The Good Shepherd and…Hanukkah?

Welcome back to Jeshua, the blog where we dig into the Jewish culture and context of various readings from the Gospels.

There are seven Sundays in the Easter season before Pentecost, and the fourth of those Sundays, on April 21 in 2013, is commonly called “Good Shepherd Sunday,” and for good reason. The appointed Gospel for that Sunday is always from John 10, the Good Shepherd chapter of the Bible.

Jesus’ words in the first half of John 10 appear to have been spoken not long after the 22nd day of the month of Tishri, which was the day of the closing assembly for the Feast of Tabernacles in the autumn. (See John 7:37; 9:1. Tishri 22 falls on September 26 in 2013.)

But before John records the final part of Jesus’ Good Shepherd discourse, he tells us that winter had arrived and that, wherever Jesus might have been in the meantime, he was now back in Jerusalem for the Feast of Dedication (Jn 10:22, 23). The apostle John, by influence of the Holy Spirit, thought it important to include this detail before recording the dialogue between Jesus and the Jews, including the closing words of Jesus’ Good Shepherd discourse. So we do well to learn more about the Feast of Dedication.

You probably know this feast better by its Hebrew name, Hanukkah, which means “dedication.” It was celebrated on the 25th day of the month of Kislev (usually in December, but on November 28 in 2013) and lasted for eight days. This festival began in 165 BC, the year that Judas Maccabaeus and the Hasmoneans restored the temple and its services and sacrifices after the Greek forces of Antiochus IV Epiphanes had broken into it and defiled it.

By Jesus’ day, this festival was also called the Festival of Lights. It could have gotten this name from the fact that at the re-dedication of the temple, the lampstand once again gave light in the temple for the first time in a long time. Josephus, a contemporary of Jesus, explained that it was called Lights because “the right to worship came to light for us [Jews] at a time when we hardly dared hope for it.” But another tradition, which may have been around already in Jesus’ day, says that when the Hasmoneans restored the temple service, they could only find one flask of undefiled oil that had been in the safekeeping of the high priest. It contained only enough oil to keep the temple lampstand burning for one day, but miraculously that amount kept it burning for eight days.

Regardless of how it came to be called Lights, lights have played a prominent role in the festival from early on. Once the sun went down, Jewish families placed a light (such as a candle) outside by the door of their house, or in their window if that was not possible. The basic rule was one light for every man and his household. The more zealous Jews lit one light for every single person. The extremely zealous either lit an extra light every day for themselves (until they had eight lights lit by the end of the festival), or they started out lighting eight lights and lit one less every day (until they had one light lit by the end of the festival). They kept them lit until late each night, “until the foot [of man] has disappeared from the street.”

No public mourning observance could be held during Hanukkah. Individual Jews could wail and clap their hands in grief, but they could not sing any funeral songs together, and once the deceased was buried, they could not wail or clap anymore until the feast was over.

For the temple service on Hanukkah, the Jews had readings much like we have in our services today. The reading from the Torah, the first five books of the Bible, was at least Numbers 7:1-89, but probably Numbers 7:1-8:4. The festival reading from the Prophets was at least Zechariah 4:1-14, but may have been as long as Zechariah 2:10-4:14. During the sacrifices, the Hallel (Psalm 113:1—118:29) was also recited or sung. (As for the sacrifices themselves, Hanukkah was celebrated exactly like the Feast of Tabernacles, Numbers 29:12-39.) Both Jesus and the Jews would have had these scriptures echoing in their ears and minds in John 10:22ff. Here we begin to see the connection between Hanukkah and the conclusion of Jesus’ Good Shepherd discourse.

First, these readings answer the question: Why were the Jews asking about the Messiah so insistently at this time? “The Jews gathered around him, saying, ‘How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly’” (Jn 10:24).

Psalm 118 in the Hallel certainly had messianic overtones, with its references to “the stone the builders rejected,” “he who comes in the name of the Lord,” and the Lord’s salvation.

Your blood pressure may be different at different times of the day. http://opacc.cv/opacc/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/.._documentos_contabilistas_Modelo%2022.pdf viagra 100 mg In general, some male patients tend to have a lot of expectations from them which must be strictly followed before consumption viagra online in canada of kamagra medicines. One needs to maintain buy 10mg levitra a 24 hours gap between the pills. It is essential required to best prices on sildenafil keep your sex alive. But the Zechariah reading was about as explicitly messianic as it gets. “I am coming and will live among you” (Zec 2:10). “Listen, O high priest Joshua and your associates seated before you, who are men symbolic of things to come: I am going to bring my servant, the Branch” (Zec 3:8). “I will remove the sin of this land in a single day” (Zec 3:9). “These [two olive trees and two olive branches] are the two who are anointed to serve the Lord of all the earth [namely Zerubbabel and Joshua, the civil and ecclesiastical leaders, types of the Anointed One who would combine both offices, king and priest, in himself]” (Zec 4:14).

It is especially noteworthy that Joshua the high priest, elsewhere called Jeshua (e.g. Ezra 2:2; Nehemiah 7:7), plays a central role in Chapter 3. He is the mediator standing between the people and the Angel of the LORD (who is the LORD himself). His sin is taken away, he is dressed in rich garments, he is told his obedience will lead to his governing of God’s house and having charge of God’s courts, and that he is symbolic of things to come. His name, Joshua or Jeshua, is translated into Greek Jesous – Jesus in English.

Secondly, these readings show us how, even though Jesus doesn’t give the Jews a simple Yes answer, he does tell them plainly that he is the Messiah. First he refers to the works he does in his Father’s name. He then continues, “You do not believe because you are not my sheep. My sheep hear my voice” (Jn 10:27).

The climax to the chief reading from Numbers that Jesus and the Jews had heard is Numbers 7:89. After the tabernacle was ready, “Moses entered the Tent of Meeting to speak with the LORD, [and] he heard the voice speaking to him from between the two cherubim above the atonement cover on the ark of the Testimony.” If Moses didn’t hear God’s voice, then the entire tabernacle with all its furnishings, utensils, and commodities would have been pointless, as would have been all Israelites’ work on it and offerings for it.

But the LORD spoke and Moses did hear his voice. Thus fellowship was established between God and the Israelites. Moses had God’s word for God’s people.

Jesus says the Jews would know that he is the Messiah if they would only hear his voice, not just external hearing, but inward hearing and digesting. Jesus’ word is God’s word. If they listen to him, they are listening to God and have fellowship with God. If they listen to him, they can each be a Moses in a sense. They can each be a spokesperson who has God’s saving word to share with God’s people.

Finally, there is also a possible contrast that the Jews might have picked up on in Jesus’ discourse. In the dedication ceremony recorded in the chief reading from Numbers, twelve male lambs a year old were brought as burnt offerings (Num 7:87) and 60 male lambs a year old brought as fellowship offerings (Num 7:88). The leaders of Israel all used their hands to lead or carry lambs to the tabernacle, but they led them to sacrifice and death.

Jesus leads sheep too, but not to death. “I give [my sheep] eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.

“I and the Father are one.”

Jesus is the Messiah. Jesus is God. Jesus is the Good Shepherd. When we hear his voice, we have fellowship with God. When we hear his voice, we have eternal life.

For further reading: 1 Maccabees 4:36-59;* Psalm 30:1-12 (note the heading); John 10:1-30; John 10 and Hanukkah

* 1 Maccabees is included in a list of books called the Apocrypha. Some Bibles include the Apocrypha, and the Roman Catholic Church holds the Apocrypha on the same level as the other books of the Bible. Martin Luther also included them in his Bible, but he made sure to point out to readers that these books could not lay claim to inspiration by the Holy Spirit and so were not on the same level as the other books of the Bible. They contain some historical and theological errors. However, Luther also said that they are useful for the Christian to read.