Sean Niestrath — Courage and Light

In the New Testament we read of Jesus being in Jerusalem for Hannukah (called the feast of Dedication in John 10:22). They were celebrating the rededication of the Temple after it had been desecrated by Antiochus Epiphanes in 167 B.C. In I Maccabees 4:52-56 we read, “Early in the morning on the twenty-fifth day of the ninth month, which is the month of Chislev, in the one hundred and forty-eighth year, they rose and offered sacrifice, as the law directs, on the new altar of burnt offering which they had built. At the very season and on the very day that the Gentiles had profaned it, it was dedicated with songs and harps and lutes and cymbals. All the people fell on their faces and worshiped and blessed Heaven, who had prospered them. So, they celebrated the dedication of the altar for eight days and offered burnt offerings with gladness; they offered a sacrifice of deliverance and praise.”

It is in the Babylonian Talmud that we read of the miracle of light, “What is Hanukkah? Our rabbis stated: ‘Commencing on the twenty-fifth day of Kislev, there are eight days during which mourning and fasting are forbidden. When the Greeks entered the Temple, they defiled all the oils therein, and when the Hasmonean dynasty prevailed against them and defeated them, they made search and found only one cruse of oil, sufficient for but one day’s lighting, which lay with the seal of the High Priest. Yet a miracle was wrought therein and with it they lit the lamp therewith for eight days. The following year these days were appointed a Festival with the recital of Hallel and thanksgiving.’ ”

The other tradition that has grown with Hannukah is the reading of the book of Judith. It is a fictional account of a widow who rescues Judah from the Babylonian general Holofernes. She showed great courage in tricking the general into trusting her before she killed him. Yet, in the Psalm at the end of the book she sings,

“I will sing to my God a new song:

O Lord, thou are great and glorious,

wonderful in strength, invincible.

Let all thy creatures serve thee,

for thou didst speak, and they were made.

Thou didst send forth thy Spirit, and it formed them;

there is none that can resist thy voice.

For the mountains shall be shaken to their

foundations with the waters;

at thy presence the rocks shall melt like wax,

but to those who fear thee

thou wilt continue to show mercy.” (Judith 16:13-15).

In the New Testament we read of the courage of Mary and Joseph. It may be better described as courage of purity and integrity. We read of their faith as they brought Jesus to the temple and as they escaped to Egypt for a time. But along with this great light coming into the world (as Jesus is described by John), there was great injustice and violence wrought against innocents by a jealous King Herod. Matthew recalls for us the weeping at Ramah quoted from Jeremiah 30:15.

Then we have Jesus, walking in the portico of Solomon during the Feast of Dedication. John puts this event just after the story of Jesus healing a blind man (I am the light of the World) and declaring that he is the good shepherd. Here, at the festival of miraculous light, he was about to be stoned for being the light that he brought into the world.

There is plenty said concerning the sentimentality of Christmas, but that sentimentality has been bought with tremendous courage and sacrifice. Take a little time this holiday season to be thankful for all those people of faith that worked with God to give us the gifts of Christmas and Hannukah.

Great courage, when combined with the great and mighty work of God, still brings light to the world. Be courageous. Be light.