Jesus was pretty interested in that Hannukah thing
/As I write this, it’s the final night of Hanukkah and over the past 8 nights I’ve had a few questions and many more questioning looks from some of my friends about why I celebrate it. I get it. I don’t do Christmas but I believe sincerely that Jesus was/is the Messiah and then I go around celebrating that weird Jewish replacement Christmas thing, what’s all that about? Instead of digging into the entirety of my beliefs, allow me to give you one reason a Christian should be aware of the Hanukkah story: Jesus was quite interested in Hanukkah. More than that, he likely celebrated Hanukkah even though it is just a minor festival in Judaism and he had a reason not to.
Let me preface this with a disclaimer: I’m not a theologian, historian nor linguist. Thing is, I don’t have to be. Hanukkah is right there in the text of the New Testament in plain sight, it’s just that your translators were a little over zealous. Ahem:
John 10:22-24 NKJV
22 Now it was the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem, and it was winter. 23 And Jesus walked in the temple, in Solomon’s porch. 24 Then the Jews surrounded Him and said to Him, “How long do You keep us in doubt? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.”
Do you know what that word dedication is in Hebrew? Hannukah. It could be a coincidence that he just happened to be in Jerusalem at that time and Hanukkah is just a convenient timestamp for the reader. It is weird that John put so much emphasis on the time of year though. The other weird thing is that he’d be in Jerusalem during Hanukkah as he was a Son of David because the Maccabees, the heroes of the Hanukkah story had usurped the throne from the line of King David. This also kind of explains why the group of Jews in John were so interested in pressuring Jesus to reveal himself. They likely wanted to know if he was there during Hanukkah to lead a revolt against the Roman puppet King Herod and re-establish the throne of King David.
There’s also the matter of Mathew 24:3 - 28.
I’m not going to post the whole thing here but feel free to look it up. Just some apocalyptic stuff from Daniel right? Well yeah it is but it’s also the prophecy in Daniel that was considered fulfilled in the story of Hanukkah and it directly references events from Hanukkah. Take as an example Matthew 24:15 - 20
15 “Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand), 16 “then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17 Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house. 18 And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes. 19 But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! 20 And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath.
For those who have not read Maccabees, here’s a very abridged version:
Greek King Antiochus decides that tolerance isn’t really his thing in regards to the Jews. He decides to set up a statue of Zeus and slaughter a pig on the altar in the Holy Place (abomination of desolation there). He then sends out soldiers to all the Jewish towns saying, stop following your God, bow to my gods and sacrifice to them or you’re gonna die. A man named Mattathias decides not only will he not do that, he kills the guy who was going to do it for him and flees immediately with like-minded Jews into the mountains with no supplies. (Let those in Judea flee to the mountains). There’s a huge revolt now but King Antiochus has a clever plan: these are deeply religious people and they strictly observe the Sabbath to the point where not only will they not make war, they do not defend themselves and taking advantage of this Antiochus’s soldiers killed women and young children along with male combatants. (Woe to those who are pregnant and pray that your flight not be not in winter or on the Sabbath) After that the other Jews decide that in order to preserve their lives they must defend themselves on the Sabbath. Mattathias’s sons are instrumental in helping the war effort and against all odds win, ending Antiochus’s reign and securing an alliance with Rome to drive out the Greeks. The family of Mattathias, now called the Maccabees clear out the idols and reconsecrate the temple and celebrate this event as the first Hanukkah. This all wraps up towards the end with Simon Maccabee becoming both King of Israel and High Priest ( That’s pretty interesting isn’t it?)
Jesus is basically telling his disciples to remember Hanukkah as its events will repeat themselves. At least that that’s how I read it, regardless of my personal commentary, it seems at the very least Jesus was pretty interested in that Hanukkah thing.
