Wednesday of Easter week

On this day almost 2000 years ago Jesus and his disciples gathered on the Mount of Olives across the Kidron Valley from the temple. In Matthew 24:1—25:46 Jesus outlines the end of the temple, the end of 1st Century contemporary Jerusalem and even the end of times. After a number of parables, “When Jesus had finished all these sayings, he said to his disciples, “You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.”” Matthew‬ ‭26:1-2. While this was going on at the Mount of Olives, “…the chief priests and the elders of the people gathered in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas, and plotted together in order to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him. But they said, “Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar among the people.”” Matthew‬ ‭26:3-5‬. Judas was to earn his pay by delivering Jesus to them. They had to act quickly, time was running out.
Here is the view of the Mount of Olives from the Eastern wall/temple area:


Here is the view from the Mount of Olives towards the Temple Mount. At the time Jesus was describing to his disciples about the destruction of the temple, they would have had a front row seat looking at it:


On the southwest side of Old Jerusalem is the Palace Complex of the High Priest Caiphas. While the previous high priest was “retired” at the time of Jesus’s arrest (looming on the horizon now), they bring Him before Annas first. It was obvious that although he was out of the business, so to speak, that he still held considerable sway in the Jewish community. Caiphas was the son in law of Annas. The position and the political sway of the Jewish High Priest in Jerusalem is evident by the extravagant lifestyle in which he lived:

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Valediction

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