THE MAN WITH THE PITCHER, NOT THE PICTURE, JUST THE PITCHER
[1]. THE MESSAGE FROM PILGRIM’S PROGRESS
Who has read Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan? I love that book. Many decades ago, and all through the 1800s etc., nearly everyone read Pilgrim’s Progress, even non-Christians. Sometimes in adventure books there might be a map in the front of a book with the whole progress sketched out. We can read it and know what’s coming next. For Pilgrim that was not so. There was no map before the journey. He lived in the City of Destruction where he met Evangelist and this began his journey. He had many adventures, becoming saved and eventually entered the Celestial City. You will read of The Slough of Despond, of Apollyon, of Vanity Fair, of Doubting Castle, of the Delectable Mountains and many more and a whole host of characters. We may know Christian’s life (that was the Pilgrim’s name) well, but do we know ours?
[2]. LIFE’S ROAD MAP
When we set out on a journey like my wife and I did some years ago driving to Victoria from far north Queensland, we made extensive use of a road map. It was studied comprehensively before leaving. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have a road map for life so we could just go from Step 1 to 2 to 3 to 4 and so on. Look at all the pitfalls that would be avoided. Somehow I think though, that would be making us like robots and God would never have us to be robots. I worked out the other day that I could have been worth more than 6000 million dollars if I knew 60 years ago what things to chase and where to invest, and that’s a problem we’d create I think, if we knew our life’s road map – we’d use it to satisfy ourselves, not promote God’s kingdom. Having enough to get by, with the Lord’s presence, is contentment. We have wills (desires, plans) for decision making, and priorities, and the capability to make intelligent decisions. We don’t have that map of life but God has given us the tools and I’ll mention those later on.
Just imagine if we had our plan for life and one entry told us not to be at a certain place on a certain day. Well we would be sure to avoid that, but where is the faith in going down that route? How would we be dependent on God? We would be no more that automatons – Yes, sir. No sir. Turn right when you reach the next set of traffic lights.
[3]. THE LORD’S GUIDANCE
One of the hardest aspects of living a Christian life is to know the guidance of God. I say that because I have fallen from the track many times and need the Lord to lift me back on the track. Some ministers speak on tips for guidance, and some act as if they have all the answers, but I am telling you, we do not have the answers. Yes, there are signposts and God-given resources but no one can say, “I know the whole way.” We are guided in the way but the way we do not know.
The disciple Thomas wanted an answer to that question; he wanted to know the way. The Lord did not tell him the way; instead he told him of the WAY. That is what it is all about. How can we walk in the way? Well, we follow the Leader of the way. That is the great Shepherd of the sheep who is The Way, and who leads us in the way and asks of us to follow. “Follow Me,” was his command. Jesus does not want us to map out our way but only to follow.
There is a restoration passage in Isaiah but it has application to all – {{Isaiah 30:18-21 “Therefore the LORD longs to be gracious to you and therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you for the LORD is a God of justice. How blessed are all those who long for Him. Isa 30:19 O people in Zion, inhabitant in Jerusalem, you will weep no longer. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry. When He hears it, He will answer you. Isa 30:20 Although the Lord has given you bread of privation and water of oppression, He, your Teacher will no longer hide Himself, but your eyes will behold your Teacher, Isa 30:21 AND YOUR EARS WILL HEAR A WORD BEHIND YOU, “THIS IS THE WAY, WALK IN IT,” WHENEVER YOU TURN TO THE RIGHT OR TO THE LEFT.”}}
I won’t do the meaning to the Jews here, but want to take the last verse, {{“and your ears will hear a word behind you, “This is the way; walk in it, whenever you turn to the right or to the left.”}} This is action at God’s direction. Left to our own devices we would walk to the left or the right and take devious turns and get nowhere but in a pool of misery. Thank God there is a voice behind us telling us, “This is the way,” once we start to turn off that correct way. He has not left us directionless.
I would like to look at some scripture examples of guidance God gave to His servants, and perhaps we might pick up some instruction from them.
[4]. ELIJAH IN THE HAND OF THE LORD
Let us read the passage and think about it – Elijah was guided by the hand of the Lord step by step.
{{1 Kings 17:2-9 “The word of the LORD came to him (Elijah) saying, “Go away from here and turn eastward, and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan and it shall be that you shall drink of the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to provide for you there,” so he went and did according to the word of the LORD, for he went and lived by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he would drink from the brook, and it happened after a while, that the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land. Then the word of the LORD came to him, saying, “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and stay there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.”}}
How great it would have been for Elijah if he had life’s roadmap, so he knew what each step was. He had nothing in his hand to tell him that but the Lord guided him. How did God do it? Firstly, God spoke to him so clearly he knew what the Lord had said. He had to go to Cherith. God speaks to us through His word, clearly at times. When it was time to move, God guided him by circumstances. The brook dried up and the ravens no longer came so it was time to move on. Then God told him what to do. Sometimes we can hear the Lord speaking in His word, and sometimes He will guide us through circumstances.
[5]. THE MAN WITH THE PITCHER, NOT THE PICTURE, JUST THE PITCHER.
Now that brings us to our subject today, which is (title). Could we look at {{Mark 14:13-17 “He sent two of His disciples, and said to them, “Go into the city, and A MAN WILL MEET YOU CARRYING A PITCHER OF WATER (some versions use “jar” or “jug”). Follow him and wherever he enters, say to the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher says, “Where is My guest room in which I may eat the Passover with My disciples?”’ He himself will show you a large upper room furnished and ready, and prepare for us there.” The disciples went out and came to the city and found it just as He had told them and they prepared the Passover and when it was evening He came with the twelve.”}}
This room was a 2nd storey of a house. Because of the engineering difficulty of supporting walls on a 2nd storey building, such a room was usually very large, and thus was used for gatherings of many people. Jesus described such a room, and that is quite revealing because the Torah’s requirement was that the Passover be celebrated “before the Lord.” Therefore the Jews ate it in Jerusalem, where many residents made some money by renting out their upper storey rooms. A man carrying a pitcher would be an unusual sight in an Oriental city, where the water is drawn by women. It is probable that the "man" whom the Master foretold John and Peter would meet, was the master of the house, who, according to the Jewish custom on the 13th of Nisan, before the stars appeared in the heavens, had himself, to go to the public fountain to draw the water with which the unleavened bread for the Passover Feast was kneaded.
Some say the Lord gave obscure instructions so that Judas would not know the location and bring the Romans. It is a mark of trust (disciples) and deity (Lord) seen in this act. This was all they needed to know. It was one step at a time. The Lord leads that way. Follow the man with the pitcher. That is the light He has shed upon us for that time. God calls us all the time to follow the man with the pitcher = one immediate step at a time. Knowing the will of God is difficult and it is a test of faith, but He has His man with the pitcher, whenever the man with the pitcher is needed.
You remember the instructions given on what is called Palm Sunday – when the Lord got near the villages of Bethphage and Bethany He sent two disciples to a village to a colt that would be tied up. That’s all they were entrusted with – find the cold, and release it, and bring it with you. On that occasion the colt was, for them, “the man with the pitcher”.
[6]. THE LAMP AND THE LIGHT AND THE PICTURE
In Psalm 119 v 105 we have, {{“Your word is a Lamp to my feet and a Light to my path”.}} I remember way back when I was young being on Elephant Rock at Currumbin fishing at night. I had a hurricane lamp and it was sufficient for me to see what was at my feet and to see ahead just a bit before the light was diffused and would see nothing. We did not have torches in the 1950s and 60s that were like modern lights. They were long torches with D size batteries. The lamp and the light ? the lamp shows right at the feet = the next step; and the light showed a bit further out. At night one will never see the whole scene, just what the light reveals. The Church is in the night of this world’s sin because the world is in darkness. The Lord Jesus Christ is our Light and we are guided by Him in the dark scene. We pick our way through the brambles, and across the stream from rock to rock with the light that shows at our feet, and a little more just ahead.
You see, we will not see the picture all around, just what is revealed by the light. It is a step by step walk with the Lord. Follow the man with the pitcher, not the picture, because we don’t have the picture. We know where we are going, and we journey with the Shepherd, but we don’t have the details of our picture. When the Lord sent his disciples to a man with a pitcher, that man did NOT have the picture. That man was just a guide post along the way. He did not have the answers or the map for it all ahead. Obedience on the part of the disciples was to follow the Lord’s instructions and that is all we need too.
[7]. OTHER EXAMPLES
There are other examples of revealed light step by step.
(a). Saul lost the donkeys and Samuel gave him instructions to be followed.
(b). We have an interesting account – {{Acts 1:4-8 “And gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, which, He said, you heard of from Me, for John baptised with water, but you shall be baptised with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” When they (disciples and the Lord) had come together, they were asking Him, saying, “Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority, but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”}} They wanted to know the picture for the future but the Lord gave them merely a man with the pitcher answer. He shone the lamp for them just for that immediate time.
(c). {{Mark 6:44-45 “There were five thousand men who ate the loaves, and immediately He made His disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side to Bethsaida, while He Himself was sending the multitude away.”}} He did not reveal the picture to them – stormy winds, danger – but He knew all about it. He did not alert them to coming difficulties.
(d). Acts chapter 10 – Peter’s trance vision of the sheet. Then this – {{Acts 10:19 “And while Peter was reflecting on the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Behold, three men are looking for you.”}} It was revealed to Peter he had to go to Caesarea – he had the lamp, not the picture. The man with the pitcher was the revelation to Peter.
[8]. WHAT THIS MEANS FOR US
In living for the Lord we must remember that He has given us guideposts, or if you like, the man with the pitcher. We are to follow as the sheep did in Psalm 23 - totally resting in the Shepherd and leaving it to Him to care for their welfare. They did not worry for events down the track, or in any way try to plan for them. The most important thing was that they must follow. There are some Scriptural helps God has given us –
(a). Obscurity gives way to Clarity. {{1Corinthians 13:10-12 “but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. When I was a child, I used to speak as a child, think as a child, reason as a child. When I became a man, I did away with childish things. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, BUT THEN I SHALL KNOW FULLY JUST AS I ALSO HAVE BEEN FULLY KNOWN.”}}
We see now through a smoky mirror – or dimly as scripture says. You look but the image coming back is unclear and dim. That is why we need the man with the pitcher. Follow, follow on. We will only ever know in part while we are here. What beautiful promises lay in this verse – there will be the “face to face”, with the dimness gone forever. We shall know fully in that day, not partially as we do now. How wonderful is that expression – then I shall know fully just as I have been fully known. The Lord knows us! He knows us fully! Don’t you find that comforting? Not abandoned! Never!
(b). We have the Presence of God with us continually. {{John 16:13 “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, HE WILL GUIDE YOU into all the truth, for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak, AND HE WILL DISCLOSE TO YOU WHAT IS TO COME.”
John 15:26 “When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, He will bear witness of Me.”}}
What more can we ever need? The same Holy Spirit who empowered the Lord on earth is the same One as He has given us. God with us. Note that He will confirm Christ in our lives and remain with us as the divine Helper. Note too the Spirit will guide us and disclose to us what is to come, even if it is by the light of the lamp – one step at a time. He leads us to the brook and He dries the brook up. Elijah will vouch for that faithful leading.
(c). Peter Confirms the Lamp. {{2Peter 1:19 “And so we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which YOU DO WELL TO PAY ATTENTION as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts.”}}
The lamp shines in this dark world and it is getting darker every day. We see that daily as men become more godless. We have the lamp though, and that is the prophetic word setting out some of the path that is ahead, for us and the world. The whole of the word of God is our lamp. Step by step until the Lord comes or we go to be with Him. Note carefully Peter says we do well to pay attention. Never miss that point.
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Going back to our subject. The man with the Pitcher – not the Picture – Just the Pitcher. It is a walk with the Lord step by step. Not the picture of your life all lit up before you. Just the man with the pitcher – follow on as the Lord leads, one step and event at a time.
Who knows best for you – you, yourself, or the Shepherd whose sheepfold you are in? Why certainly, your Shepherd knows when to move the sheep; when to stop; when to lead into green pastures; when to lead through the rough landscape to a better place. One final comment – trust in the Lord’s leading even though it may be obscure. The bible uses another word that is relevant here – commit.
That is all that is asked of us – COMMIT and then FOLLOW.
ronaldf@aapt.net.au
