The Price that Jesus Paid

"During the day, Jesus taught the people in the Temple, and at night he went out of the city and stayed on the Mount of Olives.  Every morning all the people got up early to go to the Temple to listen to him."  Luke 21:37, 38

Some believe that Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, that Jesus spent time going into the temple teaching.  It is clear that despite the wrong that was in the temple that Jesus did not desert the temple but continued to go and teach each day.  The routine seem to be that Jesus would spend time in prayer at night and early every morning he could be found in the temple teaching.

At night he did not stay at any of the local inns but "stayed on the Mount of Olives."  This is the same place that:

• Jesus often resorted (Luke 22:39)
• Jesus often spent the night when in Jerusalem (John 7:53-8:1)
• Jesus preached a great sermon on the end time (Matthew 24:3; Mark 13:3)
• Jesus' Triumphal Entry began (Luke 19:37)
• Jesus' terrible agony in the Garden of Gethsemane took place (Mark 14:26-42)
• Jesus' ascension took place (Acts 1:12)

By Wednesday morning most likely Judas had went to the priests and teachers of the law and talked to them about a way to hand Jesus over to them.  They agreed on a plan and Judas watched for a time that Jesus was away from the crowd to betray him.  For thirty pieces of silver, what is believe to be the price of a slave in that day, Judas will soon betray the Lord.

Before leaving the scene of the temple Jesus address the "religious leaders" of that day as hypocrites.  He calls them "snakes" and asked them the question, "How are you going to escape God's judgment?"  I can hear someone saying "Why don't you really tell them what you think of them?"

There is nothing in my life that has or ever will compare to the suffering that Jesus did for me.   There is no personal experiences that I could ever share that would measure up to what Jesus did for us.  Both physically and spiritually the next couple of days of the life of Christ will be rather demanding for him.  Jesus spent time in the garden praying and talking to the Father about this and concluded his prayer with "...Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup (suffering) from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt."

The bottom line is that He died for me and you!

My prayer today is "God help me to be more sensitive to the price that you paid for me!"


Scripture for today:  Matthew 23, 24; Mark 12:35 - Mark 13:37; Luke 20:41 - 21:36