Hanukkah

Friday, December 15, 2006

It was winter, and Jesus was in Jerusalem for the Feast of Dedication. Jesus was in the area near the temple. Some of the Jewish people gathered around him and asked, "How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly."

Jesus replied, "I have told you, and you do not believe." Jesus told them that the signs he had he had done in the name of his Father testified that he was the Messiah, but those who were questioning him had not believed the testimony.

Jesus concluded with a simple statement: "The Father and I are one."

This assertion angered Jesus' audience. In fact, they picked up stones to stone him.

Jesus asked, "I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these are you going to stone me?"

They answered, "It is not for a good wor that we are going to stone you, but for blasphemy, because you, though only a human being are making yourself God."

Jesus' claim was certainly a bold one, but the timing of his words was even more bold. You see, the Feast of Dedication commemorated the dedication of the temple in 165 B.C. after it had been defiled by Antiochus IV Epiphanes, a ruler who also claimed to be divine. Surely Jesus' words reminded the Jews of this day and the horrible things done years before by Antiochus.

Though they made similar claims, Antiochus was a liar and a lunatic; Jesus was and is the Lord. John's gospel begins with these words, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God... and the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth."

The Feast of Dedication, or Hanukkah, begins tonight at sundown.

copyright Tom Pairan 2000