The role of Dedication John
D. Application to John
John may well be tapping into this tradition to make a bold counter-implication to the
implication of the Jews in 10:33. By applying to Jesus the language of blasphemy and a mortal making himself God, the Jews raise the specter of Antiochus and insinuate that Jesus is guilty of the same blasphemy as the Seleucid king. While a number of commentators have recognized the likely allusion to this background,523 what has not been noted is the likelihood that the threefold appeal to Jesus’ works (10:25, 32, 37-38) represents an ironic counter-assertion which draws on this same tradition.
Since John 5:19-30, the “works” God gave Jesus to do and which Jesus has “shown” the Jews are giving life and judging, the very works by which God distinguished himself from Antiochus as the unique God who alone is worthy of worship. Jesus’ performance of them, therefore, demonstrates that he shares in the identity of Israel’s God.
The Hanukkah background suggests that two implications likely follow from this conclusion. First, the life-giving work Jesus does to demonstrate his identity with God is nothing short of national restoration. We have seen that there is more than abstract monotheism at play in the anti-Antiochus polemic of 2 Maccabees. The life-giving work which sets God apart from the imposter entails both the resurrection of the faithful dead as well as the ingathering of the scattered people of the nation. The life
522di,kaion u`pota,ssesqai tw/| qew/| kai. mh. qnhto.n o;nta ivso,qea fronei/n. 2 Macc 9:12.
523 For example, VanderKam, “John 10,” 213: “Jesus’ unbelieving audience who do not belong to his sheep see in the divine Son only another blasphemer who, like the Seleucid king, claimed to be god.” Cf. Keener, John, 827; Moloney, Signs, 149 n.22; Kerr, Temple, 252 and n.135; Coloe, Dwells, 149. Schnackenburg, John, 2.309, believes the expression poiei/j seauto.n implies usurpation.
142
God gives is both resurrection and the fullness of eschatological restoration from exile.524 This accords very well with the nature of life Jesus gives throughout John 5-10 where both these dimensions are in view. On the one hand, “life” is repeatedly defined in terms of resurrection from the dead (e.g., John 5:24-25, 28-29; 6:39, 40, 44, 54; cf. 11:25-26). On the other hand, life also entails the restoration of the nation (cf. the gathering of the scattered children of God in John 10:16).525 Thus, as with God in 2 Maccabees, Jesus’ display of his unique deity in life-giving works will effect the gathering of the nation from exile.526
It may be appropriate to recall, here, that at least one stream of Jewish tradition (represented by 2 Maccabees) probably viewed the celebration of Hanukkah as an enacted petition for God to restore the nation. Indeed, the final shape of 2 Maccabees suggests that the festival represented an annual renewal of the plea for God to bring to completion the restorational mercy set in motion in the deliverance from Antiochus. In this way Jesus answers the implicit petition for restoration associated
with the festival of Hanukkah. He does this by fulfilling the expectation and hope for the gathering of
the dispersed people of God and judgment on their enemies.
A third observation follows from the Maccabean background. The gathering of the nation hoped for in 2 Maccabees is a gathering unto renewed worship of the true God. The wider Hanukkah tradition evinced in 1 Maccabees and Josephus emphasizes the renewal of Temple worship. However, 2 Maccabees adds the additional dimension of the uniqueness of Israel’s God as the only one worthy of worship. This orientation of the narrative in 2 Maccabees forges a striking link between the restoration of Temple worship and the monotheistic faith of Israel. Part of the meaning of Hanukkah was the expectation of future recognition by Jew and Gentile alike that Israel’s God is the one and only true God in all the world.527 Insofar as they seek restoration, it is to worship of the one true God that they seek to be restored.
524 This is why the second letter which opens 2 Maccabees petitions its readers to observe the festival which celebrates this deliverance: so that God might be moved to bring to completion the national restoration begun in the days of the Maccabees. See esp. reference to this “gathering” at 2 Macc 1:24-29 and 2:9, 18.
525 On this, see especially Dennis, Gathering, 200-201, 293-302; Manning, Echoes, 125-127; Andrew Lincoln, “I Am the Resurrection and the Life: The Resurrection Message of the Fourth Gospel,” in Life in the Face of Death: The Resurection Message of the New Testament (ed. Richard Longenecker; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998) 128. 526 Of course, this idea occurs prominently in the surrounding context (cf. 10:16 and 11:47-53).
527 The “knowledge” motif in 2 Maccabees is not confined to the knowledge of Antiochus but includes the (right) knowledge of the Jews, as well. Hence, the seven brothers recognize that it is God, “the King of the Universe”, who alone has authority to judge his enemies (cf. 7:16, 18-19, 37) and give life both the nation as a whole and to
individuals through resurrection of their bodies (cf. 7:22-23, 28-29). Cf. also 2 Macc 1:27 where the people’s prayer under Nehemiah seeks national ingathering with a view toward Gentile knowledge “that you are our God.”
143
Against this backdrop, John 10:22-39 should not be read as though it stopped at identifying Jesus with God. The Hanukkah traditions I have examined suggest a further implication. The goal of this revelation is the “knowledge” of Jesus’ unique deity (cf. i[na gnw/te, v.38) and by implication his
consequent worthiness of worship. Once again, such implications from the Hanukkah background fit
very neatly in the larger narrative setting of John 5-10. John 5 made clear not only that by doing the works of God Jesus “makes himself equal with God”, but that God’s purpose in this was that “all might honor the son just as they honor the Father” (5:23). Symbolic fulfillment of this goal comes at the climax of the narrative of the blind man in chapter 9 when Jesus becomes the object of worship.528 This
narrative illustrating the worship of Jesus as the end-goal of his works immediately precedes and leads into John 10. For this reason, while John 10:22-39 does not make explicit mention of worship, yet the narrative context already links Jesus’ works with worship of his person. In the interpretation of the Hanukkah tradition in 2 Maccabees God “manifested” his unique power to give life and judge with a view to restoring Temple worship and redirecting it from the blasphemous Seleucid king to the only true God. John picks up on this tradition in his portrayal of Jesus at the climax of the public ministry. In a word, itis unto worship of Jesus as the one true God that Jesus “manifests” his deity when he effects
national restoration by giving life and judging.
E. Conclusion
I conclude by observing, once again, the way in which John draws Jesus into the symbolism and traditions central to the Jewish feast in order to depict his work of salvation as the eschatological realization of all that was signified by the festival. Jesus does not debase Dedication as flawed or failed nor does he set it aside in order to supersede it. Rather he clothes his work with the traditions at the core of the festival and so reveals that his work represents the enactment of the eschatological deliverance petitioned for by those who celebrated the festival.
528 John 9:38.
144