Did Jesus Give Peter and John the Runaround?

Peter and John received an odd command on the eve of Christ's arrest and crucifixion. With Passover coming, the disciples asked where they should prepare the customary meal. Instead of telling them an address or a name, Jesus instructed the two to go into the city and follow a man with a water pitcher back to his master's house. In fact, He told them exactly what would happen—from following the servant to what the master of the house would say word for word—and yet He wouldn't just tell them which house to go to. To their credit, the disciples went without asking, but was such a roundabout method necessary?

This curious passage lends itself to a great deal of supposition. One could, for example, focus in on the Greek. The word Jesus uses to request a room, katalyma, is the same word used for the place where He was born. In fact, He asked for a much lesser room than what the master of the house gave them—though the implication is that the request is for a private meal.

Or we could examine the room itself. Considering the multitudes of pilgrims in Jerusalem looking for a place to have their meals, we can surmise that the upper room, the best room, would have been a highly sought-after apartment. Thus, the owner of the house likely counted himself as a disciple of Jesus; otherwise, the message Peter and John delivered would have been far too cryptic for him to give up such a prized location.

However, the best explanation for why Jesus sent the two in the manner He did has less to do with the passage itself and more to do with the context. By this point, Judas had already agreed to hand Jesus over to the Jewish leaders. The Last Supper, as it's called, would have been a perfect opportunity to seize Jesus in private away from the crowds. Jesus, however, had a specific timing in mind and deliberately hid the location from Judas so that he could not give prior warning.

Adapted and updated from The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah by Alfred Edersheim (Book V, Chapter IX).

Originally published April 16, 2010.