Light in Darkness: The Maccabees and Christmas
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Throughout this year's Advent sermon series, what we're going to do is we're going to look at people who played a unique and significant role in the Christmas story. And we're going to do this for a few reasons, okay? Number one, what we hope to accomplish with this is that we hope to marvel at how God uses a variety of people to accomplish His purposes. So we're going to see that there's all sorts of different types of people, both positive and negative, that God is going to use to accomplish His purpose. Secondly, what we hope to do in this Advent series is to be encouraged that we too can play an important role in God's plan. [00:03:59] (39 seconds)
As one person wrote in the Gospel of John, the Apostle uses Jewish feasts and holidays strategically. To highlight Jesus' identity and mission, okay? So he does that over and over again, and there are theological frameworks, if you will, that are supposed to deepen our understanding of Jesus' fulfillment, particularly about Jewish expectations in his role in salvation history. So that's really the goal of how John wants to use these feasts and these holidays. So for example, just to show you some example. In John 2, he talks about the Passover there, and the Passover is, and actually, he talks about it in three different places about Passover. [00:08:18] (45 seconds)
So it first happened during these 400 silent years. If we're going to understand the history, you have to go back to the Alexander the Great. In 323, Alexander the Great conquered the Persian empire. Some of you remember this from history class. After Alexander's death at a fairly young age, his massive kingdom, he had this pretty much conquered the known world. Remember, as the story goes, when he conquered his last territory, he cried and people are saying, why are you crying? He's like, there's nothing more to conquer. Boo hoo. [00:15:12] (32 seconds)
So a group of untrained farmers, they create a guerrilla army, Judas Maccabees, he leads this army, and they go into Jerusalem, and against all odds, they capture, they recapture Jerusalem. They go into the temple, and they defeat the armies, and they recapture this, and they found the temple desecrated in need of significant repair. And so what they did is they rededicated the temple, and there were... It's a celebration for eight days after this, where they lit lamps to show how light broke through darkness. And so that was one of the big parts of their celebration is they lit lamps and lights into people's homes and stuff, and they said, show how light has finally broken through darkness here. [00:20:23] (46 seconds)
So let me summarize real quickly here why this was such an important feast. What did it celebrate here? Well, it celebrated a few things here. John's use of, oh, I'm sorry here. Let me, one more slide. It celebrated a powerful energy. It was a powerful enemy that was dethroned and defeated. That's what they were celebrating. They were celebrating the fact that Antiochus Epiphanes was a powerful enemy, and he was defeated. He was dethroned, and he was defeated here. That was one of the things that they were celebrating. Redemption and sacrifice are key themes celebrated at the Feast of Dedication. [00:23:49] (38 seconds)
Would it be abundantly clear to people visiting that we are celebrating Jesus, the Son of God? Would they see that you are part of Jesus' flock, to use the terminology in John 10 that he says here? You see, before I move on to the connection, I just need to pause and say, what is it that we're celebrating this year? What is it truly that we're celebrating? Is it abundantly clear in our own minds? It is abundantly clear in how we spend our time, money, and resources. Something for us to think about. I need to move on. [00:27:58] (37 seconds)
Christmas celebrates defeat of powerful enemies as well. We're going to talk about Herod next week. We're going to talk about Herod and the Magi. But one of the things that Christmas celebrates is how God supernaturally caused a powerful ruler to be overruled during that time. There was powerful forces in play that tried to prevent Jesus, from being born and from growing up. There were powerful figures in play who were doing everything they could to exterminate Jesus, going to the gruesome length of massacre of the innocents. And yet, Jesus was born. And yet, Jesus did grow up and live a life of perfect obedience. [00:29:09] (49 seconds)
Jesus being the true temple shows that God is with us because he is the true temple. And we can worship him at any time and in any way. This is what we celebrate at Christmas. God with us. You know, people have asked before. They said, you know, you've probably played these scenarios before. Someone said, if you could have any superpower, what would it be? Some people say the fly. Some person said that I heard someone say the ability to read people's minds. I'm like, no, no way. I would not want that. I would not want that one. [00:33:57] (38 seconds)
He is the true light. He is the light that breaks through darkness. He is the one that gives us sustenance when we need a life, because he is the light of life. So this morning, what I hope to do is I hope just to share a little bit of a history and show you a connection here, and show you why this is so important that we celebrate this. You know, the Maccabees, they were bold and daring. Their actions set up a legacy and a dynasty that would last until the Romans took over the area. But even after the Romans took over the area, they appointed Herod to rule the region. [00:36:55] (35 seconds)
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As one person wrote in the Gospel of John, the Apostle uses Jewish feasts and holidays strategically. To highlight Jesus' identity and mission, okay? So he does that over and over again, and there are theological frameworks, if you will, that are supposed to deepen our understanding of Jesus' fulfillment, particularly about Jewish expectations in his role in salvation history. So that's really the goal of how John wants to use these feasts and these holidays. So for example, just to show you some example. In John 2, he talks about the Passover there, and the Passover is, and actually, he talks about it in three different places about Passover. [00:08:18] (45 seconds)
So it first happened during these 400 silent years. If we're going to understand the history, you have to go back to the Alexander the Great. In 323, Alexander the Great conquered the Persian empire. Some of you remember this from history class. After Alexander's death at a fairly young age, his massive kingdom, he had this pretty much conquered the known world. Remember, as the story goes, when he conquered his last territory, he cried and people are saying, why are you crying? He's like, there's nothing more to conquer. Boo hoo. [00:15:12] (32 seconds)
So a group of untrained farmers, they create a guerrilla army, Judas Maccabees, he leads this army, and they go into Jerusalem, and against all odds, they capture, they recapture Jerusalem. They go into the temple, and they defeat the armies, and they recapture this, and they found the temple desecrated in need of significant repair. And so what they did is they rededicated the temple, and there were... It's a celebration for eight days after this, where they lit lamps to show how light broke through darkness. And so that was one of the big parts of their celebration is they lit lamps and lights into people's homes and stuff, and they said, show how light has finally broken through darkness here. [00:20:23] (46 seconds)
So let me summarize real quickly here why this was such an important feast. What did it celebrate here? Well, it celebrated a few things here. John's use of, oh, I'm sorry here. Let me, one more slide. It celebrated a powerful energy. It was a powerful enemy that was dethroned and defeated. That's what they were celebrating. They were celebrating the fact that Antiochus Epiphanes was a powerful enemy, and he was defeated. He was dethroned, and he was defeated here. That was one of the things that they were celebrating. Redemption and sacrifice are key themes celebrated at the Feast of Dedication. [00:23:49] (38 seconds)
Would it be abundantly clear to people visiting that we are celebrating Jesus, the Son of God? Would they see that you are part of Jesus' flock, to use the terminology in John 10 that he says here? You see, before I move on to the connection, I just need to pause and say, what is it that we're celebrating this year? What is it truly that we're celebrating? Is it abundantly clear in our own minds? It is abundantly clear in how we spend our time, money, and resources. Something for us to think about. I need to move on. [00:27:58] (37 seconds)
Christmas celebrates defeat of powerful enemies as well. We're going to talk about Herod next week. We're going to talk about Herod and the Magi. But one of the things that Christmas celebrates is how God supernaturally caused a powerful ruler to be overruled during that time. There was powerful forces in play that tried to prevent Jesus, from being born and from growing up. There were powerful figures in play who were doing everything they could to exterminate Jesus, going to the gruesome length of massacre of the innocents. And yet, Jesus was born. And yet, Jesus did grow up and live a life of perfect obedience. [00:29:09] (49 seconds)
Jesus being the true temple shows that God is with us because he is the true temple. And we can worship him at any time and in any way. This is what we celebrate at Christmas. God with us. You know, people have asked before. They said, you know, you've probably played these scenarios before. Someone said, if you could have any superpower, what would it be? Some people say the fly. Some person said that I heard someone say the ability to read people's minds. I'm like, no, no way. I would not want that. I would not want that one. [00:33:57] (38 seconds)
He is the true light. He is the light that breaks through darkness. He is the one that gives us sustenance when we need a life, because he is the light of life. So this morning, what I hope to do is I hope just to share a little bit of a history and show you a connection here, and show you why this is so important that we celebrate this. You know, the Maccabees, they were bold and daring. Their actions set up a legacy and a dynasty that would last until the Romans took over the area. But even after the Romans took over the area, they appointed Herod to rule the region. [00:36:55] (35 seconds)
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