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. 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?’”
Mark 14:13-14
Have you ever tried to find a hotel in a busy holiday season in a major city without having made reservations? Then you know the potential dilemma Jesus faced. With Jerusalem packed with pilgrims, where could He find a room large enough for His company to celebrate the Passover?
It’s obvious that Jesus had made reservations, because a man carrying a water jar and the owner of a house were waiting.
While Jesus knew where He would celebrate the Passover, His disciples did not. So He waited for them to ask Him. This is a great lesson in leadership. Too often we are eager to tell others what to do rather than waiting for them to come to a point where they want to know and need to know.
It’s also evident that Jesus was being secretive about the location for what we now call the Last Supper. The reason for that is obvious from the Gospels. He had a last “download” of teaching to give the disciples centered on the person and work of the Holy Spirit, on heaven, and the institution of what we know now as Communion (John 13–17). Jesus didn’t want that last time of privacy with the disciples to be interrupted by Judas’ betraying Him. Thus, He sent only Peter and John (Luke 22:8).
A common myth in leadership is that everyone should be treated equally. Jesus didn’t lead that way. He narrowed His disciples to seventy. Within the seventy, He had twelve; and within the twelve, He had three who were closest to Him—Peter, James, and John. Thus, on the day when the Passover Lamb was sacrificed, the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, He sent the two most trusted disciples to make the arrangement: Peter and John.
Even they weren’t told the location. They were given the mysterious instruction that a man carrying a water jar would meet them within Jerusalem. That man would then take them to the unnamed house owner.
We are never given the names of these two anonymous men, but they proved vital to Jesus’ mission.
This raises a question: “Am I willing to be an unknown servant of Jesus?” If all He asks me to do is carry a water jar or prepare a room, am I willing to do that?”
Perhaps you feel that what you are doing is not all that important. Maybe the water jar man or the owner of the house felt that way. But if you removed them from the picture, the two disciples wouldn’t be able to locate the room for the Passover. If the room wasn’t located, then Jesus wouldn’t have a place to have the Last Supper. If He didn’t have that place, John 13 through 17 would be missing from our Bibles.
Every one of us is a link in the chain of activity that advances the Lord’s mission. You may be a very small link. You may feel that what you do isn’t all that consequential. Leave that with the Lord. What you do is important to Him!
A Prayer: Lord Jesus, may I always be willing to do the smallest things, even if I am not recognized. May I be satisfied with a menial task, so long as it is for You.
Excerpted from Dr. Wood’s book, Fearless: How Jesus Changes Everything, available from Vital Resources.
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