A STRONG FAITH
Isaiah 35: 1-10
LUKE 1: 46b-55
DECEMBER 14, 2025 THIRD SUNDAY IN ADVENT – Hanukkah Begins
Once again, I want to wish each and every one of you a HAPPY HANUKKAH. Today marks the beginning of the Festival of Lights also known as the Festival of Dedication. And, yes … Jesus celebrated Hanukkah because Jesus, the Son of God, the Messiah, the one whose birth we celebrate this Holy season and whose return we await … Jesus showcased His faith in His walk in life.
We know that Jesus celebrated Hanukkah because the Gospel of John shares one moment of Jesus’ life that reveals this to us. The Gospel had just revealed to us another encounter with the Pharisees where Jesus teaches “I am the good shepherd, I know my own sheep and they know me just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. I give up my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that don’t belong to this sheep pen. I must lead them too. They will listen to my voice and there will be one flock, with one shepherd.”
In this season of light … this season of Advent … when the church calendar nudges and encourages us to get closer to God through Jesus there is always an underlying question as to whether each human is listening to Jesus. We know that Jesus identifies His flock through a simple declaration, “They will know that you are my disciples when YOU LOVE EACH OTHER.” That is how Jesus will known His own sheep … through love as reflected in our life’s journey.
And there in John’s Gospel we hear that “it was winter. And, Jesus was in the temple for the Festival of Dedication, walking in the covered porch named for Solomon.” And, Jesus the Son of God lay in the snow and made several snow angels … ok, I was just checking to see who was paying attention.
The Festival of Dedication is another name for Hanukkah. Hanukkah perhaps the greatest holiday celebration of patience and hope that exists. After the Maccabee’s victory they returned to the Temple knowing that they didn’t have enough oil to follow the requirement to light the candles for eight days. They only had enough for one day but the oil lasted all eight days.
It is during this celebration of Hanukkah that John writes that Jesus was circled by a group of angry individuals who were challenging Him asking, “How long will You test our patience? If you are the Christ … tell us plainly.” Clearly they were using the Hanukkah reference to try to get under Jesus’ skin but Jesus answered repeating what He had told others right before Hanukkah began, “I have told you but you do not believe. The works I do in my Father’s name testify about me but you do not believe because you don’t belong to my sheep. My sheep listen to my voice … I know them …. And they follow me. I give them eternal life.” Those challenging Him actually began to pick up stones to stone Him and others tried to get Him arrested but Jesus escaped … His light shining forward just like the lights of Hanukkah.
But the challenge of faith is where do we start … Jesus states that He has told us what it takes to be one of “His sheep.” He has told the entire world and we and the world have the opportunity to believe Him or reject Him. Jesus says His sheep, His followers, those with strong and true faith actually choose to listen to His voice, which we can find in the Gospels.
This takes us right back to an essence of faith … we heard it from the prophet … the eyes of the blind will be opened … the ears of the dear will be cleared … the lame will leap like the deer … a highway will be there called the HOLY WAY and the unclean won’t travel on it but it will be for those walking on that way. Isaiah’s prophecy for people of faith … the discovery of Jesus Christ and Jesus’ teaching.
So, are you on that highway? Have you heard the essence of Jesus’ teaching?
Right before informing Peter that Peter will “deny Jesus three times before the rooster crows” Jesus repeats something that he had been saying since His ministry began but he phrases it in a particularly interesting manner … “I give you a new commandment … LOVE EACH OTHER … Just, as I (Jesus) have loved you. So, you MUST love each other.”
That friends is the essence of faith … if you have a strong faith then you are known for loving not just your closest friends but for loving ALL of your neighbors … shining Christ’s Light into the world. Obviously, when you read Scripture there is a clear directive to love God … you remember the command from God to “have no other gods before me” I am sure.
When Jesus was asked about what mattered He didn’t command His followers to post the Ten Commandments to every wall in the world because He said that the FAITHFUL … those who believe … those with strong faith … will “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And, the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.” All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
The transformational reality of our faith is evident and proven when we live as Jesus taught us to live. When we discover deep within ourselves the life altering truth of God’s rescue plan for us when we believe … when our faith is strong … when we live our lives focused on God and Christ … when the light of the Lord is what lights our paths as we start our days … Isaiah declares that “Happiness and joy will overwhelm them; grief and groaning will flee away. BE strong! Don’t fear! Here’s your God … God will save you!” And, it begins with love … God’s love for us and our love for God and then the challenging part … our love for our neighbors.
Today, I celebrate that since I was a little boy I have had Jewish friends. I celebrate that God allowed little David Delaney to be exposed to people from all walks of life. I am thankful for Bob and Ethel Delaney who emphasized a love for all.
I remember on this Hanukkah conversations I had with Ricky Rosenfeld in first grade feeling jealous that he received presents for eight days plus he celebrated Christmas. I asked my parents, ‘can’t we be Jewish?” I remember meeting Helen Swedes parents when I was a student at the University of Buffalo … they had met in the camps … Nazi camps … the rest of their family members were killed by people who called themselves Christians … in the concentration camps downwind from their churches… they missed out somehow on Jesus’ teaching. Helen’s dad’s name was David like mine … I saw the numbers on his arm before she told me where they met and I knew. I wrote a poem for him and those who died … It’s called IN THE KITCHEN
His name was mine
Not just a rhyme
Taken away
From fields of play
Numbers are cruel
Stamped in deep blue
Neighbors in rage
Tossed in a cage
Never again
Oh such a sin
All in free speech
That’s what they teach
Dark clouds come in
Powerful men
Uncles and aunts
Off to the camps
Do you know him
Maybe the gym
Say the wrong word
Put in the herd
Family all gone
Lost like a song
He did survive
Met him alive
So today … might seem like any other day. A winter’s snow will have me making snow angels immediately after this service. It’s the first day of the Festival of Lights …. Hanukkah or more accurately referred to as the Festival of Dedication, which is how John called it in his Gospel. Will we … can we be the Light of Christ in the world? Are you and I willing to be dedicated to our faith making our faith and Jesus’ teaching the essence of who we are?
Peter, Paul and Mary sang these words in their Hanukkah Song, Light One Candy … Light one candle for all we believe in. Let anger not tear us apart! Light one candle to bind us together with peace as the song in our heart.”
And, then we hear the news from Bondi Beach 11 dead as Hanukkah 2025 begins … a hate crime … so as we move towards Christmas who are you? What matters to you? How strong is your faith? Strong enough to keep you from darkness and hate?
Don’t let the light go out … it’s lasted for so many years. Don’t let the light go out … let it shine through our love and our tears. Don’t let the light go out! Christmas is coming! Jesus is alive … He has taught us what it is to be strong in faith! LOVE … ALL AMEN