The Festival of the Dedication

 Reflection on the Word for the Sunday of May 8, 2022
The Festival of the Dedication  – GOSPEL OF JOHN –
10:22 At that time the festival of the Dedication took place in Jerusalem. It was winter,
10:23 and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon.
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The Festival of the Dedication is the Feast of the Hanukkah. It is barely ever mentioned in the Christian Bible. In the Old Testament this phenomenon is quite understandable, because the events of the content of the Hanukkah festival happened after when the writing of the books of the Old Testament had been finished, except the book of Daniel.

Hanukkah, as the feast of the Dedication or the Festival of Lights commemorates the rededication of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem in 164 BCE. At this time Judea revolted against the Syrian-Greek, the so called Seleucid occupation. The war of liberation was led by the Maccabee priestly clan, against Antiochus Epiphanes IV, whom was called the Madman, Epimanes in Greek.

The Syro-Greco King, Antiochus Epiphanes IV, was considered the despicable abomination, mentioned in the Book of Daniel, as he prohibited the Jews from practicing Judaism or facing death sentence, he ordered tens of thousands of the resisting people to be massacred or executed, he desecrated the Jerusalem Temple by ordering sacrifices of pigs on the holy altar. He also commanded the Jews to publicly worship Greek gods, and he finally put a Zeus statue inside the Holy of the Holiest of the Jerusalem Temple.

Despite the general ban on having more than one Temple, there were other Jewish Temples in history, beside the one in Jerusalem.  Two of them were built in Bethel and Dan by King Jeroboam in the secessionist Northern Kingdom of Israel. Then the Samaritans built their Temple on the Mount Gerizim, and two other Temples were consecutively built in Egypt by the exiled Jews, after the Babylonian captivity.

Nonetheless, before any Jewish temple was ever erected, there had been the tabernacle built in the desert and later placed in Shiloh in the Land of Israel, which had housed or rather tented the Ark of the Covenant, the most coveted historical or mythical artifact in human history. The Tabernacle practically was a portable Temple used in the desert and during the conquest of the land of Israel.

The geographical location of the Ark was supposedly a very important factor in worshiping the God of Israel, because the very presence of God was thought to be located on the top of the Ark of the Covenant, right between the connecting wings of the two Golden Cherubs. Inside of the Ark were placed the tablets of Ten Commandments. What an artifact, indeed !

During traveling through the desert the Ark was usually carried 2000 cubits ahead of the people. Legends has it, when it was carried, it burnt snakes, scorpions and even thorns with two jets of flame that shot from its underside. It was also said that rather than being carried by its bearers, the Ark was floating all the way inches above the ground and carried its bearers. It was also held, that the Ark was proven to be a mighty tool in fighting hostile armies and in flattening walls of fortifications and strongholds.

Regarding the holy high festivals, there were three of them which were mandated for every able bodied man in Judea to show up in the Jerusalem Temple every year. The three major festivals are prescribed and described in the Hebrew scriptures in long details. These, so called pilgrimage holidays, are mentioned in the New testament as well, like the Pesach or Passover (the Feast of Unleavened Bread ), which is the Christian Easter, the Shavuot or Weeks which is the Pentecost.

These are not only the greatest holidays of the Jews in the Bible, but they became thoroughly incorporated into Christianity as well, and they are celebrated yearly by the churches world wide. However, the the third biblical holiday, the Sukkoth is not very well known for the Christian billions, though the Gospel of John explicitly says that Jesus began his public ministry in Jerusalem on the very High Holiday of the Sukkoth, as it is written " Now the feast of the Jews, the Feast of Booths, was at hand. His brothers therefore said to him, "Depart from here, and go into Judea, that your disciples also may see your works which you do. For no man does anything in secret, and himself seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, reveal yourself to the world."

Nonetheless, the Sukkoth, the Feast of the Booths, also has a very significant message in Christianity, reverberated in the New Testament, echoing the book of Zechariah, which says that " It shall happen, that everyone who is left of all the nations that came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, and to keep the feast of tents. "

Thus, in the Messianic Era, the nations will come to worship the God of Israel in the rebuilt Temple, and especially at the Festival of Sukkoth, when the ingathering of the harvest has also  a metaphorical meaning of the spiritual Harvest.

The Jewish Temple had a central role in the Jewish faith, the Apostles admired its role, its walls, its embellishments, its size and its grandeur.  Jesus had to weep over the fate of the Temple, the doom of Jerusalem, which was slowly but surely approaching, as a powerful dark cloud hovering over the city.

The rabbis said after the destruction of the city, that as the temple is no more, so then the prayers will serve as the regular sacrifice on the altar of our hearts. Monumental message, as the prayers survived the building, and actually not the first time. Nonetheless, the High Holidays also survived the burned bricks and the stones, and among these High Holidays, the Hanukkah or the Festival of the Lights are not the smallest one, though it is  considered as a minor holiday.

However, also Jesus, himself, observed this festival, as it is written that “At that time the festival of the Dedication took place in Jerusalem. It was winter,  and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon.” Jesus, thusly, was walking in the Temple to celebrate the Festival of the Lights, which commemorates the victory of the Maccabees over the Seleucid Empire, and the rededication of the Temple in 164 BCE.    
     
One of the main aspects of the rededication was the lighting of the Menorah in the Temple. When they entered the sanctuary they realized, as legends have it, that there remained only one cruse of oil which had not been defiled, and contained enough oil to last only one night.        

Miraculously, the one cruse of oil lasted eight nights. That is why how Hanukkah is called the Festival of Lights, where every single household lights its Menorah. However, the sages hold that the reason for the Hanukkah lights is not for the "lighting of the house within", but rather for the "illumination of the house without," so that passersby should see it and be reminded of the holiday's miracle.
Accordingly, lamps are set up at a prominent window or near the door leading to the street.

And this is exactly what Jesus told the disciples that “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”

May the perpetual festival of the good deeds shine in us and around us every day as a holy light for the always greater glory of the Lord by the Holy Spirit. AMEN

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