Your faithfulness makes all the difference in the World – Luke 22

He replied, “As soon as you enter Jerusalem, a man carrying a pitcher of water will meet you. Follow him. At the house he enters, say to the owner, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is the guest room where I can eat the Passover meal with my disciples?’ He will take you upstairs to a large room that is already set up. That is where you should prepare our meal.” They went off to the city and found everything just as Jesus had said, and they prepared the Passover meal there. (10-13)

Faithfulness comes in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes we think of faithfulness in terms of huge, grandiose tasks, but in God’s Kingdom faithfulness just means being obedient to the task the Master gives you, no matter the size. I love this story because it is an everyday story where many people were faithful for the event to come together. That Passover night was crucial, as Jesus would say goodbye to his disciples. He would wash their feet, demonstrate servanthood and prepare them for the darkest days of their lives. Everything needed to be put in order and there was a lot to do. The seemingly mundane tasks were instrumental to the overall event being successful.

First, Peter and John had to go ahead of the rest of the team and get everything prepared for the Passover meal. It might have seemed minor to them, compared to preaching and ministry, but it was important to Jesus. Then a random man had to be faithful to be at the right place at the right time carrying a jug of water (something men don’t usually do) to show them to the right house. Then, when they met the owner of the house, they found he had already been faithful in getting the room prepared for their arrival. This fascinates me. We don’t know if there was a prior, unrecorded conversation when Jesus told him to prepare, or if an angel or the Holy Spirit had revealed his job to him. No matter, the room was “already set up” because he had obeyed the prompting of the Lord.

We rarely know “why” we are supposed to do all the things the Lord tells us to do; we only know that we must obey. God’s plan is like a giant, woven tapestry that comes together to form a perfect picture. Each of us weaves various threads together, as God leads us, to form something that will be beautiful and for His glory. From our vantage point, in our small section of the tapestry, we can’t always make out the big picture. We just know intuitively that God is up to something and it is bigger than us. This is why faithfulness is so key. From the most mundane tasks to the grandest of assignments, we each must be faithful and we each must play our part. Someday, from heaven’s vantage point, we will see the big picture and understand why our faithfulness, even in the small things, made all the difference in the world.