This and the next few articles are from Mark 14. If you’ve been following along in this larger series from the Gospel of Mark, I encourage you to read Mark 14:1-11, but let’s pick up in verse 12. This interaction between Jesus and His disciples sounds somewhat similar to His instructions for getting a colt on “Palm Sunday” [ref. Mark 11:1-6], which had been about 4 days earlier.
On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, when it was customary to sacrifice the Passover lamb, Jesus’ disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to go and make preparations for you to eat the Passover?”
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?’ He will show you a large room upstairs, furnished and ready. Make preparations for us there.”
The disciples left, went into the city and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover.
Mark 14:12-16 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/mrk.14.12-16.NIV
Some teachers will point out how a man carrying water was not common in those days, so that would have been easier to spot. Today, it seems like all kinds of people (even me) carry around tumblers, cups, and bottles of water, though. Other teachers will point out how the Passover lamb foreshadowed Jesus’ ultimate sacrifice to save us from death. The Hebrew / Israelite / Jewish people had been remembering the Exodus for more than ten centuries, reminding each other at Passover not only that their firstborn sons had been spared from the angel of death, but also that they were set free from years of slavery in Egypt. However, shortly after this first-century Passover (i.e., the one described in this chapter of Mark), they were about to be set free from the even worse slavery of sin, and the death sentence that it brought to humankind.
Those are good points, but I was thinking, wouldn’t it be great if Jesus would just tell us what to do in the same way that He did here? Wouldn’t it be easier if He could just say, “Go here, find this place, take this action, and if someone asks, tell them this message”? I think that some Christians – including myself – feel like certain people in the Bible had an advantage in that God clearly spoke to them with clear messages.
Let’s consider two things about that, though: For one thing, with the Holy Spirit living within us (i.e., those of us who have received Him as part of accepting Jesus as our Savior and Lord), there are times when we do get very specific direction. Jesus told His disciples that the Holy Spirit would provide them with the right words to say in certain circumstances [see Luke 12:11-12], and the same Holy Spirit lives in Jesus-followers today. If you’ve ever received a message, direction, or even a nudge from Him, you have an idea what this is like.
And, I think that there’s another reason why we don’t get everything in advance. If we knew how everything would happen, we might not want to go through with some things, I suppose. More importantly, though, we would have no chance to exercise and build up our faith. I don’t think that even the disciples got specific directions like this all of the time. Like them, sometimes we have to “wait and see”, learning to trust God with the unknowns in our future.
On the other hand, when God clearly tells us to do something, we should be sure to go ahead and do so, exactly the way that He says to! So, with God’s help, may we obey His instructions, while trusting Him when we don’t have all of the details. We may not always get detailed instructions when we want them, but God knows best. And, just as Jesus probably did here, God is preparing our environment and our situation for what will happen next, so all we have to do is to step into our role in His plan!
From Sunday School lesson prepared for November 30, 2025
References:
- Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
- The College Press NIV Commentary – Mark, by Allen Black. © 1995 College Press Publishing Co.
Those Who Sin Differently 