What is the Connection between
Christmas and Hannukah?

by Suzanne McCarthy for TCC

This year (2005) Christmas and Hannukah fall together which is rather rare. Christmas is December 25th and Hanukkah is Kislev 25 on the Jewish calendar; but due to our calendar being a solar calendar based on 365 days per year, and the Jewish calendar being a lunar or monthly calendar,the dates seldom come together. This year, the first light on the Hanukkiah, the Hanukkah menorah, will be lit at sundown December 25. So, is there another Hanukkah and Christmas connection?

In Luke 1, it states that Zacharias was of the Course of Abijah. There were twenty-four priestly courses that served the Temple in Jerusalem. 1 Chron.24 That year, Zacharias was chosen by lot to burn incense before the L-rd, and this happened only once in the life of a Priest. While he was preforming his priestly duty, an Angel appeared to him. The angel gave him a message from G-d that his and his wife's prayers had been heard and at long last they would bear a child...a son...the one prophesied by Malachi who would turn the hearts of the fathers to the children. Malachi 4: 5 & 6 It was in the month we today call June. Zacharias questioned the Angel and the Angel gave him a sign. He would be unable to speak until after the child was born.

It all came true, just as the Angel said. Zacharias walked home and it was a long, slow trip due to his advanced age, and sometime after he arrived home, Elizabeth conceived in her old age. Then when Elizabeth was 6 months pregnant, an Angel appeared to her young cousin named Miriam who was bethrothed to Joseph, a carpenter.

Miriam was just a teenager, but she was a faith-filled young woman who was pure. She was told by the Angel that she would bear a son and His Name would be Yeshua because He would save the people from their sins. This happened six months after Elizabeth conceived. So that would put Yeshua's conception in late December.

You will hear many voices in your life as a follower of Messiah. Some will criticize gentile Christianity for celebrating Christmas. However we need to recognize that the timing of Yeshua's CONCEPTION was at what we now consider Christmas time. John 1:14 says "The Word was made flesh and dwelt (tabernacled) among us........."

Yes...Constantine and some unrighteous early "church" fathers tried to eliminate Jewish practices and particularly Constantine wanted to make Christianity acceptable to pagans so he blurred the lines by instituting the celebration of the birth of Yeshua at the time of the pagan celebrations to honor the birthday of the sun. However, G-d still has the last Word and the last laugh! For the conception of Yeshua, during what pagans celebrated as the winter solstice and birthday of the sun, completely vanquished and overrode the winter solstice celebrations. Truly, "The Sun of Righteousness will arise with healing in HIs wings!"Malachi 4:2

Even in the gospel account of the woman with an issue of blood who touched the hem of His garment and was healed, we see the fulfillment of this verse. The fringes of a Jewish man's garment were known as the tzitzit or wings. The woman understood that to lay hold of the wings of His garment was to symbolically acknowledge that He was the embodiment of Torah and that she had faith that the Word of God heals.

"He sent His Word and healed them and delivered them from their destructions." Psalm 107:20 His Word, refers to Yeshua and since "the Word was made flesh" He was the embodiment of Torah. He was the walking, talking, Word (Torah) of God.

We light the Hanukkiah Shamash,the Servant Candle, first and as believers in Yeshua we recognize that Yeshua is the Light of the World (nations/goyim), prophesied in Isaiah 42:6, the Ohr (Light) Moshiach. John 1:5 He came not to be served but to serve. Remember how He washed the feet of His disciples at the Last Supper? His Light shines in the darkness and when we recognize and obey Him, "the light comes on" in our spirit! We, then, are to be like Him,and be Servants to others and shine the light so that others can see, believe, obey and follow the path--the Way-- He has laid out for us. John 14:6, Acts9:2

So be encouraged! He went before us and yet He never leaves us! His Holy Spirit indwells us and our lives will impact our families and acquaintences. Our prayers plow up the hard ground in their lives just as a farmer's plow breaks the sod. Then the Word we sow into their lives by example and by giving a verse of Scripture to them as an answer for the hope that lies within us, falls into that furrow,and it will spring up into eternal life for them! Remember,some seeds germinate faster than others, but all that germinate, with care, will produce! Our Father is The Creator, and He knows how to reach our loved ones! Our prayers and tears for them water and feed the soil and nurture the seed even if we are not seeing it yet! Be of good courage!

Have a Happy Christmas and a Blessed Hannukah