Where Is the Guest Room? And What Is the Significance of the Guest Room? Are the two questions for us to ponder on this Maundy Thursday? These are questions from the story of the preparation for the first day of unleavened bread.

I. Where Is the Guest Room?

This question comes directly from Jesus' instructions to Peter and John. Jesus had sent these disciples to make preparations for the Disciples to share the Passover with Him. These men from Galilee were probably not familiar with Jerusalem and did not know where to go to make preparations. Arrangements wee made for getting a gathering place and a signal upon entering the city; they would meet a man carrying a pitcher, or a jar of water. Since it was the practice in those days for woman to carry the water jar, this man would be easy to spot. When men did carry water, they generally carried it in a skin container.

Peter and John were to follow this man with the jar of water into the house he entered and ask the mater of the house, "The Teacher says to you, Where is the guest room in which I may eat the Passover with My disciples?

This man would show them a large upper room furnished for them. At this point it may be helpful for us to picture in our minds what this house may have been like. In those days it was the better class houses that had two rooms, a lower and an upper room. These typical homes looked like a small box placed over the top of a larger one, Entrance to the upper room was usually by an outside stairway. Families primarily lived in the lower room.

Traditionally during the Passover, residents of Jerusalem with upper rooms, provided these rooms for free lodging to visitors. An upper room may have also been used as a gathering place where a Rabbi would meet with His disciples. With this background we see how appropriate it was for Jesus and His disciples to get together in such a guest room.

This evening, this sanctuary is a guest room in which we are invited to gather as 21st Century Disciples with Jesus Christ. Have you personally accepted His invitation to be a disciple? It is really our Lord's intention that this guest room and all guest rooms in which His disciples gather be available to new guests. While I assume some that friends and relatives may have been guests in some of these guest rooms in Jerusalem I believe that stranger were sometimes the guests too. Likewise my friends, this guest room should be available to guests we may not yet know and we should make them feel welcome.

As we share our faith we can answer the question, "Where is the guest room"? With directions to our church building or another fine church, or better yet, by bringing guest to worship with us.

The second question

II. What Is the Significance of the Guest Room?

Does not come directly from our Scripture as a question. I raise this as a response to the rest of the information in the question Jesus gave Peter and John, "Where is the guest room in which I may eat the Passover with my Disciples?

While these guest rooms were often made available for lodging of visitors to Jerusalem and as gathering places for disciples to meet with their Rabbi, the Upper Guest Room which Jesus and His disciples used would be special because of the significance of what was to take place there.

For Jewish families and for Jewish Rabbis to gather with their disciples for the Passover was a sacred occasion. Since Jesus' first disciples were Jews, it seems that they expected to share this special holy festival together. Even though Jesus had told them of His suffering, dearth, and resurrection, I don't think they realized that this would be the last supper, the last Passover meal they would eat together before Jesus' crucifixion.

Taking bread Jesus said, "This is My body which is given for you, do this in remembrance of Me?" Of the cup He said, This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood." This was an evening the disciples would never forget. How could they? The very common elements of the bread and the cup were not common anymore. Jesus had just referred to the bread as His body and the cup as the pouring out of His blood. Before the next sunset Jesus' body would be broken and His blood would be poured out? What a vivid portrayal of what was to happen.

What is the significance of this guest room in which we gather during this season of Passover? In a few moments I will invite you to be guests sharing the bread and cup of our Lord!

We come together as guests this evening into a room set apart for Jesus' disciples to remember what Jesus has done for us. In His suffering and crucifixion Jesus took upon Himself the penalty that we all deserve as sinners. He offers salvation to all of us who repent of our sin and by faith receive the new life that He alone can give us. As we come to our Lord's guest room tonight, and each time we come, we should remember the significance of what took place in that guest room 2000 years ago. We come as Jesus' guests and we are to welcome each other and others to be His guests also.

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