Furnished and ready...

Furnished and ready......

Matthew 26 and Mark 14 record the last day/ hours of Christ's earthly life...the betrayal, the surrender, the last supper, the arrest, the sleeping friends, the beginning of the night trial...everything preordained to happened...what meaningful passages...

Jesus sent his disciples ahead to prepare for the Passover...looking for a certain man to follow and make use of his upstairs room..."furnished and ready"... Was the room always ready? Was it a local gathering place?

But, there in that room, the Lord's supper is instituted, betrayal is acknowledged, the Passover is shared-the Lamb is prepared, ready for death,  the first born to be taken soon...
And Jesus knowing all of this, moves forward, ready ...willing...the only one able....

I ask myself, now and in times past, am I "furnished and ready" for whatever may come into my life? No, there are so many times, I didn't want to be ready for the events taking place in my home/heart...other's easier, yes...was I ready to hand over each room in my life for the use of the Lord?  No, no and yes, yes... For His banquet, for His fellowship, for His remembrances...

Thank YOU that you came in and dined...You made ready...You furnished the heart...help me always be ready...to sit and dine, to recline next to your heart...listening...prepared...

"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. 14 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?’ 15 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. When evening came, Jesus arrived with the Twelve. While they were reclining at the table eating, he said, “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me—one who is eating with me.” They were saddened, and one by one they said to him, “Surely you don’t mean me?” 20 “It is one of the Twelve,” he replied, “one who dips bread into the bowl with me. 21 The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born.” While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take it; this is my body.” Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank from it. 24 “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many,” he said to them. 25 “Truly I tell you, I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.” When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives."
Mark 14:12-26

Matthew 26