In the last week of His life, Jesus sends Peter and John into Jerusalem, saying, “Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover.” They know what to do because they’re Jews. They don’t know where to do it because they’re coming from out of town. Nazareth is where Jesus grew up. Galilee was where Jesus ministered. Capernaum was their headquarters. But Jerusalem? The city is busting at the seams because of the pilgrims. They don’t know where to set up the meal.
So they ask Jesus: “Where do you want us to prepare for it?”
Jesus replies in a very shady way. (The chief priests were plotting a literal conspiracy to kill him and Lucifer himself possessed Judas! Understandably, Jesus keeps His itinerary on the down-low). Jesus tells Peter and John: “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 room upstairs, all furnished. Make preparations there.”
I may be wrong, but it seems Jesus has set up a code word with this homeowner in Jerusalem. Peter and John say the password, and “found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover.” Christ’s words open doors in more ways than one.
Pause right there. Have you ever wondered if this guest room appears again? I did.
Think about the fact that a few days later Jesus appears to ten of the Apostles when they are “in a room locked for fear of the Jews.” He has been crucified and rose from the dead. It’s Easter Sunday and Jesus “stands among them” proclaiming peace. Surely that’s the same room where they had the Last Supper. Do we think they were able to find new lodgings during the Feast of Unleavened Bread? No way. It’s the same room!
If I’m right, then Jesus appears to His apostles after the Resurrection in the same room as the Last Supper. This means Christ’s famous encounter with Thomas could have happened in that room one week later! You may know Thomas’ famous words to the Ten Apostles: “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” Then Jesus said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”
Or, Jesus may have said, “Thomas, this is my body.”
If that’s not cool enough, there’s more. Forty days after His resurrection, Jesus ascends into heaven. The Eleven disciples go back to Jerusalem. We are told in the book of Acts: “When they arrived, they went upstairs to the room where they were staying.” That’s exactly how Mark and Luke describe the room where Jesus and the Twelve have the Passover!
Guess what happens ten days after the Ascension? Pentecost. The Holy Spirit descends from heaven and rests upon the Church. And that means that Jesus could have pointed at the same room and said, “This is my body.”
The Last Supper. The Resurrection of Jesus. The Birth of the Church. All of them can be described with the same phrase: “This is my body.”
One more thing and then I’ll stop. Jesus says He “eagerly desired” to have the Passover with His apostles. In the Greek, Jesus repeats the same idea twice. “I have desired with desire to eat this Passover.”
This is a very Jewish way of speaking. Think back to the Old Testament, where we read about the Song of Songs, the Lord of lords, the King of kings, and the Holy of holies. Each time, that phrase means “the greatest.” Solomon’s poetry is the Greatest Song. The Holy of Holies is the Most Holy Place. God is the King over all earthly kings.
When Jesus thinks about the Last Supper, what many Christians have called the Eucharist, He calls it “the desire of His desires.” If you have ever wanted to know what Jesus wants most, you have your answer. What is the heart of His desires? To eat with us. To feed us with His body and blood. There is nothing Christ wants more than to feed you.
The same Jesus who eats with the men who later betray Him is the one who died and rose for them in a new and glorified body. We who have His Holy Spirit are His body. We who partake in His body, even though we are many, are one body because we share in one Body.
The man carrying that jar of water and the owner of the house in Jerusalem had no idea that the “large room upstairs” would be put to such good use.