“Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.”—Mark 6:31

Christ spoke no words revealing His importance, or showing His superiority; He did not ignore His fellow beings. He made no assumptions of authority because of His relation to God, but His words and actions showed Him to be possessed of a knowledge of His mission and character. He spoke of heavenly things as one to whom everything heavenly was familiar. He spoke of His intimacy and oneness with the Father as a child would speak of its connection with its parents. He spoke as one who had come to enlighten the world with His glory. He never patronized the schools of the rabbis, for He was the Teacher sent by God to instruct humanity. As one in whom all restorative power is found, Christ spoke of drawing all humanity unto Him, and of giving them life everlasting. In Him there is power to heal every physical and spiritual disease.

Christ came to our world with a consciousness of more than human greatness, to accomplish a work that was to be infinite in its results. Where do you find Him when doing this work? In the house of Peter the fisherman; resting by Jacob’s well, telling the Samaritan woman of the living water. He generally taught in the open air; but sometimes in the temple, for He attended the gatherings of the Jewish people. But oftenest He taught when sitting on a mountainside, or in a fisherman’s boat. He entered into the lives of these humble fishermen. His sympathy was enlisted in behalf of the needy, the suffering, the despised; and many were attracted to Him.

When the plan of redemption was laid, it was decided that Christ should not appear in accordance with His divine character, for then He could not associate with the distressed and the suffering. He must come as a poor man. He could have appeared in accordance with His exalted station in the heavenly courts; but no; He must reach to the very lowest depths of human suffering and poverty, that His voice might be heard by the burdened and disappointed, that to the weary, sin-sick soul He might reveal Himself as the Restorer, the Desire of all nations, the Rest-giver. And to those who are longing for rest and peace today, just as truly as those who listened to His words in Judea, He is saying, “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).—Manuscript 14, 1897.

Further Reflection: How willing am I to give up the privileges of status to serve those in need?