Imagine, if you will, that your phone battery is at one percent and the charger you ordered online has been delayed and won’t arrive for eight days. Now imagine that one percent charge miraculously lasts all of those eight days until your charger shows up in that beautiful brown box on your doorstep. That’s kind of like what happened in the second century BCE, except instead of a dying phone it was the temple menorah, and instead of a charger it was the olive oil needed to light said menorah.
You see, at that time, the Holy Land was being ruled by the Greeks, and they wanted the Jews to adopt their culture, worship their gods, and practice their rituals. Of course, the Jews said, “definitely not, thanks.” And so, like all good dictators, the Greeks persecuted the Jews who stood their ground and stood with God. Enter Judah Maccabee, one of the aforementioned Jews who noped out of conforming to Greek culture. Judah Maccabee gathered a small group of other like minded Jews and ran away to hide, regroup, and come up with a plan. They were poorly armed, but knew, when the Lord is for us, who can be against us? So they took what little they had in the way of weapons, and somehow, that small ragtag team defeated the entire Greek army, drove them from the land, and liberated their people.
Unfortunately, the time the Greeks spent in charge was not unlike a bunch of unruly teenagers throwing a party while their parents were out of town. They desecrated the temple and slaughtered a pig on the altar. Obviously they didn’t know what God they were messing with. And obviously, they found out. Regardless, once the Jews got home they had a lot of work to do to get the temple back, not only in working order, but also redeemed, rededicated, and again able to be used in the service of worshipping God. Part of that was relighting the menorah which was supposed to stay lit in the temple at all times. The Jews found only one container of uncontaminated oil but it was only enough to last a day which wasn’t nearly long enough for them to prepare more. But we serve a pretty great God because that one day of oil lasted the whole eight days it took to make more. This is why, every winter, we get together to celebrate Hanukkah, the festival of lights.
Hanukkah isn’t Jewish Christmas like so many people think. It’s not about presents (though that can be fun) or food and partying (also good). Hanukkah is about taking time to remember something important: God comes through. He provides. When we are walking in His path, He does literal miracles that prove His greatness and love for us. It’s another one of those reminders that when you feel like you’ve got nothing left to give, He will sustain you.
But that doesn’t mean we don’t give presents or eat good food or party, because we absolutely do. Celebrating just looks different for different families. When I was growing up, we spent a few days before the holiday decorating and setting up the Hanukkiahs on a little table in the living room, filling dreidel shaped bowls with golden chocolate gelt and testing out our dreidel spins. Then, every night of the holiday we would come together as a family, light the Hanukkiahs together, and listen to Hanukkah music in the dark while watching the flames flicker. After a few songs, my parents would give us a little gift and we would play dreidel and eat latkes with tart apple butter. When I got older and met more people like myself, there were Hanukkah parties and dreidel championships and dessert contests. To this day, decorating my own little house for Hanukkah is one of my favorite rituals. That and wearing my light-up Hanukkah sweater everywhere I go for a solid month.
Not everyone celebrated the same. And some don’t at all, seeing as Hanukkah isn’t technically one of the Biblically mandated holy days. But I think any opportunity to remember and celebrate God’s goodness is a worthy pursuit. And super fun to boot.
As we enter December, I wish you all a winter of light and delight and pray you find warmth and joy in the presence of our Creator and the reminder of His continued sustenance.
