#19: “I and the Father Are One”
SCRIPTURE: John 10:22-42
INTRO:
In this part of chapter 10, John takes us from the Feast of Tabernacles in
September to the Feast of Dedication in December. So, John is omitting three
months of Jesus’ ministry between verse 21 and verse 22.
It’s the beginning of winter in Jerusalem – rainy in the lower altitudes and
snowy in the higher.
I found this interesting. The Feast of Dedication had its beginning as an
annual celebration in 163 B.C., a year after Judea became an independent
kingdom. Let me give you a bit of Jewish history. In 170 B.C., Antiochus
Epiphanes, a Greek king of the Seleucid Empire, reigned over Syria, which
included Judea, from 175 BC until 164 BC. He’s famous for almost conquering
Egypt and for his brutal persecution of the Jews, which precipitated what’s
known as the Maccabean revolt. Antiochus Epiphanes was a ruthless and often
capricious ruler. He’s properly “Antiochus IV,” but he took upon himself the title
“Epiphanes,” which means “illustrious one” or “god manifest.” However, his
bizarre and blasphemous behavior earned him another nickname among the
Jews: “Epimanes,” which means “mad one.” One of the things he did that
helped earn him that name was to order the sacrifice of a sow on the altar of the
temple, which was an ultimate insult to the Jews.
Antiochus was determined to wipe out Jewish culture and religion and
replace them with Greek, or Hellenistic culture and religion. Failing to
accomplish this peacefully, he attacked Jerusalem in 170 B.C., killing 80,000
Jews and establishing martial law. He stole from the temple treasury to the tune
of $2 million, turned the temple chambers into a brothel, and ordered that no
children be circumcised. Copies of the Law of Moses were banned.
Judas Maccabaeus led a revolt against Antiochus, and in 164 B.C. with
much smaller numbers, defeated the army of Antiochus, and the Jews became
an independent kingdom once more for the first time in 400 years. The temple
was cleansed, purified, refurnished, and rededicated. The annual Feast of
Dedication memorialized that rededication.

It was during the reign of Antiochus that a religious separatist group was
formed that became known as “the Pharisees.” They were the “right wingers”
who wanted to preserve the old Jewish religion and culture.
Now, let’s consider today’s Scripture passage, noting that…