Righteous Indignation

 In the eleventh chapter of Mark we see Jesus approaching Jerusalem with the express purpose of proclaiming himself as the long awaited Messiah.

In contrast to a conquering king who would ride in on a white stallion he makes his entrance as a humble peaceful servant riding on a lowly donkey.

He is fully aware of his mission to earth to be killed as a sacrificial lamb for the sins of all mankind.

One of the first places that he visits upon his arrival is the temple where sacrificial lambs are being bought and sold for Passover. 

The outer courts of the temple was to be a place set-aside for the gentile believers so they could have a place to pray.

Instead, Jesus finds that vendors have taken over the space to turn it into a market place.

Jews and gentiles were bringing their lambs to be offered as sacrifices only to find that in order to qualify they must be inspected by temple priests to see if they have any physical defects. 

Upon close inspection these worshipers found that their lambs failed to meet the standards of the temple priests. The good news though, according to the priest, was that a perfect lamb could be purchased from them.

There was a small technicality in that their currency would have to be exchanged for temple currency. Of  course the exchange rate was highly inflated but if one wanted to make his sacrifice those were the terms.

After exchanging their currency they found that the price of a acceptable lamb was also inflated.

This is the reason that Jesus gets upset and messes things up in that market environment and calls the place a den of thieves. 

While reading this account and thinking about it I had an interesting thought.

Thinking back about 30 years or so I thought about the shepherds who raised sheep around Bethlehem.

If you remember, Jesus was born in a stable or barn in Bethlehem that was used to shelter livestock probably during inclement weather.

I was wonder if lambs were born in this same stable where Jesus, the lamb of God was born.

I then wondered was it possible that here in Bethlehem the temple priests purchased their lambs that they sold for Passover lambs that had actually been born in the same stable that Jesus the lamb of God was born.

As I study the scriptures I find that their are no coincidences in God's economy. 

This sounds like something that God would orchestrate.