At that time the festival of the Dedication took place in Jerusalem. The festival of dedication is better known by us today as Hanukkah. In 168 BCE the Greeks seized Jerusalem sacked the temple and set up an altar to Zeus. This is what the scriptures refer to when they talk of an abomination that makes desolate (Daniel 12:11).
The Greeks were driven from the temple mount in a rebellion led by Judah Maccabee. They found the temple desolate -- but worship began anew with a miracle of a single oil lamp keeping a menorah burning for eight days.
When in Jerusalem the Jews ask Jesus if he is the messiah they ask when like Judah Maccabee he will drive the Romans from the temple mount and establish right worship to God again. You cannot blame them for thinking this way. The situation was similar to Judah's. And Jesus had ritually cleansed the temple on another occasion.
As readers we know about the conversation with the Samaritan woman. That worship will be renewed but in a radical way. The temple will move to the heart. But his hearers do not know this yet. That conversation was private.
1 comment:
David's post illustrates the continuing conflict and controversy of the Church, from that day to this: between those who, like the 'Jews', see only the literal dimension and sense of Jesus' statement, and Jesus himself, whose intention was far different. Many in the Church today we might most aptly designate as spiritual 'Jews'.
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