For Sunday, April 17, 2016 – John 10:22-30
Jesus is at the temple — or rather, just outside the temple, where teachers liked to gather to discuss and defend their religious views — during the Festival of Dedication. The Feast of Dedication recalled a miracle of light that had occurred after the temple was ransacked and profaned by a marauding enemy. When the Jews re-entered they could find only one small jug of uncontaminated oil to light the sacramental flame. In faith, knowing the eternal flame might go out in one day, they went ahead and used the oil to light the menorah, even though it would take them a week to process and purify new oil.
Would the eternal flame be extinguished? Would the light of God’s presence shine for only one more day? Miraculously the oil continued to feed the flame for eight days. Even in the darkness of their persecution and their material limits, God provided. The oil continued to flow, and the eternal light continued to shine.
It is during this Festival of Dedication that the teachers now challenge Jesus to prove whether or not he truly is the Messiah. “Tell us plainly,” they say, to which Jesus responds: “I have told you, and you do not believe. My works testify to me.” His works—his miracles and teachings—are the oil that feeds the flame of holy presence and reveals God’s life to the world. The evidence of God’s presence is no longer dependent on religious tradition or humans keeping a fire lit inside the temple. The light of God now walks among us, outside the temple. Will they see it?
We, too, struggle to see and trust the evidence, obvious though it be. Daily miracles of steadfast love and encouragement, courageous challenges of the powers that be, unexpected whispers of solidarity, all plainly spoken yet hard to believe. They are the oil that strengthens the flame of holy presence. “How long will you keep us in suspense, Jesus? If you are who you say you are, show us plainly.” Yet all around us is all the proof we need. God’s desire to shine out loud can be seen and heard by those who believe it is so. There is no absence of oil, only an absence of belief. Everywhere, every day, the light shines on.
