Blessed Chanukah to All

CHANUKAH BEGINS THIS EVENING

Chanukah is the Hebrew word meaning "dedication". The eight-day celebration bearing that name (it is also called the Festival of Lights) remembers the dedication of the Temple in Jerusalem after it had been recovered by the Jewish forces of Yehuda Maccabee in 164 BC. The Syrian king Antiochus IV Epiphanes (a forerunner of the Anti-Christ, foretold in Daniel 11:21), seeking to coerce Jews into abandoning their religion and culture for that of Greece, had issued edicts forbidding circumcision, observance of Jewish Sabbaths and feast-days. He had defiled the Holy Temple by offering a sow on the altar and raising up in the Sanctuary a statue to Zeus. As depicted in the First Book of Maccabees (an account of Jewish history found in the Apocrypha), a revolt was launched by the priest Mattathias and later led by his son Yehuda (Judas) Maccabee. It led to the defeat of the Syrian forces, and the defiled Temple was cleansed and re-dedicated. Another account relates how during this cleansing there was only enough sanctified oil left to burn in the menorah for one night-yet a miracle occurred and it continued burning for eight days. The victorious warrior Yehuda ordained "that the days of the dedication of the altar should be kept in their season from year to year by the space of eight days, from the five and twentieth day of the month of Kislev, with mirth and gladness" (I Maccabees 4:59).

John records how Yeshua/Jesus was walking in the Temple on Solomon's Porch during the Festival of Chanukah in Jerusalem (John 10:22). It was during this season that he chose to speak of himself as "The Good Shepherd" who "lays down his life for the sheep." And, "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. I and the Father are one" (John 10:27-30 ESV).

Today, part of the celebration includes the use of a special eight-branched menorah upon which a new oil lamp or candle is lit each evening. Each light is ignited from the flame of a separate "branch" called shamash-"servant". Remarkably, the Haftarah reading for this Saturday within Chanukah, besides containing, as might be expected, a menorah, includes the following words, "Behold, I am bringing forth My Servant the BRANCH." Although a different word for servant is used here, there is no doubt that it refers to the Servant-Messiah, sent by the Father-the Light Inextinguishable, who illumines all coming into the world (John 1:9).

Chanukah-the Feast of Dedication-the Festival of Lights is a season for

*Allowing the Holy Light of the Spirit to shine within ourselves, revealing any idolatry or uncleanness which may have defiled our bodies (which are the Temple of the Holy Spirit) and removing it. Of re-dedicating our bodies as a living sacrifice to God.

*Dedicating our ears to listen for the voice of our Shepherd (John 10 above).

*For surrendering our selves anew to the infilling of the Holy Spirit whose anointing comes from an inexhaustible supply.

*For letting our "lights" shine brightly in the darkness-reaching out and joining with those of other believers. A popular Israeli Hebrew Children's song for Chanukah is called BANU HOSHEKH L'GARESH ("We have come to drive out darkness"):

We have come to drive out darkness, in our hands light and fire:
Each of us is a small light, but together we are a strong, steady light.
Flee Darkness in the Blackness-Flee before the Light!


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