The Pharisees and priests are getting kind of... well I'd say nervous. If what Jesus says is true then people won't need them to get to God. Anyone could confess their sins and be saved.
Jesus knew He's time was getting close. He went to the garden of Gethsemane to pray to His father (don't you think that if Jesus needed to pray then we do too?). He asked if there was any other way that what He was sent to do could be done... there wasn't.
His disciples couldn't even stay awake while He prayed. The very men who had followed Him His whole ministry. The very men He was about to die for anyway.
One of them, Judas, was about to trade Jesus for 30 pieces of silver-- the price of a slave. This is someone who had seen what Jesus could do and had heard the things He spoke. He still had a price he was willing to charge for the Son of man.
They beat Him, mocked Him, and spat on Him. The shoved a crown of thorns onto His head and beat Him with his staff. They cruelly bowed to Him and said "all hail king of the Jews."
He was hung on a cross between two criminals for the entire world to see.
And yet, He was still just as merciful and loving as ever. While He was on the brink of death, hanging on the cross, he cried out "Father please forgive them, for they know not what they do."
Wow. There really isn't anyway to describe that kind of love.
So I must ask myself, what is the price that I have placed on the Lamb of God? For what do I take away time and resources from Christ. What amount of coolness does it take for me to deny Him to my peers? My sins put Him up on that cross and He is still proud of me. What did He ever do to me to make me ashamed of Him?
AMEN!!
