The following day, Thursday, the Passover Supper was to be celebrated in the evening. Jesus said to Peter and John, “Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover." As the treasurer, Judas should have been in charge of those preparations; and because of this lack of confidence he understood that the Master knew about his intentions and about the treacherous sale of the day before. The two envoys said to Jesus, "Where do you want us to prepare for it?" The Savior answered them mysteriously, “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.” Judas listened attentively to the indications given by the Master, hoping to take advantage of them for the execution of his secret plan; but Jesus wanted the place of the Supper to be completely unknown, so that the traitor could not come to surprise Him before finishing the meal, nor disturb the mysteries that were to be carried in there. Peter and John found the man with the water jug at the city gates, they followed him and went with him to the house of his master, who showed them the upper room where they were to prepare dinner. It was on Mount Zion, in the city of David, near the palace in which the ark of the covenant long rested, where the prophet-king sang in his inspired psalms and the horrors of his Passion.
This place where the great events of Maundy Thursday took place, the Upper Room, became the first meeting place of the nascent Church. There risen Christ appeared to the Apostles and the Holy Ghost descended on the Most Holy Virgin, the Apostles and the disciples. It was in that same room that Peter, freed from prison by an angel, again found his brothers praying for him. According to St. Epiphanius, the Upper Room was preserved from the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans.
* Source: JESUS CHRIST; his Life, his Passion, his Triumph. chap. VIII, The Last Supper. Rev. P. Berthe.
Labels: Lenten topics
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