Welcome to another day the Lord has made that we should rejoice and be glad in. (Psalms 118:24)

Today, let’s seek to find hidden preparations by Jesus before His crucifixion.

In Today’s scripture, Matthew 26:17‭-‬21 (NLT), Jesus and His disciples share their Last Supper…
On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Where do you want us to prepare the Passover meal for you?” “As you go into the city,” he told them, “you will see a certain man. Tell him, ‘The Teacher says: My time has come, and I will eat the Passover meal with my disciples at your house.’” So the disciples did as Jesus told them and prepared the Passover meal there. When it was evening, Jesus sat down at the table with the Twelve. While they were eating, he said, “I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me.”

Consider…
Imagine knowing that tomorrow is your last day on earth, what would you do? Add to grappling with your impending death, the knowledge that you will be unjustly arrested and excruciatingly put to death (murdered) by the people you love. What would you think about?

In today’s scripture, Jesus once again displays God’s amazing love and grace by caring about others more than himself. (Philippians 2:4)

Most of us are familiar with the Last Supper, which established the ordinance of Holy Communion that we still observe today. What we may not have paid attention to, is this being the first of Jesus’ final preparations of His disciples for their roles and reactions to His death. Notice in the supper Jesus told them that…

• One (Judas) would betray Him. And that he would commit suicide because of it (Matthew 26:23-24). I find it interesting that Jesus shared Judas’ betrayal as preparation of what would, and must happen to fulfill prophecy. Rather than admonishing or telling the other disciples to stop Judas from betraying, Jesus said don’t be surprised when one of you, my trusted twelve, betrays me, the Truth.
• Next Jesus prepared them for Spiritual significance of his physical death. In explaining the breaking of His body and shedding of His blood, Jesus was preparing them to understand the Gospel message of His death. The message, is God’s new and final blood covenant for the forgiveness of sin, was signed, sealed and delivered by the unblemished Lamb’s (Jesus) sacrificial death. (Hebrews 10:9-12)
• After Judas left, and the supper ended, the remaining eleven were told they would ALL desert him in his death, but be restored in his resurrection. (Matthew 26:32-32). It’s a blessing to know that Jesus knows that we may let him down in adversity, but also that because his life is in us, we’ll come back to him. Reading Jesus’ encouraging preparatory statement that death desertion would be followed by resurrection restoration, ran my mind to (Matthew 28:16-17), where the eleven met Jesus like he told them. That encourages me that God’s Word can be trusted, because it will always come true.
• Next we see Jesus prepare Peter for his fall that will follow his pride (Proverbs 16:18). Notice, Jesus’ original preparation statement was ALL would desert him. However proud Peter, Jesus’ ride or die guy, declared he wasn’t weak like the other disciples. Peter swore he would stand by Jesus to the end, and just before the rooster crowed we know Peter swore again 🥺. Here’s what the Lord is preparing us to understand, our spirit may be willing but our flesh is weak. (Matthew 26:41) Therefore, don’t declare, what you will do for God, rather simply prepare in humility, and with prayer.
• Which leads us to Jesus’ last preparation, which was prayer. Jesus took his most trusted three to watch and pray, while He prepared himself for what He must do. (Matthew 26:36-42). As I read the Garden of Gethsemane scene again, I realized Jesus ask his most trusted friends to keep watch and pray with him. I also recalled this wasn’t something new to these guys, after all these were the same three who accompanied Jesus to the mount of Transfiguration (Luke 9:28-32). I found it interesting that Jesus’ inner-circle fell asleep that time too. Either these brothers had Narcolepsy or Jesus just prayed for long periods of time, I tend to believe the latter. Regardless of why Peter, James and John couldn’t stay awake, Jesus still chose them to be with him when he prayed. That encourages me that although we may not always be able to stay alert or know how to pray, Jesus still invites us to join him in prayer. In fact, notice Jesus taught us to begin prayer with “our Father” (Matthew 6:9-13)

*** The Holy Spirit just showed me the hidden purpose of prayer. It’s to shift our focus to focus on:

• Our Father rather than our fear
• Our Savior rather than our situation
• Christ rather than our circumstances
• God’s love rather than our lack
• God’s mercy rather than our mistakes
• God’s grace rather than our guilt

Prayerfully today you can see how Jesus spent his final precious moments with his disciples preparing them for what was going to happen because of Him.

Note: Jesus is also preparing us for the challenges we’ll encounter in life when we choose to follow Him. In John 16:33 (NLT), Jesus said…
I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”

Today, no matter what you’re facing or will face, find comfort in knowing that Jesus has already prepared you for whatever God allows in your life.

Today’s song is…
He’s Preparing Me

Blessings 4HG (1 Corinthians 10:31)