They asked, “Where do you want us to prepare it?”
He replied, “When you go into the city, a man will meet you carrying a jug of water. Follow him into the house he enters. Then tell the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher says to you, ‘Where is the dining room where I can eat the Passover with my disciples?’ Then he’ll show you a large furnished upper chamber. Prepare it there.” Then they left and found everything just as he told them. They prepared the Passover there. (Luke 22:9-13)
Is this about the last supper?
Jesus is instructing his students to locate the place of what is referred to as the "last supper."Notice that Jesus clearly identifies himself as "the Teacher" - translated from the Greek word, διδάσκαλος (didaskalos). According to the lexicon, this word means, "a teacher" - "one who teaches concerning the things of God, and the duties of man" - "one who is fitted to teach, or thinks himself so" - and "the teachers of the Jewish religion."
We must note also that the man carrying the jar was specifically going to meet Jesus' disciple. This means that he also accepted Jesus as Teacher, and he offered his house for Jesus and his disciples to eat.
The fact that διδάσκαλος refers to "one who teaches concerning the things of God" also means that Jesus saw himself as God's messenger.
Why is this important? Because today, Jesus' role has been stretched out of proportion and made into something that it is not. Jesus is being identified as the Supreme Being. If Jesus considered himself God then why wouldn't he identify himself as God? Why would he only identify himself as "the Teacher?" And if Jesus were God, then who was Jesus praying to when he said the following prayer:
He withdrew about a stone's throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, "Father, if You are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but Yours be done." (Luke 22:41)Since Jesus was praying to God and asking God not to do Jesus' will, but to do what God willed, it is certain that Jesus is not God.
Does this mean there is someone else involved?
This means that there is another Person in the picture. Someone besides Jesus. Someone Jesus worshipped and loved. Someone Jesus had a loving relationship with. Someone Jesus served.This runs contrary to the teachings of some who claim to represent Jesus, yet curiously don't mention the existence of the Supreme Being that Jesus prayed to. They only speak of Jesus as God.
This means they have become precisely what Jesus condemned in his teachings:
"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'" (Matt. 7:21-23)So we see here that Jesus is condemning those who may sentimentally cry out Jesus' name but who do not serve the Supreme Being. This is a clear confirmation that not only did Jesus state he wasn't God: He also was offended by those who identified him as God.
Could people even read the Bible for themselves?
We must note clearly that for 1,000 years after the Nicene Creed, it was against the law for a common person to even own a Bible, let alone be able to read it. Only the priests or bishops were allowed to have copies of or read the Bible. Furthermore, nearly every copy of the Bible was written in Latin. They burnt any other copy found in other libraries. So even if a commoner had a copy, he'd have to know Latin in order to read it.So what was the source of people's knowledge of Jesus' teachings if they could not read the Bible themselves? It was the Roman Catholic priest. During sermons, the priest would mostly speak in Latin, as the people would go through their ritual ceremonies. Then the priest might say a few words in the local language. But this was limited to Nicene Creed doctrine.
In other words, people could not think for themselves about Jesus' teachings because they had no direct access to the Scriptures.
The result is the widespread acceptance of the Roman Catholic Church interpretation from the Fifth century through today.
This means that while Jesus' statement about doing God's will was right there in the Book of Matthew the whole time, few knew it because the priests never talked about that teaching by Jesus.
They didn't (and still don't) talk about Jesus' teaching from Matthew 7:21-23 because they were guilty of this precise statement. These supposed representatives of Jesus have completely ignored the Supreme Being.
So why is this a big deal? Is this point just to bash these institutions that claimed to represent Jesus?
There is no intention to bash anyone. The issue is simply by following such a doctrine, we miss out on the opportunity to re-establish our innate relationship with the Supreme Being. Saying that Jesus is God offends Jesus - just as it offends God by continuing to ignore Him. And we miss out on our chance to reclaim the very relationship that will cure our emptiness and our anxieties and our loneliness and our greed and our unhappiness.
Let's use an example to illustrate what is going on here:
Let's say that you have a really close friend who is a really great person, and you are out with your friend and you see a co-worker. So you introduce your co-worker to your friend. Instead of the co-worker shaking your friend's hand and saying "glad to meet you" or something, the co-worker completely ignores your friend - doesn't even acknowledge him even though you just introduced him. How would you feel?
You would certainly feel offended that your co-worker didn't acknowledge your friend.
And you would feel sad that the co-worker doesn't have a chance to get to know your great friend.
Isn't this the case with Jesus?
It is not as if this point about Jesus not being God is an attempt to disrespect Jesus. Quite the opposite. It means completely respecting what Jesus really taught. It means hearing Jesus and acknowledging Jesus' teachings. And that means acknowledging the very Person - the Supreme Being - that Jesus is trying to introduce us to.This means, of course, acknowledging Jesus as God's representative. Not only is Jesus trying to introduce his followers to God: He is also asking that we develop our own loving relationship with the same Supreme Being that Jesus loves. This was expressed in Jesus' primary teaching:
"'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'" (Matt. 22:37)How can we learn to love God if we misidentify Him?
