Wednesday, the Rest Day

177:1.1As Je­sus was about to take the lunch bas­ket from John’s hand, the young man ven­tured to say: “But, Mas­ter, you may set the bas­ket down while you turn aside to pray and go on with­out it. Be­sides, if I should go along to carry the lunch, you would be more free to wor­ship, and I will surely be silent. I will ask no ques­tions and will stay by the bas­ket when you go apart by your­self to pray.”

177:1.2While mak­ing this speech, the temer­ity of which as­ton­ished some of the near-by lis­ten­ers, John had made bold to hold on to the bas­ket. There they stood, both John and Je­sus hold­ing the bas­ket. Pres­ently the Mas­ter let go and, look­ing down on the lad, said: “Since with all your heart you crave to go with me, it shall not be de­nied you. We will go off by our­selves and have a good visit. You may ask me any ques­tion that arises in your heart, and we will com­fort and con­sole each other. You may start out car­ry­ing the lunch, and when you grow weary, I will help you. Fol­low on with me.”

177:1.3Je­sus did not re­turn to the camp that evening un­til af­ter sun­set. The Mas­ter spent this last day of quiet on earth vis­it­ing with this truth-hun­gry youth and talk­ing with his Par­a­dise Fa­ther. This event has be­come known on high as “the day which a young man spent with God in the hills.” For­ever this oc­ca­sion ex­em­pli­fies the will­ing­ness of the Cre­ator to fel­low­ship the crea­ture. Even a youth, if the de­sire of the heart is re­ally su­preme, can com­mand the at­ten­tion and en­joy the lov­ing com­pan­ion­ship of the God of a uni­verse, ac­tu­ally ex­pe­ri­ence the un­for­get­table ec­stasy of be­ing alone with God in the hills, and for a whole day. And such was the unique ex­pe­ri­ence of John Mark on this Wednes­day in the hills of Judea.

177:1.4Je­sus vis­ited much with John, talk­ing freely about the af­fairs of this world and the next. John told Je­sus how much he re­gret­ted that he had not been old enough to be one of the apos­tles and ex­pressed his great ap­pre­ci­a­tion that he had been per­mit­ted to fol­low on with them since their first preach­ing at the Jor­dan ford near Jeri­cho, ex­cept for the trip to Phoeni­cia. Je­sus warned the lad not to be­come dis­cour­aged by im­pend­ing events and as­sured him he would live to be­come a mighty mes­sen­ger of the king­dom.

177:1.5John Mark was thrilled by the mem­ory of this day with Je­sus in the hills, but he never for­got the Mas­ter’s fi­nal ad­mo­ni­tion, spo­ken just as they were about to re­turn to the Geth­sem­ane camp, when he said: “Well, John, we have had a good visit, a real day of rest, but see to it that you tell no man the things which I told you.” And John Mark never did re­veal any­thing that tran­spired on this day which he spent with Je­sus in the hills.

177:1.6Through­out the few re­main­ing hours of Je­sus’ earth life John Mark never per­mit­ted the Mas­ter for long to get out of his sight. Al­ways was the lad in hid­ing near by; he slept only when Je­sus slept.