Thanksgiving 2013

Thanksgiving is tomorrow, and, once again, we are hosting. The past two weeks have been filled with preparations of planning the menu, figuring out when to make everything, and how to arrange the table and chairs so everyone fits. I love this kind of stuff. I love getting great grandma’s china out and setting the table all pretty. I love baking pies, and having my house smell like fall spices. I love planning out my Thursday morning so I can accomplish all the last minute things, and I love browsing through all the Black Friday deals and trying to figure out if we need to go out this year. (Yes, we do.)

Hosting Thanksgiving brings back memories from my childhood of the preparation for 10 to 20 guests, and all the fun (I thought it was fun) of getting the house and food ready. I have found that I am not very sentimental about stuff, but I am sentimental about food – especially food that comes with such exquisite memories. Perhaps that’s why Thanksgiving and Christmas mean so much to me: the hard work of preparing was repaid with wonderful memories of the fun and laughter of the day itself. This year, I am thankful that we can once again host this wonderful meal and spend it with such wonderful friends.

This year, we have the opportunity to celebrate “Thanksgivanukkah” as the first day of Hanukkah is today! Hanukkah is not a story you will find in the Old Testament because it took place in the second century B.C. So, here is the story of Hanukkah in a nut shell:

In the 2^nd century B.C., Judea became part of the Seleucid Kingdom (Alexander the Great’s Greek Kingdom had been split into Ptolemaic and Seleucid factions). Antiochus IV Epiphanes later invaded Judea in 175 B.C. to regain control of the province from the priests. After winning the battle, Antiochus IV proceeded to loot the temple, stop all services, and in 167 B.C. he set up an altar to Zeus (yes, Zeus – the Seleucids were greatly influenced by the Romans, who had not yet taken over from them) in the Temple. He also ordered that pigs would be sacrificed on the Temple’s altar, thereby desecrating the altar and Temple itself.

When a Hellenistic (pro-Roman culture) Jew went to the temple to worship an idol that had been set up, Mattathias, a priest, killed him and initiated a revolt against the Seleucid Empire. After Mattathias’ death, his son, Judah, used guerrilla warfare to gain victory over the Seleucids. Two years after the desecration of the Temple, Judah and his brothers were successful in defeating the Seleucid monarchy and took control of Judea during what is known as the Maccabean Period. They rededicated the Temple, cleansed it, rebuilt the altar, made new vessels for the Temple service and instituted the Festival of Lights (Hanukkah) to commemorate this victory. However, there was only enough of the high priest’s olive oil found to burn for one night. This kosher oil needed eight days to be refined and prepared. The limited oil miraculously burned for all 8 days until the new batch was ready, and so an eight day festival was declared to remember this miracle. Now, every night of the 8 days of Hanukkah, the candles or lights on the menorah are lit to correspond with the number of days. The ninth light in the center is also lit to provide extra illumination. The menorah is usually placed in a central place in the home or by a window to remind everyone in the household and those passing by are reminded of this miracle.

Judah ruled Judea until 160 B.C. when he was killed in battle. His brother, Jonathan, the high priest took over, and later after being assassinated in 142 B.C., the last son of Mattathias, Simeon, ruled in his place. Simeon was murdered by his son in law, Ptolemy, in 134 B.C. who continued to fight for Judea’s freedom, but was sympathetic to the Hellenistic culture. This sympathy was a trait in all rulers after Ptolemy and facilitated the entrance of Roman general, Pompey into Jerusalem. In 63 B.C. Jerusalem and Judea came under Roman rule. In 37 B.C. Herod the Great, who was half Jewish and very Hellenistic, was installed as ruler over the area by the Roman Senate.

The Maccabean Period was seen by the religious leaders of Jesus’ time as a time of national and religious freedom from the oppression of their rulers. This story was recounted every year during the festival of Hanukkah and was as much a part of Jewish culture as the Indians and Pilgrims sitting down to the first Thanksgiving dinner is for Americans. Therefore, when the disciples asked Jesus in Acts 1:6, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” They are thinking back to the Maccabean Revolt and the brief freedom Israel experienced under its rule. The idea of national freedom had become such a centerpiece to their culture that it affected every aspect of their worldview. They would spend the rest of their lives learning that the Kingdom of God had both a physical and a spiritual aspect to it, and that they needed to wait for the physical, yet prepare themselves and others for the spiritual.

This Thanksgiving, many of us will sit down to an amazing meal, surrounded by friends and family, do some Black Friday shopping, watch football, and enjoy having a long weekend to rest and recover from that amazing meal,. But what do we really remember at this time? What is the underlying principle that we celebrate?

Love.

God so loved us that He allowed His son to be sacrificed so that we could be made free from the bondage of our sins (John 3:16). God gave us great value and worth and declared us to be not-guilty. He calls us His children, and graciously does not hold our sins against us, but gives us the freedom we need to learn to live righteously and humbly under His rule and authority. The early Christians were characterized by their devotion to humanity, and their insistent belief that all human life was of value. This led them to rescue babies that were left outside to die of exposure because they were unwanted, and care for both the Christian and secular sick when plagues swept through the cities, and all others left.

The pilgrims came to America looking for religious freedom, and the opportunity to establish a community devoted to the will of God. The Indians of the area did not see them as threats to their lives, but as newcomers to a place, and reached out in love and respect to help those who were so different from themselves.

This Thanksgiving, let us remember that we are truly children of God who have been given what we do not deserve at a price that we can never repay. Let us remember and thank God for those who are very different from ourselves, but who have also been set free by the death and resurrection of Christ both today and throughout history. I pray that we would all remember how richly we have been blessed, and that we would not take these blessings for granted, but forever rejoice and be excited about our life in Christ, and all he has called us to. Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!