So They Prepared

SO THEY PREPARED

a prayer to open

Open my eyes and help me to see you.

Open my heart and help me to know you.

Jesus, my Lord and my God.

Passover . . . was approaching. The leading priests and teachers of religious law were plotting how to kill Jesus, but they were afraid of the people’s reaction.

Then Satan entered into Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve disciples, and he went to the leading priests and captains of the Temple guard to discuss the best way to betray Jesus to them. They were delighted, and they promised to give him money. So he agreed and began looking for an opportunity to betray Jesus. . . .

Now the Festival of Unleavened Bread arrived. . . . Jesus sent Peter and John ahead and said, “Go and prepare the Passover meal, so we can eat it together.”

“Where do you want us to prepare it?” they asked him.

He replied, “As soon as you enter Jerusalem, a man carrying a pitcher of water will meet you. Follow him. At the house he enters, say to the owner, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is the guest room where I can eat the Passover meal with my disciples?’ He will take you upstairs to a large room that is already set up. That is where you should prepare our meal.” They went off to the city and found everything just as Jesus had said.

Passover, or the Feast of Unleavened Bread, is an annual Jewish festival that commemorates the night that God sent the last of ten plagues on the Egyptians, who held the Israelites as slaves. As a final way to convince the pharaoh of Egypt to release the Israelites, God struck down every firstborn Egyptian. The Israelites were spared from this plague and the judgment that came with it by placing the blood of a slaughtered lamb on the doorframe of their homes as a sign of their faithfulness to God. Passover pointed to Jesus, who became the ultimate Passover lamb: the one sacrificed to liberate us from our slavery to sin.

• How do you think the disciples reacted when they found Jesus’ predictions about the location of the colt (from yesterday’s reading) and the availability of the room for Passover to be correct? How might this have bolstered their faith?
• Have you betrayed a spouse, family member, or friend in some way? What led you to do it? How did you feel once you’d done it?
• What does today’s passage reveal to you about Jesus?

Father, thank you for the ultimate Passover lamb, Jesus. Thank you for sparing me the punishment for my sins, which seem to outnumber the stars in the sky. Thank you that your grace is enough to cover them all and that through Jesus I am cleansed and freed. Thank you for the constant reminders of your presence that increase my faith and deepen my knowledge of and love for you. Forgive me for the ways I have betrayed you and the people I love. Repair the hearts I’ve torn and the wounds I’ve opened. Amen.