Feasts of the Lord
On December 17, 2014, I posted a weblog question asking: “Did Jesus celebrate Hanukkah?”
The answer was of course an empathic “YES!”, but surprisingly few people realized it was true, and fewer still understood the significance.
To be precise, the reference quoted in my book “The Word 2.0“, the first sub-section of Chapter 10, page 214, which comes from John 10:22: “At Jerusalem it was the Feast of the Dedication…”, which is the Festival of Lights, or Hanukkah.
Like Purim which celebrates Esther as a Savior, Hanukkah is not one of God’s seven proclaimed “Feasts of the Lord”, enumerated on page 33 – you can also refer to Leviticus Chapter 23, Deuteronomy and elsewhere, but Jesus’ life is marked by the feasts and celebrations he honored. Indeed, those of you familiar with my know that the annual cycle of feasts and festivals helped me create timeline I used to construct his biography. Indeed the first of the seven Feasts of the Lord, Passover, is crucial understanding not only his life story, but also his ministry.
So suffice it to say Jesus did not take the feasts and festivals he celebrated lightly – pardon the pun. Hanukkah is especially pivotal because it honors the Revolt of the Maccabees. Recall the Greeks had invaded Israel earlier and, in their efforts to impose “Hellenism” on the people, outlawed God. So much so that any worship God meant severe punishment unto death. You may recall too they desecrated the Temple itself, the recapture of which in 165 B.C.E., gave rise to the “Miracle of the Lights” from which the Festival takes its name. I have included a bit more in the book on page 36, but there are so many good sources of information about this very important observance.
Surprisingly few people are aware of even this much of the story, but what most people clearly do not understand is the extent to which these Festivals influenced Jesus’ ministry. For example, Jesus was a very devout, traditional Jew in his own right. That governed his reading of Scripture, his practice, his observance, and his ministry to men – especially as regards reconciling the relationships between men and women.
Be that as it may, stories from those days inform us that divisions occurred between the influential sects of that time – the Pharisees, the Sadducees and the Essenes. These divisions influenced how the people regarded not only God, but Israel’s culture, trade, future growth and place in the world. Given his conservatism, one might be tempted to say Jesus was more closely aligned with the Essenes, but clearly also shared many of the views of the Pharisees – about whom he was conspicuously critical, but it is hard to say.
What is simply not possible is that Jesus would have ever condoned or approved any movement based upon his thoughts, his words, his actions, his teachings and ministry that would in any way bear a name derived from a Greek term – in this instance “Krystos”. That is “Christos” cum “Christ” cum “Christian“. Obvious in no way would Jesus ever have been aligned with or sympathetic to the Hellenist influence inside Israel. Or even Greeks themselves! Convenient as it may be for many men to gloss over this point, they have their own agenda.
Whatever else you believe, do not confuse “Christ” for Messiah. Yes, I get that Paul was not from Israel, but the Greek City-State Tarsus, in an otherwise largely Greek area. And I get the marketing angle. Outside of Israel many of the converts Paul sought who might be attracted to the teachings might also be repelled by the Hebrew Messiah. However, they might respect the Greek “Christ”. And having control of the translation process, we can chalk “Christ” up to salesmanship.
For one thing, understand that the Hebrew word Messiah is not necessarily gender-specific. It can refer to a male of female, man or woman, of which there are many examples in the Hebrew-Jewish experience before Jesus, and since. This infers and communicates that all important sense of balance. On the other hand, “Krystos”, hence Christ, is a purely masculine pronoun. It is obviously well-suited to Greek and Roman male-dominant cultures who sought a continuation of the control they had always enjoyed. Just another tool to rationalize and justify their suppression of women.
For another thing, it is entirely contrary to what the Hebrew Tanakh – Scripture, and Jesus are attempting to teach men in order to rebalance Creation! That somehow men should continue in their egoic, selfish, self-willed ways of violence, intimidation and destruction as a means of controlling the Earth herself? And women in particular? For women and children it is not a pretty picture, but stop and think, how has that worked out for men so far?
Men can neither exist, be whole nor ever co-create peace, harmony or joy without the full co-equality of women! It is time to listen to what Jesus is saying guys.
I could go on, but it is late!
Love & Light!
Miguel
