Today, Monday, in the holy week timeline we see Jesus clearing the temple in Jerusalem. What exactly was going on in the temple that stirred Him to this kind of outburst?
Remember, it was Passover for these Jewish people. Families had taken their best lamb from their flock, kept it in their home for 4 days as ordered by God, and now travelled to Jerusalem. Jerusalem was the only town that they could sacrifice – that’s where the temple was. They needed to have their lamb offered for their sins, so they had to go to Jerusalem. Once they arrived at the temple, a priest would look at their lamb and say, “This one is unacceptable, it’s not good enough.” The priest would then take their lamb around back, and bring out another lamb – probably from the person in line ahead of them – and say to them that they would gladly sell this lamb to them so they would have an “acceptable” sacrifice. They were selling the lambs for an outrageous price. So, in all of this the family would end up out of money and sacrificing a lamb they didn’t even know!
22Thrive! 