IS YOUR MESSIAH TOO SMALL?
Then came Hanukkah at Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was
in the Temple area walking in Solomon's Colonnade. The Judeans
gathered around him, saying, "How long will you keep us in
suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly." (John
10:22-24)
What size Messiah do you want: large or small? The answer to
this question underlies the incident above. Unbelievably, some
commentators have seen the reference to the season and location
as incidental! In fact, the season and location mentioned are
pregnant with meaning.
Those were dark days for Judah. Herod, an Edomite convert to
Judaism, ruled as a usurper to the throne. Outwardly he professed
adherence to the God of Israel, yet, in the Hellenistic cities he
had built, he erected heathen temples containing statues of the
emperor. Herod "surrounded himself by foreign mercenaries,
and reared fortresses around his palace and the Temple which he
built....he placed over the great gate of the Temple of Jerusalem
a massive golden eagle, the symbol of Roman dominion.... Pilate
sought to introduce into Jerusalem images of the
emperor...."1 What a contrast with the glorious days of the
Maccabees! How tragic! Once again a program of hellenization and
pagan influence was being carried out in Israel, but this time
lead by King Herod!
Hanukkah, celebrated today by lighting the menorah, spinning
the dreydel (top), giving gifts, and making latkes (potato
pancakes), reminded the people of Jesus' day of deliverance from
tyranny. In 168 B.C. the Syrian-Greek ruler, Antiochus Epiphanes,
as a means of consolidating his power, carried out a merciless
program of hellenization in Israel. The Temple and priesthood
were recruited for pagan worship and sacrifice. A statue of
Antiochus as Zeus was erected in the Temple in Jerusalem and pigs
were offered on the altar. A priestly family, the Maccabees, lead
by Judah Maccabee, revolted in the name of the true God and
triumphed over the heathen, in spite of overwhelming odds against
them. Tradition has it that, when the Temple was rededicated, a
one-day's supply of oil for the sacred Temple light lasted eight
days.
Edersheim said of Hanukkah: "It commemorated a Divine
Victory, which again gave to Israel their good land, after they
had once more undergone sorrows like those of the wilderness; it
was another harvest-feast, and pointed forward to yet another
ingathering. As the once extinguished light was relit in the
Temple _and, according to scriptural imagery, might that not mean
the Light of Israel, the Lamp of David?_ it grew day by day in
brightness, till it shown quite out into the heathen darkness,
that had once threatened to quench it."2
Do you see why the question of John 10:22 is pregnant with
meaning? The people were hoping for the Messiah, conceived as
another Judah Maccabee, who would be raised up to vanquish the
heathen occupation forces. The Temple, lit up, as was the whole
city, in commemoration of that earlier victory, made them very
conscious of the Roman presence in Jerusalem. How the people
longed for another military hero to lead them in a revolt to
throw off the shackles of the oppressor!
The Messiah they hoped for was too small. The real Messiah
was not, so to speak, the Messiah of Hanukkah, a deliverer
bringing temporal victory, but rather the Messiah of Christmas,
the timeless God incarnate, bringing a greater and eternal
deliverance.
Is your Messiah too small? The Judeans of that day stumbled
because they had not heeded the scriptures. They had forgotten
the messianic promise which stated: "It is too small a thing
for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring
back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light
for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of
the earth." (Isaiah 49:6). They were hoping for a messiah
just for them, a messiah who would bring political restoration
and national security. When such a "messiah" came upon
the scene later, in the person of Bar Kochba, they followed him
in revolt and suffered a great defeat.
Is your Messiah big enough to deliver from the greatest
oppression of all? Do you look to him for your eternal destiny?
Jesus isn't a temporary fix for coping with life's hardships. He
is the Eternal Savior who gives us the ultimate victory. He
defeats sin, raises the dead and gives an eternal inheritance. In
this life we all face death and tragedy, but the eternity we will
spend with God outshines whatever we suffer. No matter what sin
you struggle with, no matter what suffering you face, Jesus is
the ultimate deliverer.
Is your Messiah too small? Do you believe he has come to
bring salvation to the "ends of the earth"? Or do you
see Christianity as for only your own people and nation? Do you
believe Jesus is Lord of the whole earth? Do you believe he
intends to conquer the unbelief of pagan darkness with the light
of his truth? Do you believe "the earth will be full of the
knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea"? (Isaiah
11:9) Is your Messiah really that big?
Hanukkah is a festival of light. Isaiah said: "...in the
future he will honor Galilee of the Gentiles....The people
walking in darkness have seen a great light, on those living in
the shadow of death a light has dawned. For to us a child is
born, to us a son is given, and the government will be upon his
shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his
government there will be no end." The nation would be
enlarged and go forth in triumph, but not as a merely temporal
political victory. Messiah would bring an eternal kingdom which
would increase without end. The true light would come into the
darkness. It would be a light no one could extinguish. (See
Isaiah 9:1-7.) Jesus is that promised light of the world.
"In the last days the mountain of the LORD's Temple will
be established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised
above the hills, and all nations will stream into it....Come, O
house of Jacob, let us walk in the light of the LORD"
(Isaiah 2:2 and 2:5).
"But you have come to Mount Zion, to the Heavenly
Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands
and thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the
firstborn, whose names are written in heaven...." (Hebrews
12:22-23).
"You also, like living stones, are being built into a
spiritual Temple to be a holy priesthood....you are a chosen
people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to
God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out
of darkness into his wonderful light" (1 Peter 2:9).
"I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God
Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the
sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it
light, and the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its
light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into
it" (Rev. 21:22-24).
Notes:
1. Alfred Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah,
(c) 1993, Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., Peabody, MA, p. 61, (1.89
in older editions).
2. Ibid, page 632, (2.228 in the older edition.)
(c) 1996 Fred Klett