The Chosen (5 page)

Chapter
7

B
y early December, Mitch was four months old. “This will be his first Christmas!” Kris beamed as she dressed her little son following his bath. 

“And his first Hanukkah,” Michael added. “Even the youngest members of the family are present for the lighting of the Menorah. This year, that means you,” he touched the tip of his son’s nose
,
and Mitch smiled.

The baby’s smile made Kris smile too. “When is Hanukkah this year?” she asked as she finished tucking Mitch’s blanket around him. 

“Sunday night,” Michael responded.  “We light the first candle right after sunset to begin the first night of the celebration.”

Kris did not know much about Hanukkah, and she had no practical experience with it. She did know that she wanted to make this Hanukkah special
for Michael—it was the third
holiday since he had lost his parents, and his family had always celebrated together. She knew from going through
Christmas without her own parents how much holiday
s magnified the loss of family.
She had started looking for recipes early in the year. Supplies were very limited, but potato pancakes were doable—she had even recruited Karyn to help her. Other than preparing the latkes, she did not know what she could do to make the celebration seem special. 

On Sunday evening everyone gathered in the
living
room.
For several weeks Michael and Jeff had been working on the Menorah in their s
pare time, and Michael now held a
roughly-fashioned candelabra
holding nine candles,
with the center candle slightly higher than
the others. Jeff had made a little platform for the Menorah—he was the one with the construction experience, and he had been happy to help Michael with th
e
project, but he
did not understand why they had gone to so much trouble to light some candles. Both families gathered around
,
and Seth and Faith watched with a child’s interest. Kris held Mitch facing the Menorah so that he could see what was happening. Keith slouched against the wall. He had zero interest in religion and less than zero interest in Hanukkah, but he liked the idea of sampling the potato pancakes.

“We light the candles after sunset to commemorate the Feast of Lights,” Michael began. “In 168 B.C. Antiochus
Epiphanies
declared war on the Jewish people and suspended th
e worship of the God of Israel.
The prophet Daniel had foretold that a ruler would come who would desecrate the temple and stop the sacrifice, and Antiochus fulfilled this prophecy. Antiochus wanted to destroy the worship of Yahweh and bring the whole world under his control by eliminating all other religions. Using deceit, he was able to capture Jerusalem. He stripped all of the wealth out of the temple and carried away the gold, the candlesticks, the altar of the incense, the table of the shewbread, and all of the linen cloths.
He killed many Jews and took about ten thousand people away as captives.  

“Antiochus wanted to completely blot out the worship of the true God, so he desecrated God’s temple by sacrificing swine on the altar, and he forced the people to set up altars to idols in every part of Israel and to sacrifice swine on them. He also made it illegal for the Jews to circumcise their sons, as God’s law commanded. He crucified the Jews who resisted and the women who circumcised their babies, and he hanged their newborn infant sons around their necks as they hung on their crosses. He burned all of the copies of God’s law that he could find and put to death anyone possessing a copy.

“At this time, there was a Jewish priest named Mattathias who had five sons—John, Simeon, Judas, Elea
zar and Jonathan.
The governor demanded that Mattathias set a ‘good example’ for the rest of the community by offering polluted sacrifices
on the Temple altar
and encouraging the people to obey Antiochus. But the high priest feared God more than the king, so with only his five sons, he started a rebellion. ‘If anyone is zealous for the laws of his country and for the worship of God, let him follow me,’ was his rallying cry, and thousands of faithful Jews did follow him into the desert. Mattathias taught this group of followers to defend themselves. He killed all of the traitors who had sacrificed to idols, and he ordered that the parents who had not done so must now circumcise their sons.

“After a year, Mattathias became very ill, and he called for his sons and charged them to carry on his work.  He told them to fight for the laws of their country and said that if they would do so, God would give them back what they had lost and restore their nation to freedom.

“After his father’s death, Judas, also called Maccabeus, took control of his father’s army, and the family and their followers became known as the Maccabees.  The name means ‘Who is like unto you, O Lord?’ Judas’ army was far out-numbered, but he reminded the people that victory does not come from armies—it comes from God alone.  He encouraged his men to fight for freedom and for the liberty to worship God and for the laws of their country, and his armies defeated the much larger enemy armies until
,
finally, after three and half years, Judas had regained control of Jerusalem. 

“Now Judas encouraged his men to go
to
the Temple and thank God for giving them such a great victory, but when they arrived
,
they were dismayed to see that the Temple was wrecked—full of filth and weeds.  They found one jar of uncontaminated olive oil sealed with the seal of the high priest buried on the grounds of the Temple, but it was enough for only one day.  They would need eight days to make more oil and to purify the Temple.  Judas posted guards around the perimeter to keep the enemy away, and then he set to work cleansing the Temple and restoring the table with the shewbread and the altar of incense. He buil
t
a new altar for sacrifice from unhewn stones because the previous altar had been profaned with unclean sacrifices.  This purification of the Temple took eight days, and during that time, that one jar of oil, which was enough for only one night, burned for the entire eight days.  On the
twenty-fifth
day of the month, the Temple was reopened and Judas reinstated sacrifices to the God of Israel.

“That is what Hanukkah commemorates—even in the darkest moments in history, the spirit of God is always present to help those who resist evil.  The Maccabees were allowed the privilege of witnessing the miracle of Hanukkah because they were willing to honor God, to stand up against evil and to fight for what was right, even if they died doing so.  In the days of
the Maccabees, people could be restored into right relationship with God only through reinstating the daily sacrifice in the Temple, but since the coming of Jesus
,
we live in the Age of Messiah
,
and we are restored into right relationship with God as we allow Him to rule and reign in our own hearts.  And as we fight for the freedom to worship God and to teach our children to worship God, the Spirit of God will fight for us, just as it did for my ancestors, thousands of years ago.”

Michael lit the center candle and used that candle to light the far left candle, and then he recited the prayer
that his father had taught him:

“
Blessed are you O Lord Our God, King of the universe, who has given us holidays, customs and times of happiness to increase the knowledge of God and to build us up in our most holy faith.

“Blessed are you O Lord our God, King of the universe, who has granted us life, sustained us, and permitted us to reach this season.”

Keith had been leaning against the wall listening, and now he s
poke, “I have a question, Mike.
Since Hanukkah is eight days, why are there nine candles? And why is one candle taller than the others?”  Keith actually liked M
ichael
, in spite of himself, but all of this religious stuff drove him crazy.  Anyway, he wanted to see whether
Michael
knew the answer.

The pleased expression on Michael’s face immediately made him wish he had not asked the question. “I’m so glad you asked. The candles represent the miracle of the oil. The oil represents the Holy Spirit—the Spirit of God on earth. None of these candles has any greater significance than any of the others—they tell the story of God’s faithfulness as a whole. But
the center candle is the Shamash candle—the servant candle. It is the only candle that can be used to light any of the others. It gives light to all of them. My father used to tell us that the story of Hanukkah recounts the story of God’s faithfulness to his people
,
but it also foretells the coming of Messiah.  It is a picture for us to remind us that just as the olive oil would supernaturally give light to cleanse the temple, in less than 200 years, the Holy Spirit would supernaturally bring about the birth of Jesus who would be born in a stable into the lowliest of circumstances and through His death and resurrection would cleanse the world of sin.  For those of us who believe in Jesus, every part of the Menorah tells that story.  In ancient rabbinical teachings, seven was the number for natural completion—in six days God created the world, and He rested on the seventh.  But eight designated those things which were outside of the natural order and, therefore, possible only for God.  So the eight candles remind us that the birth of Jesus was miraculous—an event that only God could orchestrate.  The Shamash reminds us that He came as a servant, ‘For the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.’  The lighting of the candles from the Shamash reminds us that Jesus is the light of the world who gives light and life to all who receive
H
im. And as we light the final candle on the final night we remember that the scripture teaches that God raised Him from the dead and gave Him a name which is above all other names. He is the Servant who gives light to the world, who has been elevated to sit at the right hand of God.”

Now Keith really was annoyed. He had come down for the pancakes, not to hear a sermon. “That’s a nice story for the kids,” he smirked. “But you and I both know that in real life nobody comes to save you. Thousands of years of lighting candles and waiting for the Messiah—or I guess in your case waiting for the Messiah to come back—and where has it gotten
you exactly?  We’ve all lost everything; we’re living in an abandoned house we don’t even own waiting for the end. And we’re supposed to believe we live in ‘Age of Messiah’? Give me a break! That ‘chosen people’ stuff has never worked out for anybody who has tried it. Millions of people who thought they were ‘chosen’ died in ovens or
were
shot to death and tossed into
mass
graves.  But you know something—my parents thought they were ‘
c
hosen’ too. My mom always told us that God had a special plan for our lives, and that each of us needed to try to find it and live it out.”
With his hand h
e made a sweeping motion around the room.  “Some plan, huh?”

“Keith, please,” Kris tried to stop him. He was angry
,
and he was spoiling the evening with his rant. She looked at Michael and mouthed, “I’m sorry.”
Michael ignored her and looked directly at Keith.  He was calm but very direct.

“Keith, do you know how the ‘chosen’ get to be the ‘chosen’? When they hear a call to stand up for Truth, to fight for God’s laws, they are the ones who respond.  There may be millions of others who hear that same call and never respond to it; they go through life like sleepwalkers, as if nothing has happened. But ‘the chosen’ answer. I never actually met your mother, but I know her a little through Kris. I know that she was a special
woman;
I believe that she was right—God does have a purpose for each of your lives. But whether you find and fulfill that purpose is up to you. God will never force it on you—it’s entirely up to you to respond. The Maccabees were just one family, but they responded to the calling of God, and they changed their country’s future. If they had not responded, someone else would have—maybe not at that moment, but sooner or later, somebody would have responded and when they did, they would have been ‘chosen.’ Their story reminds us that God uses ordinary people in special ways when they respond to the leading of His
S
pirit. Being
‘
chosen
’
doesn’t mean you’re special—it just means you answered when you were called.”

Keith looked down and said nothing. In a few minutes he left the room and went back up to the tower alone. Later that evening Kris climbed the watchtower stairs with some latkes, but Keith did not look at her or speak to her.

For eight nights, every evening at sundown, Kris, Karyn, Jeff, Seth, Faith and Mitch watched Michael light the candles. After the first night Keith never came downstairs for the ceremony again, but whenever he entered the common room he noticed the Menorah sitting there, and it angered and bothered him. He did his best not to look at it,
but then he would turn and catch a glimpse of it out of the corner of his eye. He had seen hundreds of Menorahs—he had even taped a Hanukkah celebration when he was working in cable news. It had never meant anything to him until a few nights before when Michael had lighted the candles. Now all he could see was eight candles representing one miracle and a Servant candle elevated to a place of honor above them. It bothered him so much that he wished he had not heard Michael’s explanation. “The next time he wants to do something like this,” he muttered, “he can do it without me.” And he felt a deep sense of relief when the eight days finally ended and the Menorah was taken down and put away.