Guest Post by Justin Kron
Then came the Festival of Dedication at Jerusalem. It was winter… (John 10:22).
To most followers of Jesus who read their Bibles, it is very easy to miss the importance of what the gospel writer, John, just shared and move on to the rest of the story. But I’ve learned to stop and consider the significance of timing and location when it comes to understanding the meaning and purpose in many of the stories I read about Jesus’ life and ministry. This one in John chapter 10 is no different.
John informs us that the story he’s about to tell occurs at the Festival of Dedication, which is Hanukkah—or Chanukah, Chanukkah, Chanuka (take your pick). This might be the first time you were aware that Hanukkah was mentioned in the New Testament, but don’t be too surprised—Jesus was Jewish.
In case your Hanukkah history is a bit fuzzy, let me catch you up to speed.
Hanukkah is an 8-day festival of the Jewish people that commemorates when the Temple in Jerusalem was liberated and rededicated in 165 BC on the 25th day of Kislev (usually coinciding with the month of December) following their military victory over Greek occupation led by Antiochus Epiphanes IV, the king of the northern Greek kingdom known as the Seleucids, which was based in Syria.
In 167 BC, eight years following Antiochus’ rise to power, he attempted to eradicate Jewish worship and identity by formally imposing Greek culture and philosophy—referred to as Hellenism—upon the Jewish people, some of which was in direct conflict with the teachings of Torah, including the worship of Zeus—“the Father of gods and men.” Epiphanes was actually a self-inscribed title meaning “god manifest,” and in fact, Antiochus saw himself as a physical manifestation of Zeus and demanded that he be worshiped as such.
What Antiochus was doing is good old-fashioned colonization and religious discrimination. Many of the Jewish people acquiesced to the expansion and implementation of his Hellenization program, but many did not.
Introduce the Maccabees, led by a Jewish priest, Matthias, and eventually his son, Judah—a band of religious guerilla fighters determined to regain their freedom of worship at any cost and rescue their nation from assimilation and extinction.
The spark for their revolution came when Matthias killed one of his countrymen who agreed to make a sacrifice to the Greek gods after he himself had refused to do so. The lines in the sand had been drawn. Jews against the Greeks and Jews against each other.
Long story short—the Maccabees eventually prevailed and took control of the Temple. (You can read all about it in the Apocryphal writings of 1&2 Maccabees.)
Their victory led to what was known as the Hasmonean Dynasty (140-37 BC), but it did not cure the internal tension among the Jewish people over how Judaism and Jewish nationalism would unfold. The eventual conquest and occupation by the Romans in 63 BC exasperated these tensions even further, leading to different religious and political sects within early first century Israel, including the Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, and Zealots. (No doubt that the Zealots would have been inspired by the stories and tactics of the Maccabees.)
It was a divided kingdom.
And this was the backstory to the story John was about to tell.
It’s Hanukkah. It’s winter. Year 30 AD (give or take a year). The days are short and the nights are long. But for those living in the land of deep darkness, a light is dawning. (Isa. 9:2)
Jesus shows up at the Temple.
And he is asked—“If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.” In other words, are you the liberating king who is going to liberate us from Roman oppression and restore the kingdom to Israel? A simple “yes” or “no” is all they were looking for. But that is not what they got.
I did tell you, but you do not believe. The works I do in my Father’s name testify about me,but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. (Jn. 10:25-26)
Apparently Jesus had already answered that question and this was not the question he had in mind to answer on this day. So like any skilled debater he turns the conversation toward the point he wants to make. Something far more important is on his agenda, and it’s what eventually pits him against many within his community.
Jesus claims to be God.
I give…eternal life. (vs. 28)
I and the Father are one. (vs. 30)
A claim he would eventually back up after three days in a tomb, but to those in the crowd on this day it was “Blasphemy!” (vs. 33)
No wonder John begins his gospel account with—The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not understood it. (Jn. 1:5) Jesus’ declaration of divinity and the kingdom he was revealing is not an easy message to get on board with. Doesn’t Jesus recall what happened to the last self-proclaimed demigod, Antiochus Epiphanes IV, who turned the Temple into a sanctuary for himself? It didn’t end well for him. Physically speaking, it didn’t end well for Jesus either.
It was Jesus’ proclamation of divinity that eventually led several of his countrymen to hand him over to the Roman authorities and condemn him to a Roman cross. Jesus did not appear to be delivering on God’s many promises to eternally restore His kingdom to Israel in the style of King David or Matthias or in a way we typically understand regime change to occur, where one political ruling party is kicked out and replaced by another. But this was not the kind of regime change that Jesus was after.
Jesus was after a different regime change. He was after the regime that we set up in our hearts. The one you and I struggle with the most.
The Kingdom of Me.
Because let’s be honest…the kingdoms and the strongholds we set up within our own hearts are always the most challenging to surrender. Power. Prestige. Position. Pleasure. And sometimes we will do whatever it takes to get more of it.
You see, a heart at odds with the God of this universe always leads to self-aggrandizement. We become our own version of Antiochus. The Kingdom of Me. And the only cure to the Kingdom of Me and all of the internal and external damage that comes with it is a heart that is fully dedicated to the Kingdom of God and the Good Shepherd who guides it. The Good Shepherd who is building a temple of people and a kingdom that is characterized by shalom, sacrifice, love, compassion, justice, and grace.
This was Jesus’ Hanukkah message.
My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. (Jn. 10:27)
The Kingdom of the Good Shepherd.
