The rules are pretty simple. No money in the Temple. Make sacrifices. Be faithful.

Of course, not everybody has livestock to offer. Especially in cities. It is easy to see how a market for livestock and less expensive animals would grow to meet demand.

And since you can’t have Roman currency while offering the sacrifice, you need to sell it for Temple currency, right? To buy the animal you will offer as a sacrifice. It all seems so inevitable and normal.

But we can also see the problem, can’t we? Trading a Roman coin for a Temple coin to buy an animal…it’s following the letter of the law by destroying the spirit of it.

Apply this to us. We can see why fast food exists. And why we eat it. But that doesn’t make it good for us.

Now apply this to everything.

Nobody said easier faith is virtuous. Or better. It’s just easier and faster. And comes at a price.