Then came the first day of Unleavened Bread on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. And Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover for us, so that we may eat it.” They said to Him, “Where do You want us to prepare it?” And He said to them, “When you have entered the city, a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water; follow him into the house that he enters. And you shall say to the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher says to you, “Where is the guest room in which I may eat the Passover with My disciples?”‘ And he will show you a large, furnished upper room; prepare it there.” And they left and found everything just as He had told them; and they prepared the Passover. (Luke 22:7-13 NASB)
While tempting, I’m not going to delve into the timing of the Last Supper of Jesus. There’s lots of debates, and I tend to favor John’s timing which appears to differ with the other three writers, and there I stop…this morning. Instead I want to again visit the use of knowing everyone and everything that Jesus has. Back in Luke 19:28-35, Jesus just knows where a certain colt would be tied, to whom it belonged, and that it would be agreeable to them for Him to use it. He already knew that. Lots of possible explanations exist, but none are given. We’re left with no natural explanation leaving the spiritual explanations (i.e. Jesus’ deity) open for application.
We are confronted with the humanity of Jesus throughout the four Gospels, and yet, in each, we also glimpse the divinity. I think this is too important to miss, that Jesus exemplifies both qualities simultaneously. Because Jesus knows what’s coming in an intimate and very personal way we can’t imagine or experience ourselves. He is at once aware of the present, but also of the past and future (too an extent – He says He doesn’t know when He will return). He knows the house, and the people in it where they will celebrate His last Passover.
The point I’m trying to bring out here is the tendency that perhaps I’m alone in, where I only think of Jesus in one way. Either I don’t allow for His humanity (physical weaknesses) or I don’t allow for His deity (co-existence with God in human form). And yet these simultaneous realities are absolutely necessary for what’s about to happen. The practical application for me is that Jesus already knows what I’m going to face today, so I don’t have to worry. On the other hand, the duality of Jesus where we have the Trinity located together in a physical body, at least in a sense, will define the crucifixion and resurrection. It’s that power of the resurrection that enables me to face this day and glorify Him. It’s all connected, the strange theological construct to help understand Jesus and what I do today. I can’t divorce them from each other thinking one is “spiritual” and one is “physical”. That’s the ridiculous thinking Paul addresses in several letters to churches.
So, that Jesus knows about a guy with a pitcher, a house, and that the household manager has an available room is important. However He knew that, spiritual or natural, He knew. Just as He knew Judas would betray Him, just as He knew Peter would deny Him, just as He knew the disciples would scatter, just as He knew He would rise up afterwards. He knew, going in, He knew. That the extreme physical torture wasn’t a surprise should really give us pause. How many of us would voluntarily go there? That the excruciating death of crucifixion was coming after the other torture should shock us. And in John we’re told Jesus goes willingly, almost dragging the guards along behind Him so driven to this experience is our Savior. In John, no one wants this more than Jesus. And just as He knew about a guy with a jar of water entering Jerusalem, so He knew about the scourge and the nails and the suffocation to come. Are you weeing yet? This stuff destroys me.
What’s your view through the fence this morning? It’s just a guy with a water jar, but what does it mean to you?
Knothole Theology 