Read Mark 14:12-16.

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. Follow him.” (Mark 14:13)

It was the first day of Passover, and Jesus’ disciples needed to get the feast ready. So they asked Him where they should go since they were visiting Jerusalem and had no home to use. The directions Jesus gave them would have raised some eyebrows: “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him.”

It was no surprise to meet a woman carrying water—women did that all the time, and particularly when there was a holiday, with so much cooking and cleaning to do. But a man? No. That wasn’t a man’s job. So when they met a man carrying water, the disciples would definitely know it was the right man. There wouldn’t be any others!

We don’t know the details of why Jesus said this—did He have some special signal arranged with His host family? Was it a pure miracle, and Jesus just knew things would happen this way? The Bible doesn’t tell us, and really, it doesn’t matter. The disciples found the right man, followed him to the right place, and got the feast ready.

“Look for a man carrying something you don’t expect,” Jesus says. To us He might say, “Look for a man—the Son of Man, in fact, the Messiah—carrying something you don’t expect, doing a job you wouldn’t expect of Him. He will be carrying a cross. Follow Him.”

THE PRAYER: Thank You, Lord, for the surprising way You saved me and all people. Amen.