Tuesday, December 20, 2022

Jesus and Hanukkah

THE ANXIOUS BENCH: Jesus at Hanukkah: A Storm is Coming (Philip Jenkins).
That Jesus would celebrate all Jewish feasts, including Hanukkah or Sukkot, is no surprise whatever, and as Craig Keener points out, any suggestion to the contrary wrongly diminishes and distorts his Jewishness. But the question does arise of, why mention Hanukkah? Judaism has many high and holy days, and Hanukkah was not a particularly important one. Only in modern times has it achieved its great visibility in Western countries, as a kind of counterpart to Christmas.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.