Our gospel lesson for the day opens with John telling us it is time for the Festival of Dedication. Over the centuries, this festival has evolved into what we know as Hanukah. It commemorates events that occurred about a century and a half before the birth of Christ. Since Hanukah is usually in November or December some Christians mistakenly think of it as Jewish Christmas. It is not. If anything, the meaning of Hanukah comes closer to the Fourth of July than to Christmas. Both celebrate revolutions that resulted in setting people free from an oppressive outsider.

Briefly, here is the story.1 About three and a half centuries before Jesus was born, Alexander the Great came to rule Judea. Unlike some rulers, Alexander wanted more than taxes from those he conquered. He wanted to change the c…