Let me set the stage. The scene is described in Luke 22, the part where Jesus assigns Peter and John the job of setting up the Passover meal. They asked, “Where do you want us to prepare it?” To which Jesus replied:
As you enter the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him to the house that he enters, and say to the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ He will show you a large upper room, all furnished. Make preparations there.”
The next verse (13) blows me away. It says: They left and found things just as Jesus had told them. Now, obviously Jesus knew which house he wanted them to go to. He could have said, “Go to Main Street, third house from the end on the left.” But instead, I think he wanted to demonstrate something to his apostles, and through them, to us. He knew down to the second what was going to happen that night. He was aware of every tiny, seemingly insignificant detail, even the exact moment a man would be carrying a jar of water into the house.
Can I tell you how comforting I find that? There are times in my life when I’m positive I’m walking on the path God has laid out for me. Then there are times when I feel like I’m wandering blindly, hoping I manage to stumble onto a road that takes me in the right general direction. And sometimes I fear I’ve missed his path completely. This verse assures me that nothing, not even the slightest detail, is a surprise to God. He laid out the entire roadmap, and knows it intimately. He knows where I am, and is completely capable of sending me to the exact place where a man carrying water will show me the way.
Has it escaped your notice that the man Peter and John met was carrying a jar of water? Jesus said if we drink the water he gives us, we’ll never be thirsty again. He offers living water, the water of life. And he is perfectly capable of sending a big jar of that life-giving water across our path at exactly the right moment.
Drink deeply, my friend.