The Preparation for Passover, Part 2 | The Lord’s Love of Fellowship

Luke 22:7-13

You can open your Bibles to Luke 22:7 to 13, “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.’ And they said to him, ‘Where do you want us to prepare it?’ And he said to them, ‘Behold, after you have entered the city, a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water. Follow him into the house that he enters. 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.”

So after they have received this instruction from the Lord, they have just one question. Where? I mean, if we’re going to do all this set up, got to know what is the venue. Where’s the place? Have you rented something? Is that on us? What do we do? Takes us into point two. I told you the preparation for the Passover. You can just add the word before preparation, add the word secret: The word secret, the secret preparation for Passover.

In verse 9, they said to him, “where do you want us to prepare it?” There is no hesitancy on their part. The verb tense shows they’re ready to go. The verb tense shows they’re eager to follow Jesus’ instructions. They just need to know where. Is it in Bethany at Lazarus’s house? Is that where we’re going to go or what? What are we doing? Keep in mind, Jesus knows what they don’t. He knows they’ve got a spy in their midst. None of the disciples know this yet, not even Peter and John.

But Jesus knows Judas has just returned from cutting a deal with the priests. He is going to look for a way, find a way to hand Jesus over, away from the crowds. What better time to do that than when they’re celebrating Passover by themselves in their own quarters away from the crowds? So Lazarus’s house is a no go. That’s not going to happen. Judas knew that place well. He could easily have led the authorities to Lazarus’s house, to arrest Jesus. And that would put Lazarus in jeopardy, as well, and his two sisters, Mary and Martha.

 Remember John 12, we saw there that the Sanhedrin plan to kill him too. After all, he had the nerve of being risen from the dead. Let’s kill him. So Bethany’s not going to work. That’s out. In fact, Jesus is careful here to send his two most trusted disciples on this most important errand, and he’s very careful, we’ll notice, to reveal as little as possible. They do not know where they’re going. I find it remarkable, don’t you? As he, as he, he’s trying to tell them where they’re going to go, there’s no names, no address.

There’s no real information that they can really hold on to, nothing they can write down on paper, nothing they can reveal being tortured for information, nothing. He reveals as little as possible, and yet Jesus is sending them off to prepare the Passover for them. And I find this so remarkable. Jesus knows he’s going to be hanging on the cross within 24 hours. He’s going to die before the afternoon sacrifice, Judean time, before that sacrifice is over. And notice his intent still to keep the Passover feast.

He’s faithful to keep the law, keep the feast, gather with his men. He doesn’t say, boy, I’ve got a, got a big weekend ahead, I better take a little time in the mountains. I got to get to the cabin. I got to get to the lake, just do some fishing, clear my mind. We live in such a profane age, don’t we? Which many, even many professing Christians take religion far too lightly, including observing Sabbath rest on Sunday, attending services of worship.

Many, for even professing Christians, miss out on communion and count it as a very small thing that they do so not to partake of the Lord’s Supper with their churches. I’ve talked to some Christians who haven’t been to the Lord’s Table in years and doesn’t seem to make a difference at all. I thought that was one of the most remarkable things about COVID, shutting down churches, to see how many Christians didn’t mind not being at the Lord’s Table. I know that for many of us here, we felt that acutely not to be able to gather together. And the fellowship meal of the bread and the cup.

This cannot be; not Jesus, he doesn’t want to miss out on the blessing of celebrating the Passover with his men. He loves to be with them. He tells them, verse 15, Look at it in your text. “I’ve earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.” This is meaningful to him. Is it to you? Though, he’s going to miss some, some of the time of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. It’s not because there’s a football game on TV, it’s because his body is in the grave. I mean, he’s got the permission slip, but he’s going to rise from the dead in time for the waving of a sheaf of barley in the temple.

The wave offering, the offering of the first fruits of the grain harvest. The offering of the first fruit was celebrated on Sunday immediately following the Passover, and that Sunday was Resurrection Day. Jesus is truly the first fruits of all those who’ve fallen asleep in him and of all who will in him rise from the dead. Beloved, may God deliver us all from profane religion, so to be sincere lovers of God, worshipping in spirit and truth, rejoicing in the profound meaning of our Lord’s salvation. Amen.

 Look at verses 10 to 12. As we see verses 10 to 12, we’re going to see how Jesus instructed Peter and John to make secret preparation for this Passover. “He said to them, behold, when you have entered the city, a man’s going to meet you carrying a pitcher of water. Follow him into the house that he enters.” Now it’s not clear just stopping here. It’s not clear how much of this is by omniscience in his divine nature, or if it’s just prophetic foresight that’s granted to him by the Holy Spirit for this particular occasion.

Or maybe he’s doing all this by prior arrangement. Not really sure. But if we take the narrative in Luke 19:29 to 32, where Jesus did something similar; he arranged his coronation procession. He sent his disciples to go to secure the donkey’s cult. This is pretty similar, isn’t it? We’ve kind of been prepared for this event because of that event. But what we do know is that Jesus gives them no address, no names, nothing identifiable, nothing Judas can identify, nothing he can overhear. He makes sure they have no secrets to spill.

 This is all kept highly confidential. He maintains this operational security. He compartmentalizes the information and they’re to know only what’s absolutely necessary; from all outward observation, even if they’re being followed, spied upon, Peter and John, this is just a meeting of chance. It’s an encounter with some unnamed man in the city of Jerusalem in an unknown location on some street. Even if they’re being watched, no informant could possibly anticipate such a sign as this was to them. Very covert.

The sign, we’ll notice is a man really doing a woman’s work. He’s carrying water to the home. That’s a woman’s chore, in that day, to carry water in a vessel like this, a jar. Men carried water in leather flasks. Women, res, retrieved their water in jars, because it was intended for wider home use, for cooking, for washing, ritual purification. They needed more water, thus they carried more.

So for a man to carry a water jar in public, that sign is going to be easy for them to see, impossible for them to miss. But even if they did miss it, even if they did happen to walk by and not glance to their left, the verb here indicates the man with the water jar, carrying it on his head or on his shoulder, he intends to meet them, not the other way around. It would seem then that he’s been instructed to watch out for Peter and John and after encountering them, he’s to lead them back to the house.

So met by a water carrying man, a chore almost exclusively carried out by women. This is a confirmatory sign that they have made the right contact. This part of the instruction may well have been prearranged. It seems prearranged to me. And then Jesus continues, he says when the man carrying the pitcher of water meets you not long after you enter the city, you’re, you’re going to follow him. You’re going to enter into the house that he enters.

 And then verse 10, “talk with the owner of the house.” The word is oikodespotes. It’s oikos, which means house, and then despotes, which means master. So house master, owner of the house. They’re to distinguish, here, between the owner of the house and then this man who leads them there. And this tells us that the man with the water jar is a household servant, a household slave. He’s not the owner. Jesus doesn’t tell them to engage the slave or talk with him, and it’s not because they’re somehow too good for him, being Apostles after all. No, it’s not like that. It’s just because this man’s role is isolated to one task to lead Peter and John to the right house. Even engaging him in conversation as if there’s a familiarity isn’t good because of the public eye.

 Once they have entered into the house after him, he’s performed his role and now he’s out; now it’s time to speak with the master of the house. And here again, it appears to me that this also is prearranged. Verse 11, “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?’”

Couple things to note here. First, by referring him to himself as, the teacher, the teacher, definite article there pretty clear that Jesus had sent Peter and John to a known disciple. The owner of this home, He’s a believer. He’s a believer, who Jesus knows could be trusted. Secondly, Jesus has told Peter and John that they’re to ask on behalf of him. They’re to ask for a guest room. A word there is interesting. It’s Katalyma. Katalyma is a word we have not read since Luke chapter 2 verse 7, where there was no room for Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus in the Katalyma. No room.

So Jesus is not seeking an expensive fancy accommodation, just a room sufficient for the purpose. Edersheim describes the katalyma as the place where the, quote, “the beasts of burden were unloaded. Shoes and staff, dusty garments, and burdens put down. If it’s an apartment, it’s at least a common one. It’s certainly not the best.” End Quote. So it’s nothing fancy. Jesus actually thinks, I think with fondness back to this Katalyma where there was no room for him and he seeks one of those.

 Peter and John meeting this fellow believer, they find a man who is as eager to provide for Jesus and give the, this very best for Jesus, to serve the friends of Jesus, as Peter and John are to make Passover arrangements for their master. Look at verse 12 to see what he provides. He, and he, this, that one that owner Luke is very explicit in the original. He points out that it’s not the slave, but it’s the owner. He will show you a large furnished upper room. Prepare it there. That’s where you’re going to prepare the Passover feast for us.

Here’s the second confirmatory sign. The owner does not send his slave to show him the space, as would be typical of owners. This, my slave, will take you up to the quarters; this man will take you up there. The owner of the house, he takes personal charge of this task, takes Peter and John up there personally so that they can, all together, see the room that he’s prepared for them. And leave this task to his slave? And it’s not, again, it’s not because he distrusts his slave. This is not disrespect; after all, his slave he’s had, he had the task of retrieving the disciples and bringing them back.

That’s not something, that’s not something the owner could go out and do without being noticed. So this owner here, now, he has his role. He takes personal interest, escorting the disciples to the quarters to show them the large furnished upper room. Why is that? Because he considers this such a great honor to do this for the teacher, for his disciples. He counts it as a privilege to serve the servants of his teacher, of Jesus the Christ.

Alfred Plummer points out that the Katalyma Jesus had requested and the space that the man had provided and prepared for him. This is the word anogeon, the, it’s upper room, on a meaning, up, so it’s this, upper room. Alfred Plummer says Jesus had only asked for the large general room on the ground floor, but the man gave him the best room, the one reserved for more private uses above the Katalyma.

So a man doing a woman’s chore and a master doing a slave’s chore, those are the signs Jesus chose and most fittingly to be confirmatory signs for Peter and John. That’s how they’re going to know they’ve found the right house. That’s how they’re going to know they’ve met the right man. They’ve found the right room, they’re in the right place to prepare the Passover.

Certainly, there’s in my mind, prearrangement here, prior planning and preparation on Jesus’ part, making the arrangements, knowing who he’s going to use and who he’s chosen. It’s very much like him. At the same time, he sends Peter and John out with confidence that it will happen just like this. So there is omniscience involved as well, or you could say prophetic ability to see that, whatever the case, that Jesus is no mere man. He is the Lord, the sovereign of all.

He’s chosen the right man with the right place, with the right slave to get this job done. Peter and John are just obedient servants, obedient slaves doing his will. That this room, this upper room is in a house within the Jerusalem city limits, apparently just inside the city. It gives them easy access. Later, it gives him an easy and a very quick escape into the Kidron Valley, into the olive groves out on the other side. This is an upper room. Being an upper room, it points to the secrecy that’s afforded by height advantage up above the street, it guaranteed their privacy. There’s stairs on the outside that allowed ease of access and, and also ease of egress to disappear into the night after the meal, as they did.

 That this upper room is large. The word is mega. It means the space is sufficient enough to contain at least these 13 hungry men, possibly servants who served, that the room is furnished. The word there is, refers to the dining couches that surround a dining table. They’re all spaced out in a U-shape around this table so they can all see one another and converse with one another, which will become important as Jesus reveals Judas, the betrayer at the table, who sits to his left, John sits to his right, Peter across the table.

Anyway, it’s furnished with these dining couches and it shows the owner has provided generous hospitality, provided a comfortable space for these men to relax, repose, eat the meal together. Having pointed out here, the owner’s eagerness to provide; the servants willingness to be involved in this covert operation; disciples’ eagerness to prepare the Passover meal.

We’d be remiss, wouldn’t we, if we didn’t back up and recognize, again, all this preparation is the Lord’s preparation. He’s doing this. He has earnestly desired to share this Passover before he suffers. As we’ll see, Jesus has a church ordinance to institute for them on this night. He has so much to teach them on this occasion, not only here in Luke’s Gospel, but what is known to us as the upper room discourse in John’s Gospel.

 All those chapters we’ve been reading in our daily reading last week and into this week of John 13 to 16. All of that is going to be contained; the teaching in this upper room. He has a high priestly prayer to pray for them on this night, John 17. All this he wants to make sure it’s done according to schedule, according to plan. This is the most momentous of nights, as Jesus is preparing his men for his crucifixion and for life after. He’s not going to have it ruined or rudely interrupted by Judas and his new friends.

He wants his men. He’s provided for this evening from start to finish. He’s guaranteed for himself and his disciples a distraction free environment. One more night together, this side of the cross, and thus we are prepared as readers of this Gospel to understand our Lord Jesus is sovereign. He’s going to see this thing through. If He’s sovereign over this night and over all the different players, not only people whose wills were oblivious to his, but also sovereign and in charge of the wills of those who were opposed to him: Chief priest, scribes, Judas, Satan himself. If He’s sovereign over all these things on this night, on this occasion, is he not sovereign over the issues, matters of your life? He cares about these things, these men. Does that not extend to all of his disciples, all of his people? Certainly, it does. He’s going to see these things through. He’s going to accomplish all of his father’s will, not only on this occasion, but even to this very moment.

Finally, a third point, replace the word secret in the last point with the word successful in the third point: The successful preparation for Passover. Luke provides a postscript for us in this narrative, verse 13. “And they departed.” Peter and John departed. They found everything just as he had told them and they prepared the Passover.

Just a little note for us, whenever we do what our Lord commands us, just as Peter and John did, we will, like they, find everything to be just as Jesus tells us it’ll be. If it says obey me and I’ll bear much fruit out of your life, try it out; obey him, he’ll bear much fruit out of your life. If he tells you to love one another and you do that and “by that all men will know you’re his disciples.” Trust that that’s true. Try it and prove him to be faithful. This is an encouragement to us.

Just pausing here. It’s just an encouragement to us to trust him, to obey him, to believe him, to do what he says. Prove his word, faithful. Church tradition tells us that the house in which Jesus and his disciples shared the Passover meal, in which Jesus gave the ordinance of communion, it’s the same house where the church, the early church gathered in Acts chapter 12, verse 12. It’s the house of Mary, the mother of John, who was called, also called Mark.

 John Mark: it’s his house. It’s where he grew up. This is his father and mother. It’s according to that verse in Acts 12 and verse 13, the next, the house was large enough that one year later many church members were able to gather there. They gathered there on this particular occasion. In Acts 12:12 to 13, they’re asking the Lord to intervene so that Peter would be released from King Herod’s prison.

Acts chapter 12 verse 1 says King Herod thought it was a great idea to kill, behead James, and then threw Peter in prison for good measure. So they’re thinking his death is imminent, so they pray. After their prayers are answered; this is a year later, next Passover; after their prayers are answered, we may remember Christ sent in his Angel to spring Peter from prison. Well, Peter’s able to, after his jailbreak, after he kind of comes to himself and says, hey, that, that was, that happened, that was real. Angel led him out to the gates, opened up the gates. He says, Okay, great.

 So he makes his way back to this house. He knocks at this familiar gate where he had first met John Mark’s father, the owner of the house. He meets him, goes there one year later. One year earlier, on the day of Passover, the first time he’d been into this house, Luke 22:13, they prepared the Passover, mission successful. They ate the Passover meal. Jesus exposed Judas and sent him away during that time. After that, he instituted the Lord’s Supper, taught his disciples, prepared them for his death. They leave the upper room, head out to the Garden of Gethsemane, and Judas arrives with his entourage of soldiers from Caiaphas looking for Jesus.

He doesn’t show up first in the Garden of Gethsemane. You know where he shows up first? Mark’s house. They’re too late. As Judas and the soldiers with him are searching for Jesus. The whole household is awakened. This young man, rather impulsive young man, but a highly curious young man, this John Mark. He leaves his father’s house to follow after Judas and the soldiers looking for Jesus and his disciples.

Mark then becomes a firsthand witness of what he records in the Gospel that bears his name, written in Mark 14:43 to 50. He saw it himself with his own eyes. Judas betrayed Jesus. Peter picked up a sword, try to hack off the high priest’s slave’s ear, guy named Malchus. He saw the, all the disciples scatter. Mark adds his own signature line, so to speak, just two verses, verses 51 and 52 of Mark 14, that let us know he was there on that night. It’s kind of humorous, but I’ll leave you to read that for yourself.

There’s so many points of connection here, so many interesting things to see. What are some takeaways for us as we think about this? How can we put a, maybe a finer point on what we’ve seen here in this narrative? First, I’ll just give you three things, here, I was kind of meditating on, first in a chapter that’s all about preparation, we note a contrast, don’t we, between the preparation of the wicked and the preparation of the godly.

Of the six things that the Lord hates and the seven that are abominable to him. Proverbs 6, one of the things that are abominable to the Lord is a heart that devises wicked plans. Proverbs 6:18. Proverbs 14:22 asks, “Will they not go astray who devise evil? But kindness and truth will be to those who devise good.” Wicked plans don’t come to fruition. They don’t accomplish what the evil design is meant to accomplish.

Even if, as the chief priests and scribes find Jesus, put to death on a cross, they find that his death actually results in this new movement called the Way that outshines and eclipses Judaism. Judaism is gone, and it’s to be judged in AD 70 when the, the destruction of Jerusalem, the temple’s gone. Oh, their plans are abominable to the Lord and will not come to fruition, will not be accomplished, will not actually prevent God at all. In fact, their wickedness only serves as tools in the hands of a God, who brings all things to his sovereign ends and his purposes. So as Isaiah 32:8 says, “The noble man devises noble plans, and by noble plans he stands.”

 Second observation in a chapter about Passover celebration, the Feast of Unleavened Bread. We can’t help but notice how our Lord earnestly desired to eat this meal with his disciples, even though his death was imminent. He so wanted to do this. If your death was imminent and you knew that, I mean like one day away, how would you spend it? Would you do it like this? Would it be in fellowship with your Lord and with his people, or would you pass the day in some other way?

The stated desire of the Lord Jesus Christ is to engage in close fellowship with us, to share glorious truths with us, to reveal the mind of God to us, to involve us in his own preparation, his thoughts, his plans, his work. Beloved, does that not make your heart burn with love for him? Because he loves you, he wants to draw you into fellowship with him. Does that not make you rejoice? Are you not humbled to the floor to think, why me?

Let us be eager, beloved, every chance we get, to join with one another in the fellowship of the truth and the partnership of the gospel, to do the Lord’s work together because it is glorious. It’s deeply rich with meaning and purpose and significance. How else do you want to spend these few years you have remaining on earth, but in his work, in his way.

Let me give you just one third final thought. This, in preparing for this Passover, of all the Passover celebrations that Jesus himself had observed, this is the most meaningful to him since it commemorated not just the deliverance of God in the past, the exodus of Israel from Egypt, but that he would offer up his own life to deliver God’s people, past, present, and future. His blood shed on the cross, forgave us of all of our sins. It purchased a people for God. His resurrection secured our justification and guarantees our life eternal and a glorious future with him and with God’s people. His own exodus that he talked about with Moses and Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration, his own exodus to ascend back to the father, it meant the deploying of the Holy Spirit, take up residence in the heart of his people, you and me.

The Spirit who was with them now would be in them and thus would fulfill all of his promises to us. “I will not leave you as orphans; I’ve come to you. I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Yes, I was taken away on that night of be, betrayal, my arrest; you all scattered. It’s not going to happen again. I’ll never leave you. I’ll never forsake you. End of Matthew’s gospel, “lo, I’m with you always, even to the end of the age.” He’s with us beloved, because his Spirit is in us and he will never let us go. Let’s pray.

 Our Father, we’re so grateful for this glorious gospel. We’ve only seen the outward parts of the glory of Jesus Christ in this narrative. We have so much more to see, to discover together, to learn. But we pray that even as we have this narrative about what seems to be incidental preparation detail, getting ready for a Passover meal, lining things up, ordering things that all might be accomplished according to your will, we find even here some rich, deep meaning taking place in the home of, of the John Mark, who would accompany Peter the Apostle and write down his gospel, so to speak, in the Gospel of Mark.

So many different details to see, so many different connections to make, so much truth we have yet to discover. We pray that our hearts would be filled with anticipation and joy, eager to learn, eager to study, eager to know that we might fellowship with you, O God and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. That He would share this fellowship that he has with you, Father, with us, and draw us into all truth. That we be united in the truth and love one another as his disciples. It’s in His name we pray. Amen.