Meredith Sprunger's Synopsis of The Urantia Book
Synopsis of Paper 177
WEDNESDAY, THE REST DAY
1 .When the work of teaching the people did not press them, it was the custom of Jesus and his apostles to rest from their labors each Wednesday ... When Jesus made ready to go into the hills alone, David Zebedee accosted him, saying... "I will... send three men with you well prepared to see that no harm befalls you." Jesus looked over the three well‑armed and stalwart Galileans and said to David: "You mean well, but you err in that you fail to understand that the Son of Man needs no one to defend him. No man will lay hands on me until that hour when I am ready to lay down my life in conformity to my Father's will. These men may not accompany me. I desire to go alone, that I may commune with the Father."
2. As Jesus started off alone, John Mark came forward with a small basket containing food and water... As 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.”…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."
3. 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.
4. John told Jesus how much he regretted that he had not been old enough to be one of the apostles... 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.
5. John 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.
6. When the lad asked the Master how he could know that he would turn out to be a "mighty messenger of the kingdom," Jesus said:
"I know you will prove loyal to the gospel of the kingdom because I can depend upon your present faith and love when these qualities are grounded upon such an early training as has been your portion at home ... You have enjoyed that parental love which insures laudable self‑confidence and which fosters normal feelings of security. But you have also been fortunate in that your parents possessed wisdom as well as love; and it was wisdom which led them to withhold most forms of indulgence and many luxuries which wealth can buy while they sent you to the synagogue school along with your neighborhood playfellows, and they also encouraged you to learn how to live in this world by permitting you to have original experience… Wise parents, such as yours, see to it that their children do not have to wound love or stifle loyalty in order to develop independence and enjoy invigorating liberty when they have grown up to your age.
7. “Love, John, is the supreme reality of the universe when bestowed by all‑wise beings, but it is a dangerous and oftentimes semiselfish trait as it is manifested in the experience of mortal parents. When you get married and have children of your own to rear, make sure that your love is admonished by wisdom and guided by intelligence.
8. "Your young friend Amos believes this gospel of the kingdom just as much as you, but I cannot fully depend upon him ...His early life was not such as would produce a wholly dependable person... Your whole afterlife will be more happy and dependable because you spent your first eight years in a normal and well‑regulated home."
9. It is our sincere belief that the gospel of Jesus' teaching, founded as it is on the father‑child relationship, can hardly enjoy a world‑wide acceptance until such a time as the home life of the modern civilized peoples embraces more of love and more of wisdom... The love life of a wise home and the loyal devotion of true religion exert a profound reciprocal influence upon each other.
10. It was about midafternoon when Nathaniel made his speech on "Supreme Desire" ... "What is wrong with most of us is that we are only halfhearted. We fail to love the Master as he loves us. If we had all wanted to go with him as much as John Mark did, he would surely have taken us all."
11. About four o'clock, runners came to David Zebedee bringing him word from his mother at Bethsaida and from Jesus' mother. Several days previously David had made up his mind that the chief priests and rulers were going to kill Jesus. David knew they were determined to destroy the Master, and he was about convinced that Jesus would neither exert his divine power to save himself nor permit his followers to employ force in his defense. Having reached these conclusions, he lost no time in dispatching a messenger to his mother, urging her to come at once to Jerusalem and to bring Mary the mother of Jesus and every member of his family.
12. That evening, after returning to the camp, Jesus visited with the Greeks, and had it not been that such a course would have greatly disturbed his apostles and many of his leading disciples, he would have ordained these twenty Greeks, even as he had the seventy.
13. Shortly after Jesus and John Mark left the camp, Judas Iscariot disappeared from among his brethren, not returning until late in the afternoon... Judas stated that he would very much like to find some way of withdrawing gracefully from the whole movement. His friends flatteringly assured him that his withdrawal would be hailed by the Jewish rulers as a great event, and that nothing would be too good for him.
14. And now, as never before, Judas found himself becoming strangely resentful that Jesus had never assigned him a position of greater honor... at this time, when he was on the way to the high priest's home, he was bent on getting even with Peter, James and John more than he was concerned with any thought of betraying Jesus... He had set out to get honor for himself... And so it must be plain that it was not for money that Judas was then on his way to the home of Caiaphas to arrange for the betrayal of Jesus.
15. In its last motive of conscious intention, Judas's betrayal of Jesus was the cowardly act of a selfish deserter whose only thought was his own safety and glorification, no matter what might be the results of his conduct upon his Master and upon his former associates ... And how dangerous ambition can become when it is once wholly wedded to self‑seeking and supremely motivated by sullen and long‑suppressed vengeance!
16. The Master endeavored to cheer his downcast apostles, but that was well‑nigh impossible... Jesus made careful inquiry about the families of all of the apostles and, looking over toward David Zebedee, asked if anyone had heard recently from his mother, his youngest sister, or other members of his family. David looked down at his feet; he was afraid to answer.
17. This was the occasion of Jesus' warning his followers to beware of the support of the multitude... Those who know the gospel only in the mind, and who have not experienced it in the heart, cannot be depended upon for support when real trouble comes.
18. The atmosphere of the camp was charged with an inexplicable tension. Silent messengers came and went, communicating with only David Zebedee. Before the evening had passed, certain ones knew that Lazarus had taken hasty flight from Bethany. John Mark was ominously silent after returning to camp, notwithstanding he had spent the whole day in the Master's company... Even the Master's good cheer and his unusual sociability frightened them... They vaguely sensed what was coming, and none felt prepared to face the test.
19. It was just before midnight when Jesus, knowing this would be the last night he would ever sleep through with his chosen family on earth, said, as he dispersed them for the night: "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."
Discussion Questions
1. Why do you think Jesus told John Mark not to tell anyone of their conversation in the hills?
2. Are parents today training children to be independent through graduated experience?
3. When is love dangerous and semiselfish in our contemporary society?
4. Would a required course in home training before marriage improve the use of love and wisdom in the home?
5. Is the prejudice against ordaining homosexual people limiting spiritual service?
6. What do you think of the analysis of Judas' betrayal?
7. What is the difference between knowing the gospel in the mind and experiencing it in the heart?
A Service of
The Urantia Book Fellowship