Today’s Scripture Reading (October
12, 2014): Luke 22
I have to
admit that I love Spy novels. I especially enjoy the part of the story where
the protagonist enters into a dangerous situation – a place where words would
be unwise. Maybe it is a smoke filled café – or just a dark alley. But either
way, the hero communicates stealthily with the shy informant and gets the
information that he needs from the stranger dressed in a certain way or hidden
by dark shadows so that he can solve the mystery. In real life, it is the image,
albeit probably false, that we have of real life informants like “Deep Throat”
in the Watergate Scandal and the iconic parking garage where he met with the
reporters Woodward and Bernstein, giving to them inside information of the
goings on inside the Nixon Whitehouse. There is just something intensely
exciting about that kind of a story.
It would
seem that the disciples were involved in a very similar situation. Jesus’
instructions are cryptic. When you enter the city you will be met by a man
carrying water, follow him to the house to which he will lead you. This is the
place where we will share the Passover meal together. Some have argued that
this was all set up by Jesus ahead of time to get the disciples to the
appropriate spot without being noticed by their enemies (just as would happen
in any good spy novel.) Jesus had previously met with the owner of the house
and set the signal (a man carrying water) so that the disciples would be
brought to the right place. No one who might be watching on the street would be
any wiser about what was happening. It would look like it was nothing more than
a chance meeting. But others have argued that the theory just doesn’t hold up.
At this time, with the Passover meal this close, there would naturally be
dozens of men on the street carrying water. There is absolutely no way for the
disciples to know which man carrying water they were supposed to follow. (Which
is another plot that I have read in some spy stories. The dilemma of the hero
wondering which mysterious man is the one he is intended to meet is usually
this is overcome with some sort of special spoken password response.) But
whether or not this was set up beforehand, the disciples were depending on
instructions that Jesus had given to them in order for them to find the right
place.
And the
instructions work. Whether the man carrying the water realized that he was
leading the disciples to the place where they would share their final meal with
their master, or not – the disciples found the place where they could enjoy
their final moments with Jesus in peace. But to find the place they had to trust.
That is also
our own bottom line. To find the place where we are supposed to be we have to
be willing to trust. As Christians, often when we fail it is because we refuse
to trust the one that we follow. We are not sure that the man carrying the
water will lead us to the place where we need to be. So instead we follow our
own wisdom and fail. If we only knew that, however strange the instructions might
sound, Jesus has set it up and if we would just follow him we will succeed, we
might be able to save ourselves a lot of grief.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: John 13
Personal Note: Happy Birthday Mom.
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