May 11 | Easter 4, Year C
Acts 9:36-43
Psalm 23
Revelation 7:9-17
John 10:22-30
There is an element of exclusivity inherent in the concept of dedication. To be dedicated is to be focused—to have one purpose to the exclusion of all other functions.
Historically, this could be said of the Temple in Jerusalem. It was dedicated to the worship of God. The Jewish festival that celebrates that fact is Hanukkah, or the Feast of the Dedication. The stimulus for the celebration was the defeat of the Hellenistic Syrian oppressors who, under the leadership of Antiochus IV Epiphanies, had profaned the Temple by dedicating it to Zeus. Judas Maccabeus drove the oppressors out and rededicated the Temple to God. Built into the celebration were the concepts of restoration, renovation, and renewal.
There were three aspects of renewal incorporated in the feast. First was the miracle of the sacred oil in the lamps. All that was left was one day’s supply of oil, yet the lamps continued to burn for eight days until more could be consecrated. Second, the Temple was renewed as the divine point of contact with the earth by its rededication to God. Finally, the defeat of the Syrian occupiers provided for the renewal of the people of Israel as the people of God.
In the Gospel reading from St. John, Jesus is walking in the Temple during the feast that celebrates the Temple’s rededication to God and the deliverance of Israel from her worldly oppressors. It is a time when the people are again oppressed by a foreign power—this time Romans—and are looking for divine deliverance. Their expectation is that God’s Anointed One, or Messiah, would deliver them like Judas Maccabeus did 200 years earlier. Their question to Jesus is, “Are you the Messiah?” Jesus’ answer is a paradox: “I am, but I am not.” What he is saying is that he is not Judas Maccabeus, a military leader. He is the Messiah, the Shepherd of God’s flock.
The rededication here is not that of the Temple—Jesus is God, and his body is the true Temple. Rather, the rededication is that of the people of God. They need to become focused on their sole purpose, which is to live according to God’s will. Only a people dedicated to God can fulfill the will of God.
The people have seen the signs, yet do not believe. “[O]ne does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord” (Deut. 8:3). Those who listen to Jesus are those who have rededicated themselves to God, because Jesus and the Father are one.
Jesus is speaking today. He speaks through his words in Scripture, the sacraments, and the liturgy of the Church, and by his Spirit speaking to our spirits in community. We will only hear him, however, if we are dedicated listeners to God. We must become dedicated listeners to his voice—for when we do, only then will we truly follow him.
Look It Up: Revelation 7:17
Think About It: Jesus does not deliver us, as his dedicated followers, from the difficulties and suffering of this world, but delivers us to himself in their midst.
The Rev. Dr. Chuck Alley, former rector of St. Matthew’s Church in Richmond, Virginia, teaches anatomy at Virginia Commonwealth University Medical School.
