Unlike Christmas, Hannukah is a holiday that Jesus himself celebrated:
They were celebrating Hanukkah just then in Jerusalem. It was winter. Jesus was strolling in the Temple across Solomon's Porch. Several Jews, circling him, said, "How long are you going to keep us guessing? If you're the Messiah, tell us plainly."
-John's Gospel
Hanukkah is a celebration in remembrance of a successful Jewish victory fighting off a powerful Greek oppressor, and the successive rededicating of the Temple in Jerusalem to God, all this occurring about 200 years before Jesus the Messiah was born.
A Greek general by the name of Antiochus Epiphanes conquerored Israel, destroyed much of Jerusalem, cruelly put many Jews to death, setup a altar to Zeus inside the Temple in Jerusalem, and sacrificed a pig on the altar to Zeus.
In response, a Jewish revolt led by Judah Maccabee fought off the Greek oppressors. The Maccabee group then cleansed the Temple, restored it, and re-dedicated it to God, thus becoming the first Feast of Dedication, the first Hanukkah.
It is a time to rededicate yourself to God, and remember how God helps his people even in the hardest times. This Messianic psalm by Marty Goetz is a beautiful musical piece of what Hanukkah is about.
Happy Hanukkah!
Anonymous, please keep your comments on-topic. I'm removing your comment to this post -- please repost it in the appropriate thread and we'll respond to it there. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteHanukkah is a celebration in remembrance of a successful Jewish victory fighting off a powerful Greek oppressor...
ReplyDeleteI thought some earlier history of ISrael would also be appropriate regarding Hanukkah and war victories.
No, that wasn't your intent. You're interested in Palestinian rights to Israel. That's fine, just post it in the appropriate place, which is a few threads below. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteThat really was my intent. Also, I am interested in all humans, regardless of ones religious faith or racial characteristics, that have legal rights to property within Israel.
ReplyDeleteYour intent is made perfectly clear in your last sentence.
ReplyDeleteI'm willing to debate with you on any points, and even consider your points as valid. You know, you have some valid points about Palestinians in Israel. Let's just debate about them in the place alloted for such conversations.
This post is a Hanukkah post. Discuss if you like, otherwise discuss Palestinian-oriented conversations attached to the appropriate thread.
Sorry Judah, my last sentence was in reply to your last reply that said "You're interested in Palestinian rights to Israel". I simply responded to your post by saying that is not correct, as I am interested in ALL humans’ rights regardless of race/religion. I am not pro-Palestinian or pro-Israeli.
ReplyDeleteFurthermore, with my initial post, I was ATTEMPTING to make a similar statement about Hanukkah as I did about Christmas earlier(pagan tree, materialism, wrong date) with that post you removed (one humans victory is another humans genocide). Was not well laid out and did not go over well for Hanukkah, sorry.
PS. Where can I ask this question? My really good friend at the Dog Park is a 72 year old Jewish historian that studied for years in Israel and asked me this today.
If the Messiah has already come, meaning Jesus, then why is there not peace on Earth as the Bible/Torah states will happen? HE goes on saying, Instead, we have witnessed war after war, many of which are done in Jesus’ name/ideology or by people who proclaim to worship a man called Jesus. This was no Messiah but a sick man who had very very few of the poorest and least educated people believe him. No more no less.
What do Christians say about this problem, or at least your brand of Christianity practiced in your neighborhood?
Happy Hanukkah
I'd say the same thing one rabbi in the Talmud says: that the Messiah comes twice in very different roles.
ReplyDeleteThe first role is that of a spiritual king. In becoming a spiritual king, the Messiah -- Jesus! -- made a wonderful move: instead of focusing on the religious people who became too caught up in tradition and ritual rather than focusing on the more important matters of the heart and a real relationship with God, he went for the jugular: no longer would God be closed only to the so-called insiders, the Jews, but also to the whole world, making God freely available to anyone who was open to it.
Even the apostles were fooled initially, asking Jesus whether he was going to restore the kingdom to Israel, thinking he'd wage a war against Rome and become the political King of Israel. Jesus answered by saying that this wasn't the time for that.
The second coming and second role is one of physical king. Read the New Testament prophecy about Jesus in revelation, you'll see he clearly will be a physical ruler who brings lasting peace to Israel and the world, something no man has been able to do.
So Messiah comes first as spiritual priest, then again later as physical king. Jesus-as-priest has been marvelous: look at what He did! He brought 1/3 of the entire non-Jewish, non-Israel world to worship the God of Israel. No man has been able to accomplish anything similar. I have no doubt Jesus-as-king be as just as awesome, if not better: this time, he'll bring peace to the whole earth after judging the good and evil people of the world.
I would also tell your Jewish friend that many Jews are coming to Messiah in these days, myself included. Fact is, we have it in the Tenakh/Old Testament of prophecies of Messiah that leave us no choice: Jesus is the Messiah! Take the prophecies in Daniel, for instance. God tells Daniel that Messiah will be come and shortly after, the Temple will be destroyed.
And what happened? Look at your history books! Messiah came, and some 30-40 years after his death, Rome destroys the Temple in Jerusalem, never to be built again.
Or take the prophecy in Isaiah 56. "He was bruised for our sins, punished for our transgressions. He took the sin of the world on his shoulders. He was oppressed and afflicted, but he remained silent. But by this servant of the Lord, many will find salvation and be justified."
Or again in Isaiah, "The Lord himself will give you a sign: A virgin will bear a son, and his name will be Immanuel (God With Us)."
And in the Psalms, and in Amos, and in Jeremiah, Isaiah, Ezekiel. Man, it's all over the place. There is no question: Jesus is the Messiah, not only of Judaism, but of the whole world, making salvation free to anyone who wants it.
Man, you talk about Jesus only having poor and weak followers. You say that like it's a bad thing. :-) The poor and weak are the few people in the world with contrite hearts, broken spirits, soft and open for God. Look at the rich man who approached Jesus: Jesus offered him salvation, but told him to sell everything he had and give it to the poor. The rich man turned him down; that was too much, he was too tied to possessions.
The religious people of Jesus' time rejected him because he exposed their hypocrisy, saying of them that they were like white-washed marble tombs: nice and shiny on the outside, but full of dead flesh on the inside.
You may say there is similar hypocrisy in many religious people today, including Christians, and I would agree. I guess at some levels we all struggle with sin, myself absolutely included. The key is whether our heart is in the right place, humble and needing forgiveness of our wrongdoings and hypocrisy, rather than living a double life without remorse.