{"id":6930,"date":"2019-12-26T15:37:41","date_gmt":"2019-12-26T22:37:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/?post_type=portfolio&#038;p=6930"},"modified":"2019-12-26T15:37:45","modified_gmt":"2019-12-26T22:37:45","slug":"chanukah","status":"publish","type":"portfolio","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/gospel-express\/chanukah\/","title":{"rendered":"Jesus and Chanukah"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"flex_column av_one_full  flex_column_div av-zero-column-padding first  avia-builder-el-0  avia-builder-el-no-sibling  \" style='border-radius:0px; '><section class=\"av_textblock_section \"  itemscope=\"itemscope\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/CreativeWork\" ><div class='avia_textblock  '   itemprop=\"text\" ><p style=\"background: white; margin: 4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: right;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: 'Helvetica',sans-serif; color: #1d2129;\">by Julia Blum<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-6931 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/chanakah-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/chanakah-1.jpg 600w, https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/chanakah-1-300x150.jpg 300w, https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/chanakah-1-450x225.jpg 450w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>This week Jews around the world celebrate the Festival of Chanukah. This winter festival is also known as the \u201cFeast of Dedication\u201d. We see evidence that Jesus celebrated this festival in the gospel of John, \u201cAnd it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, and it was winter. And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon&#8217;s porch\u201d (10:22-23). But what is the deeper connection between Jesus and this festival?<\/p>\n<p><strong>The History of Chanukah<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Contrary to popular imagination, Chanukah is not a Jewish version of Christmas. The word Chanukah (\u05d7\u05e0\u05d5\u05db\u05d4) means \u201cdedication\u201d in Hebrew. It commemorates the rededication of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, in the 2nd century BCE Maccabean Revolt, against the Syrian Empire. After recapturing the Temple, the Maccabees had to cleanse and restore it. Fortunately, a single jar of pure olive oil remained undefiled, which was used to illuminate and rededicate the Temple. Miraculously, the small quantity of oil lasted for eight days, leading to the eight-day festival, The Feast of Dedication.<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-6932 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/398531564.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/398531564.jpeg 600w, https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/398531564-300x150.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/398531564-450x225.jpeg 450w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>The light of Israel<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The symbol of Chanukah is the\u00a0<strong><em>Menorah<\/em><\/strong>, an eight-branch candelabrum that is lit on each of the eight days of the festival. Menorah comes from the Hebrew word\u00a0<em>ner\u00a0<\/em>(\u05e0\u05e8) meaning \u201cflame\u201d or \u201clamp\u201d. Throughout the Bible, this word has a deeper spiritual meaning. For example, when King David grew old he was told by his men not to go with them into battle \u201cso that you do not quench the\u00a0<strong>lamp (<em>ner<\/em>)<\/strong>\u00a0of Israel\u201d (2 Sam. 21:17). In the very next chapter, David uttered a magnificent hymn of thanksgiving, \u201cIndeed, you are\u00a0<strong>my lamp (<em>neri<\/em>)<\/strong>, O Lord, the Lord lightens my darkness\u201d (2 Sam. 22:29).<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-6933 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/isaiah-49.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/isaiah-49.jpg 600w, https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/isaiah-49-300x150.jpg 300w, https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/isaiah-49-450x225.jpg 450w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>See how Hebrew sheds light on the Scripture<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It should therefore come as no surprise that Jesus referred to himself as the \u201clight of the world\u201d (John 8:12) and preached these words: \u201cIf you are filled with light, with no dark corners, then your whole life will be radiant\u2026\u201d (Luke 11:36).\u00a0<strong>What is less obvious is that that Jesus uttered these words not in English but in Hebrew ?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-6934 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/dust-banner-lightOfTheWorld.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/dust-banner-lightOfTheWorld.jpg 600w, https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/dust-banner-lightOfTheWorld-300x150.jpg 300w, https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/dust-banner-lightOfTheWorld-450x225.jpg 450w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":6934,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","tags":[],"portfolio_entries":[35],"class_list":["post-6930","portfolio","type-portfolio","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","portfolio_entries-english-writer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio\/6930","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/portfolio"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6930"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio\/6930\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6935,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio\/6930\/revisions\/6935"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6930"},{"taxonomy":"portfolio_entries","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio_entries?post=6930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}