It’s an overlooked, intriguing, mysterious little detail in the New Testament’s accounts of the final Passover Jesus celebrated with His disciples.
Most people have heard or read accounts of Yeshua’s (Jesus’) final day before His arrest and trial scores of times. Yet few have ever noticed this detail.
Here it is in Mark’s version:
Now on the first day of matzah , when they were slaughtering the Passover lamb, Yeshua’s disciples say to Him, “Where do You want us to go and prepare for You to eat the Passover?”
He sends two of His disciples and tells them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him . . . (Mark 14:12-13 TLV, emphasis added)."
This may be one of the least recognized miracles of Jesus’ entire ministry.
Keep in mind that Jerusalem would have been packed with people at this time. Jewish pilgrims from across the Roman Empire would have filled the city to the brim for the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
Yet Yeshua (Jesus) instructs two of His disciples to make their way into that teeming mass of humanity and assures them they’ll meet a man carrying a water container.
Even if Yeshua had prearranged for the man with the water jar to be there, the odds of the two disciples encountering him at just the right moment are astronomical.
As I write to you today, we’re still several weeks away from Passover.But I mention this incident because I want to direct your attention to some important thoughts prompted by that mysterious man and his jar of water.
Yeshua and Water
First of all, I’m struck by how many times water and water containers appear in the narratives of Yeshua’s life and ministry.
His first recorded miracle was at the wedding in Cana. There the Messiah instructed that six large stone water pots be filled with water. As I’m sure you know, that water was soon transformed into wine.
With the Samaritan woman, Yeshua asked her to use her container to draw Him some water to drink. Water heals when Yeshua instructs a blind man to wash in the Pool of Siloam.
Time and again in Yeshua’s Messianic ministry, water plays a key role. And at His final Passover meal, Yeshua takes a basin of water and washes His disciple’s feet.
Is it possible that the water Yeshua used in that holy moment came from the water jar carried by our mystery man? I suspect it was.
“Dry and Thirsty Mberengwa”
Clearly, water played a central role in Yeshua’s ministry to the broken, the hurting, and the lost.
The same is true for those of us who minister in His name today!
Every time we carry out a medical outreach to one of the poor, scattered Tribes of Israel, a key element of our ministry to these precious people is the gift of access to clean, life-giving water.
This is certainly true with our work among the remarkable Lemba in Zimbabwe.
The Lemba are a tribe of more than 70,000 spread throughout Zimbabwe and parts of South Africa. A DNA study revealed that 70 percent of the Lemba possessed a key genetic marker that supports their centuries-old claim to be descended from a branch of the priestly line of Aaron.
Together, with the DNA evidence, they have preserved oral and religious traditions that connect them to the Levites of ancient Israel. That is why Jewish Voice has prioritized them in our outreach efforts.
Last July, an article in an English-language newspaper in Zimbabwe opened with these words:
Tucked deep inside Midlands is the dry and thirsty Mberengwa district. The district is so desiccated that farmers, relying mainly on subsistence farming, can barely grow crops enough for sustained food security even at household level.
Yes, water is precious and scarce in this part of the world. And for the poorest of the poor, their only sources tend to be dangerously contaminated.
In many of the places where we encounter a community of people without access to clean water we see . . .
• children suffering pitifully
• blindness
• and a host of other unnecessary crippling diseases.
Carrying Life and Hope
Just a few short weeks from now, an outreach team from Jewish Voice will head for the very Mberengwa District described in that newspaper article I just quoted.
We’ll bring lifesaving medical help and vision-saving eye care, including the ability to perform eye surgeries.
We’ll bring prayer and love, and, most importantly, the Good News of Yeshua the Messiah. (Indeed, an amazing Messianic move of God is already under way among the Lemba.)
But we will also be bringing a supply of something called a LifeStraw®.
The LifeStraw® is a personal water filtration device that represents an almost miraculous clean water solution for the Lemba and for others among the poorest scattered Tribes of Israel.
It provides both children and adults roughly 4,000 liters of clean, healing, life-giving water.
We hope to put one of these lifesaving devices into the hands of every Lemba tribe member that needs one (along with training on how to use it).
It’s the simplest, most powerful way we know to save lives. But I need your help to make this a reality.
Today I call upon your compassion and heart for the Jewish People to help us bring as many LifeStraws® as possible when we leave for Mberengwa in a few weeks. That’s why I’m hoping for your most generous response without delay.
You can deliver a LifeStraw® to a remarkable member of one of Israel’s “Lost Tribes” for only $15.
In other words, your gift of $45 will help put three LifeStraws® in the hands of precious people at risk for misery, blindness, and even death because of filthy water.
And it will make you a key part of all the other amazing things our Jewish Voice team will be doing on this upcoming trip.
As I close, allow me to explain why I’m so passionate about helping and blessing these amazing people.
“A man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him . . .”
Yeshua instructed His disciples to follow the stranger carrying water. In a similar way, the opportunity to drink clean, clear water still attracts people.
Indeed, our return to Mberengwa is much anticipated by the Lemba people of this area. The word is out. Jewish Voice is coming!
Last time we were there, multitudes of people thronged to our medical clinic seeking help. People carried sick loved ones many miles in donkey drawn carts and even pushed them in wheelbarrows.
We anticipate the demand at this clinic to be even greater, meaning we will need more LifeStraws® than ever before.
Your support of these efforts there will do more than treat the sick and present the lifesaving gift of clean water . . .
You will be nurturing an amazing Messianic revival going on among the Jewish Lemba People.
If you’re willing and able to help, I have selected some very special and timely expressions of our thanks I’d like to send you.
Passover is approaching. So for any gift of support today, I am excited to send our powerful DVD presentation called Yeshua’s Final Passover.
I filmed this on location in Jerusalem in the Upper Room believed by many to be the actual sight of the “Last Supper.” It's a very special and illuminating resource.
If God has blessed you with the means to give a lifesaving gift of $150 or more, I’d love to also send you our beautiful and deeply meaningful Passover Seder Kit.
This lovely set includes much of what you need to celebrate an authentic seder — including a Haggadah, Seder Plate, Kiddush Cup, Two Candle Holders, and Matzah Cover — as well as step-by-step guidance for conducting your own Passover Seder meal.
Please keep in mind, these inspiring gifts are just tokens of our gratitude for being a part of saving lives and blessing some of the poorest Jewish People on Earth.
The deepest gratitude will reside in the people who will be helped in the days just ahead. And, of course, our Heavenly Father will smile as well as you lay up eternal treasure in Heaven.
Please click below to share and request your “thank you” gifts. I’m so very grateful for your friendship and support.
