Monday- Preparation

7 Then came the day of Unleavened Bread, on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. 8 So Jesus[b] sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover meal for us that we may eat it.” 9 They asked him, “Where do you want us to make preparations for it?” 10 “Listen,” he said to them, “when you have entered the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you; follow him into the house he enters 11 and say to the owner of the house, ‘The teacher asks you, “Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?”’ 12 He will show you a large room upstairs, already furnished. Make preparations for us there.” 13 So they went and found everything as he had told them; and they prepared the Passover meal.

The plot of Holy Week is one that thickens with tension each day.  Jesus has rode in to the cheers and hymns of the Palm Sunday parade.  People cast off their cloaks.  Casting off cloaks was symbolic that they opened their lives to the One who comes humbly on a donkey, just as Solomon rode to his coronation when he took over the throne from King David.  We open our lives this week to the One who still comes humbly riding on a donkey to seek a live changing relationship with us.  Do we sing out when Jesus comes?  Do we shout, "Blessed is the One who comes in the name of God?"  Or do we miss the parade amid the blur of life?  Do you wonder this Holy Week how you are going to get every thing done and do you feel like you are living at a frenzied pace?

Noticing, paying attention, and seeing is all part of Luke's narrative. It is a thread that connects chapter and verse.  And Jesus sends the disciples in to prepare what will become the Last Supper telling them they need to look for, notice, a man carrying a jar of water.  I admit, it all has that Mission Impossible theme to it (insert theme music here!).  It is almost as though Jesus is saying to Peter and John, "Your mission, if you choose to accept it is to find a man carrying water."

For awhile I imagined there must have been a heavenly light that shone on this man, maybe some angelic harp music, showing the way.  After all, I thought, how many people must be carrying water when Peter and John entered the city?  It must have been hundreds! So in order to find this one man, he needed to stand out in the crowd of people and Peter and John needed divine intervention.

Then, I realized that carrying water was seen as woman's work, see the picture above, in Jesus' day.  Hence the Gospel of John's story about the woman at the well.  So, it really was not all that impossible to find a man carrying water.  In fact, he probably stood out like a sore thumb, if you knew what you were looking for!

Do we know what we are looking for this Holy Week?  Are we looking for the comfort of tradition and getting what we expect year after year?  Are we looking for something new and different leading up to Easter this year?  Are we just looking for warmer, spring weather?

I invite you today to ponder prayerfully, what are you looking for this Holy Week?  Spend some time naming for yourself and in the presence of God the things you are searching for.  Then, like the disciples, keep your eyes open.  I pray the traces of God's grace will be part of this day and every day this Holy Week.

Blessings!