John 10:22-30; 1 Maccabees 4:36-59; 2 Corinthians 6:16; John 8:12
"Then came the Festival of Dedication at Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was in the temple courts walking in Solomon's Colonnade. The Jews who were there gathered around him and said, 'How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.' Jesus answered, 'I did tell you, but you do not believe. The works I do in my Father's name speak for me, but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. I and the Father are one.'"p>
"They rededicated the altar and celebrated for eight days with joy. They decreed that these days of dedication should be celebrated each year at the same season."
"I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."
Let me tell you the story. It is the second century before Christ. Alexander the Great has died and his empire has been divided. The Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes rules over Judea. And he is determined to erase Judaism from the earth. He outlaws circumcision. He burns Torah scrolls. He sacrifices a pig on the altar in the temple. He erects a statue of Zeus in the Holy of Holies. He calls himself Epiphanes, which means "God manifest." The Jewish people call him Epimanes. "The madman."
A priest named Mattathias and his sons lead a rebellion. They are called the Maccabees, from the Hebrew word for "hammer." Against impossible odds, this small band of Jewish guerrilla fighters defeats the greatest military power in the world. They liberate Jerusalem. They enter the temple. And it is defiled. Desecrated. Destroyed. Everything that made it holy has been violated.
They cleanse the temple. They rebuild the altar. They relight the menorah. And here is the tradition: they found only one jar of consecrated oil, enough for one day. But it burned for eight. Eight days until more oil could be prepared. A miracle. The temple was rededicated. And the feast of Hanukkah, which means "dedication," was born.
Now jump to John 10. It is winter. The Festival of Dedication. Hanukkah. Jesus is in the temple courts, walking in Solomon's Colonnade. The menorahs are blazing. The entire temple is illuminated. The celebration of light in the darkness is at its peak. And the religious leaders surround Him and demand: "How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly."
And Jesus responds with one of the most direct claims to divinity in the entire New Testament. "I and the Father are one." The leaders pick up stones to kill Him. They understood exactly what He was saying. He was claiming to be God. In the temple. During the feast that celebrated God's deliverance of His people from defilement. Standing in the light of the menorahs, He was saying "I am the light. I am the deliverance. I am the rededication."
Remember what He said earlier in John 8: "I am the light of the world." He said it during the Feast of Tabernacles, when the temple was lit up with enormous lamps. And now, at Hanukkah, surrounded by the same light, He says "I and the Father are one." The light of the world. The rededication of the temple. The defeat of the enemy. All of it. Him.
Hanukkah is a picture of what Jesus does in every human heart. The temple of your life has been defiled. Not by a pagan king. By sin. By compromise. By the things you have let in that should never have been there. And Jesus does not just clean the surface. He rededicates. He relights the menorah. He restores what was desecrated. He takes the one jar of oil, the one small thing you have left, and He makes it burn for eight days. He is the God of more than enough.
This is why Christians should care about Hanukkah. Not because we are commanded to celebrate it. But because it is a picture of what Jesus does in us. He enters the defiled temple. He cleanses it. He rededicates it. He lights the lamp. And He says "I and the Father are one." The same God who delivered Israel from Antiochus is the God who delivers you from darkness. The same God who made one day's oil last eight days is the God who makes your weakness His strength.
"I and the Father are one."
The Feast of Dedication is the ninth and final feast in this series. It is the one that is not commanded. The one that grew out of history, out of deliverance, out of a people who looked back at what God had done and said "We need to remember this." That is what all the feasts are. Reminders. Memorials. Signposts. And every single one of them points to Jesus. The spring feasts were fulfilled at His first coming. The fall feasts will be fulfilled at His return. And the hidden feasts, Purim and Hanukkah, remind us that God works in ways we cannot always see, and that He is the light that no darkness can overcome.
The calendar is complete. The story is whole. And the God who keeps His feasts will keep His promises.
With the menorah still burning and the temple rededicated in my heart, Claire