Paper 177 Overview: Wednesday, the Rest Day

This pivotal Wednesday marked Jesus's final day of freedom before the culmination of his bestowal mission, spent in profound communion with both the Universal Father and his young devotee, John Mark. As the customary rest day for Jesus and his apostles transformed into a significant transition point, spiritual preparation, interpersonal revelation, and clandestine betrayal converged under the approaching shadow of crucifixion. The contrasting responses to Jesus's ministry became starkly evident through the juxtaposition of John Mark's devoted fellowship with Jesus against Judas's covert arrangements with the Sanhedrin.

Seemingly ordinary events revealed multiple layers of spiritual significance throughout this day: Jesus's discourse on home life illuminated the foundational importance of family relationships in spiritual development; the apostles' growing anxiety reflected their awareness of impending tragedy despite inability to comprehend its implications; and Judas's betrayal emerged not from financial motivation but from complex psychological factors including disappointment, resentment, and thwarted ambition. The day concluded with a poignant evening gathering where Jesus, despite knowing what awaited him, attempted to prepare his followers for coming tribulations, warning them about the fickleness of public opinion and the inevitability of persecution while emphasizing the deeper truths of spiritual fellowship and divine sonship.

When not engaged in active teaching, Jesus and his apostles customarily observed Wednesday as a day of rest from their ministerial labors. This particular Wednesday was characterized by an unusual atmosphere of solemn quietude as the group gathered for a later-than-typical breakfast. Jesus instructed his followers to utilize this day for reflection on recent events since their arrival in Jerusalem and to contemplate the significance of what lay ahead, emphasizing the importance of allowing truth to permeate their lives and continuing to develop spiritually through divine grace.

After breakfast, Jesus informed Andrew of his intention to spend the day in solitude and directed that the apostles should avoid entering Jerusalem under any circumstances. When David Zebedee, concerned for the Master's safety given the known hostility of religious authorities, attempted to provide armed Galilean guards for protection, Jesus gently refused his offer, explaining that the Son of Man required no defense since no harm would befall him before his designated time. As Jesus prepared to depart alone for communion with the Father, John Mark approached with a small basket of provisions, subtly positioning himself to accompany the Master into the hills.

As Jesus reached to take the lunch basket from John Mark's hand, the young man boldly suggested that Jesus might set the basket down during prayer, offering to carry it and promising to maintain respectful silence throughout their journey. Despite the audacity of this proposal, which astonished nearby observers, Jesus responded with characteristic compassion, acknowledging John's heartfelt desire for companionship and inviting him to join in a day of meaningful conversation. This encounter exemplified Jesus's willingness to fellowship with even the youngest seekers of truth, becoming known in celestial circles as "the day which a young man spent with God in the hills," a demonstration of the Creator's willingness to commune with his creatures when sincere desire motivates the heart.

Jesus did not return to camp until after sunset, having devoted his final day of freedom on earth to mentoring this truth-hungry youth and communing with his Paradise Father. During their extensive conversations, Jesus addressed John's regret at being too young to serve as an apostle, reassuring him of his valuable contributions and predicting his future as a "mighty messenger of the kingdom." The text provides insight into John Mark's innermost feelings during this extraordinary day, noting that he experienced the "unforgettable ecstasy of being alone with God in the hills." The Master warned John not to reveal the specific content of their discussions, a counsel the young man faithfully observed throughout his life.

John Mark's experience that day profoundly affected his relationship with Jesus, as evidenced by his devoted vigilance during Jesus's final hours, never allowing the Master to move beyond his watchful sight and sleeping only when Jesus himself rested. The significance of this day extended beyond their personal relationship, representing a broader pattern of the Creator's willingness to fellowship with his creatures when genuine spiritual hunger motivates the encounter. Though the specific content of their conversations remained private according to Jesus's instruction, the transformative impact was evident in John Mark's intensified commitment to Jesus, which persisted throughout the Master's remaining hours on earth.

In the course of their daylong communion, Jesus spent considerable time comparing his own childhood experiences with those of John Mark, noting significant parallels despite differences in their families' economic circumstances. When John inquired how Jesus could predict his future service as a "mighty messenger of the kingdom," the Master explained that John's well-balanced home environment, characterized by parents who demonstrated genuine affection without overindulgence, had provided him with the essential foundation for spiritual reliability. Jesus contrasted John's upbringing with that of his friend Amos, whose parents' excessive attachment had prevented the boy from following the apostolic band, noting that wise parents ensure their children can develop independence without sacrificing love and loyalty. Jesus elaborated on how love, when properly balanced with wisdom, creates the ideal environment for spiritual growth, cautioning against the dangers of possessive or manipulative parental affection.

Jesus's discourse extended to a comprehensive explanation of how parental relationships form the foundation for a child's understanding of both human and divine connections. He emphasized that a child derives initial concepts of intellectual, social, moral, and spiritual relationships entirely from family interactions, with early impressions of the universe coming through maternal care and initial perceptions of the heavenly Father developing through experiences with the earthly father. The Master observed that a child's subsequent life experiences—whether characterized by ease or difficulty, happiness or sorrow—are substantially determined by the emotional and spiritual environment of their earliest years. This observation has profound implications for Jesus's gospel message, suggesting that its acceptance requires not merely intellectual assent but also emotional capacity that develops primarily through healthy family dynamics.

The midwayers who recorded this account offered their contemporary assessment, noting that while twentieth-century parents possessed greater knowledge and truth for improving home environments, few modern homes provided the ideal nurturing conditions exemplified by Jesus's Galilean home or John Mark's Judean household. They observed that genuine acceptance of Jesus's gospel would naturally improve family life, creating a reciprocal relationship wherein strengthened homes would further enhance religious understanding. The text highlights a particular concern regarding how earthly fathers influence children's concepts of the heavenly Father, placing significant responsibility on men to live worthy of this sacred representational role. While acknowledging improvements in modern households compared to ancient Jewish families, the narrative emphasized the ongoing responsibility of parents to create environments where children could develop appropriate associations between earthly family dynamics and spiritual realities.

While Jesus communed with John Mark in the hills, the apostles spent most of their day traversing the slopes of Mount Olivet and interacting with fellow disciples who shared their encampment. As afternoon progressed, their concern for Jesus's safety intensified into palpable anxiety; while none explicitly articulated these thoughts, all except Judas Iscariot privately questioned the wisdom of allowing their Master to venture into the hills accompanied only by a youth. Nathaniel delivered a particularly poignant address on "Supreme Desire," observing that their half-heartedness contrasted sharply with John Mark's wholehearted devotion. The boy had so valued Jesus's companionship that he refused to relinquish the basket when Jesus took hold of it, thereby securing his place alongside the Master.

By mid-afternoon, messengers arrived with communications for David Zebedee from his mother in Bethsaida and from Mary, the mother of Jesus. David, convinced that religious authorities intended to execute Jesus and that the Master would neither employ divine power for self-preservation nor permit his followers to defend him through force, had secretly arranged for his mother to bring Jesus's entire family to Jerusalem. Additionally, more than twenty Greeks who had previously met with Jesus and the twelve at Joseph of Arimathea's residence arrived at the camp, engaging Peter and John in an extended conference. Upon his evening return, Jesus conversed with these Greek followers and might have ordained them as he had the seventy, had such action not risked disturbing his apostles and leading disciples.

Meanwhile, Jerusalem's religious leaders expressed surprise at Jesus's absence from public teaching, especially considering the apparent receptiveness of the crowds during his previous temple discourses. They remained perplexed by his willingness to relinquish the strategic advantage of popular support, unaware that his previous words to the multitude, "I leave your house to you desolate," signaled his final departure from public ministry. The chief priests and elders continued their dual preparations for Passover and for Jesus's destruction, while relatively few visitors came to the camp, its location having been kept secret from those who might seek Jesus. This parallel development of events—the religious authorities' plotting, David Zebedee's protective arrangements, the Greek disciples' arrival, and the apostles' growing unease—created a multilayered backdrop for the evening's somber gathering.

Shortly after Jesus and John Mark departed from camp, Judas Iscariot surreptitiously absented himself from his fellow apostles, not returning until late afternoon. Disregarding Jesus's explicit instruction to avoid Jerusalem, the disaffected apostle proceeded to his prearranged meeting with Caiaphas the high priest and an informal assembly of the Sanhedrin scheduled for mid-morning. This gathering's purpose was to determine the nature of charges to be brought against Jesus and to establish procedures for securing Roman confirmation of their predetermined death sentence. The previous day, Judas had confided to relatives and Sadducean associates of his father's family his conclusion that while Jesus might be a well-intentioned idealist, he was not the anticipated deliverer of Israel, expressing his desire to withdraw gracefully from the movement.

Judas's betrayal emerged not from financial motivation but from a complex psychological matrix of disappointed ambition, resentment, and wounded pride. His disillusionment crystallized around Jesus's refusal to employ divine power for self-advancement and his apparent willingness to suffer defeat at the hands of religious authorities. Judas particularly resented that Peter, James, and John received special recognition while his own abilities remained, in his perception, unacknowledged. Upon meeting with Caiaphas, Judas formally arranged to facilitate Jesus's quiet arrest, coordinating with temple guards to apprehend him the following evening when Jerusalem's visitors would be resting. He returned to camp consumed with visions of personal glory, having convinced himself that the old religious order would survive and that his actions represented sagacious self-preservation rather than betrayal.

The midwayers observe that Judas's decision culminated a long process of harboring resentment, disappointment, and vengeful thoughts, particularly since John the Baptist's execution, which Judas had never forgiven Jesus for failing to prevent. They note that Judas had been a subconscious critic of Jesus throughout his association with him, gradually allowing accumulated resentments to crystallize into conscious antipathy. The narrative identifies Judas as fundamentally cowardly, projecting this trait onto Jesus and interpreting the Master's spiritual restraint as weakness rather than strength. The text provides insight into the psychological transformation by which genuine love, when subjected to disappointment, jealousy, and long-continued resentment, can eventually transmute into actual hatred. This was a process that Judas experienced without fully recognizing its progression within himself.

The evening gathering at camp was intended as a social hour, but the prevailing atmosphere rendered genuine conviviality impossible. Jesus attempted to elevate the spirits of his visibly troubled apostles, though his efforts met with limited success given their growing awareness of imminent calamity. After inquiring about the families of all his apostles, with particular attention to David Zebedee's relatives, Jesus delivered a sobering admonition concerning the unreliability of public support. He reminded them of their Galilean experience, where enthusiastic crowds had followed and then abandoned them, cautioning against being deceived by the seemingly receptive temple multitudes whose intellectual acceptance of truth rarely penetrated to heart-level commitment.

The Master predicted that when the religious authorities united against him, superficial believers would either flee in dismay or stand by in passive amazement as the teachers of truth were led to their deaths. He warned that persecution would extend beyond their immediate circle, suggesting that even those who appeared devoted to the truth might renounce the gospel when confronted with adversity. Jesus's intimation that some close to them had already decided to desert may have been a veiled reference to Judas, though the apostles failed to grasp this implication. The camp environment that evening was permeated with an inexplicable tension, characterized by the movement of silent messengers who communicated exclusively with David Zebedee and by information about Lazarus's hasty flight from Bethany.

Paradoxically, the Master's unusual sociability and cheerfulness intensified the apostles' apprehension rather than alleviating it, as they instinctively recognized these qualities as compensatory rather than reflective of the situation's gravity. The narrative identifies this Wednesday evening as the lowest point in the apostles' spiritual condition before Jesus's death, though it acknowledges that the presence of Jesus with them the following day would enable them to navigate its anxieties more gracefully. Just before midnight, Jesus dismissed them with words that balanced immediate peace with continued service: "Go to your sleep, my brethren, and peace be upon you till we rise on the morrow, one more day to do the Father's will and experience the joy of knowing that we are his sons." This gentle benediction, with its emphasis on divine sonship and joyful service despite impending tragedy, encapsulated the spiritual perspective Jesus consistently sought to impart to his followers.