesus has the plan. His followers didn’t have sight of the whole plan. They needed only to trust and obey. They need only use their God given common sense and initiative to get the job done. Thus, every moment of Church history is made.