“Say to the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says, “Where is my guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?”’
Then he will show you a large upper room furnished and ready. Make the preparations for us there.”
Mark 14:14-15 (NAB)
Jesus celebrated the Passover each year with His disciples, using one of the upper rooms inside a large home in Jerusalem. He knew that it would be the last Passover celebration with His disciples, so He sent a message to the master of that house, asking where His guest room is, so that they could prepare it for the Passover.
The master, or owner of that large home in Jerusalem, most likely routinely rented out the 2nd and 3rd floor rooms for special occasions. I attached pictures, showing the upper room in Jerusalem, which historians agree to be the one that Jesus used.
The upper room is where Jesus washed His disciples’ feet, shared Passover meals with them every year for three years, and is also where 120 of them gathered and were filled with the Spirit on the day of Pentecost.
Life changing, supernatural events occurred in that same upper room. One of the most marvelous events was when Jesus entered that room in His resurrected body, and walked through the walls, instead of through the door. (John 20:19)
Every person is the master of their own spiritual home, deciding to whom and to what they will give their space to. Whatever fills our minds most, whatever desires we yield to the most, and whoever or whatever we pay the most honor to, are the ones in our guest room.
Jesus is asking for the place of honor in our guest room. Once we quiet the outside noises of the day, and silence the angry and confusing voices all around us, we might hear a soft, gentle voice asking us,
“Where is My guest room?”
Mary was the first human person who welcomed Jesus into her guest room, which was her womb. For us, the guest room is not a physical place in our body, but a spiritual one, within our hearts.
If an honored guest or a favorite celebrity came to stay in our home, we would prepare the guest room by cleaning it, putting fresh linens on the bed, and stocking the pantry full of food, so that our guest could dine in excellence. Entertaining a guest is more than giving them a room, but the time spent with our guest. We would not greet them, and leave them with a list of chores, as we run off.
I can easily slip into a mode of treating Jesus more like a servant than a guest. Servants are those whose job is to please us, but an honored guest is someone we seek to please. Some days I’m handing Jesus a laundry list of prayer requests, then hurrying off to run errands and finish other obligations.
It’s an honor and a joy to have His presence in our guest room, even if nothing got done on our list of prayer requests. It’s about loving Jesus for who He is, and not for what He does for us, because that’s exactly how He loves us. He wants us to keep asking, seeking and knocking on His door, but to remember that He is also knocking on our door, waiting to be invited in as our guest and dine with us. (Revelation 3:20)
Keeping Jesus as the honored guest and dining with us every day, leads to conversation that consists of speaking and listening. It’s the kind of prayer that deepens our relationship with Him. Maybe that’s what Jesus meant by dining with us.
The guest room in Jerusalem is the place where so many life transforming moments happened during the three years that the disciples spent with Jesus. I can imagine Jesus saying to us, during our hectic daily schedules,
“I hear you and everything will be okay, just give me my guest room and come dine with Me.”
Lord, today as we invite you into the upper room of our hearts, we thank you for the honor of your Presence, as we dine with you each day. Amen
