Light of the world

As a Torah-observant Jew, Yeshua (Jesus) of Nazareth observed Hanukkah during His earthly ministry (John 10:22). My wife and I, both Gentiles, do likewise. We celebrate Yeshua, the light of the world (John 8:12), during the Festival of Lights. The Jewish holiday, which is observed for eight nights and days, commemorates the purification and rededication of the Temple in 165 BCE. In 2022 Hanukkah begins the evening of Dec. 18.

Some believe Yeshua was conceived on Hanukkah and born during the fall Biblical feasts. I like this Hanukkah reflection by John Parsons at Hebrew for Christians:

During the holiday of Chanukah we kindle lights, but we do not to use these lights for profane purposes: We are simply to behold them, to see something amazing, and to be touched by the light… There is no place where God is not present, and indeed the name YHVH (יהוה) means “Presence” (הָיָה וְהוֶה וְיָבוֹא). God showed himself in the midst of a common thornbush as a fire that does not burn. Moses “turned aside” to see the bush, which means he looked past the layer of the common, the profane, and the ordinary, to see the uncommon, the sacred, and the extraordinary. We light our menorah; we see the flames rise upward – like thorns on a thornbush – and we may catch a glimpse of God’s radiance, if we “turn aside” to see… When we slow down, when we make room within our hearts for God – a sanctuary within – we will often see what is commonly overlooked.

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