The Thrown Match of Hanukkah
The Hanukkah haymaker that Jesus threw in John 10 was so intense that they took up stones to kill Him.
That makes sense: Hanukkah is much more than the concluding miracle of the oil and the celebration of light getting brighter.
It remembers when the Maccabean match hit the gasoline of dictated assimilation and the blow up and bloody fight to recenter the worship of a nation.
They tried to press Jesus into that narrative of a political and military Messiah - but He would have none of it.
Rather, He rebuffed and reasserted just Who He is, whose are His, and what He provides His sheep.
It is a conversation both confrontive and comforting: Light breaking forth without apology or compromise.
We love to honor Hanukkah with the lighting of the menorah each night.
To celebrate the miracle of the oil by the candlelight warmth that grows greater and greater each night.
But we cannot and will not ignore the context of the original event and Jesus' Hanukkah message.
That in the compunction of cultural pressures to assimilate and dilute the distinctions of the faith, or the attempt to wield it for non-Kingdom purposes, we will hold true to Jesus, The Light.
Jesus said, “I came to cast fire on the earth and would that it were already kindled!' (Lk 12)
It IS kindled now in you!
Don't be afraid to be that match He strikes and slings into the midst of darkness.
Light breaks dark, so shine!
Happy Hanukkah!
Stephen
Replay of this Deck teaching is on YouTube.
Replay of entire Flight Deck is on Facebook.
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