We are not the center of the universe

“And on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb, his disciples said to him, ‘Where will you have us go and prepare for you to eat the Passover?’ And he sent two of his disciples and said to them, ‘Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. … [T]he master of the house … will show you a large upper room furnished and ready. …” And the disciples set out and went to the city and found it just as he had told them … (Mark 14:12-16).

This incident that took place a few days before Jesus’ death offers much food for thought. One item for consideration is that the Father deliberately chose to have Jesus’ shedding of blood as the true sacrificial Lamb coincide with the Jewish Passover observance.

Another heartwarming note is the commentary that the disciples found things “just as [Jesus] had told them.” So will every person who puts the Word of God above the word or opinion or scientific finding of man find things to be “just as he had told them.”

Yet, a third wonder of this passage is God’s mysteriously masterful wisdom in being able to coordinate all history to turn out right, down to the minute, by making men show up at doorways at the right time and the right place.

But today I am thinking about the man with the jar of water. Who is he? And for that matter, who is the master of the house? Do you suppose the two disciples who walked into town and met these strangers were scratching their heads on the way back to Jesus, wondering the same thing I am? Were they curious as to whether Jesus had friends they were not aware of? Relationships with other people outside the inner circle, unbeknownst to them?

It is possible, of course, that God could have chosen two men randomly from a crowd, overtaken their wills and caused them to fulfill His purposes in an almost robotic way. But I rather think that what the two disciples realized on their walk back home—and what we also would do well to realize in our travels through life—is that we are not the center of the universe. God has other stories besides ours that He is working in, other people we have no earthly idea about He is speaking to and drawing to Himself.