14.01.10 Lk. 21:37-38 At the Temple (After the Olivet Discourse)
JESUS TEACHES AT THE TEMPLE STEPS
37 During the day, He was teaching in the temple complex, but in the evening He would go out and spend the night on what is called the Mount of Olives. 38 Then all the people would come early in the morning to hear Him in the temple complex.
It was the custom of the time for sages and rabbis to sit on the temple steps to teach their disciples and anyone else who would stop to listen. Undoubtedly, Jesus visited these same steps when He was twelve years old. At that time He looked ahead toward the Jewish leadership; now He was looking back and at the leadership who rejected Him. Fortunately, there were many others who accepted Him and they became the early church.
14.01.10.A. THE TEMPLE’S SOUTHERN STEPS. The original southern steps of the temple upon which Jesus preached, are still in place. This is one of the few original structures of the Second Temple Period that remains intact and identifiable. Tour guides joyfully comment that it is a miracle that no church has been built upon it, as has been done at nearly every other site where Jesus was in Israel. Photograph by the author.