April 17, The Fourth Sunday of Easter, John 10:22-30 (RCL)

The Feast of Dedication is, of course, Hanukkah. Antiochus IV (Epiphanes) tried to annihilate Judaism, resulting in the Maccabean rebellion of 167-164. Antiochus set up a statue of Zeus in the Holy of Holies of the Temple, and sacrificed a pig on the altar. So the rededication (sanctification) of the Temple after the victory of the Maccabees was necessary. The feast occurs in December.

In the Gospel Lesson, Jesus is teaching at the Temple, on this Jewish festival. Pictured are "the teaching steps" leading into the Temple Mount from the south, the way most common people would enter. The Portico of Solomon was actually inside the Court of the Gentiles, just up these steps, to the right.

Please come with a Jerusalem Center for Biblical Studies group of students to view these inspiring historical sights firsthand.

The Teaching Steps where rabbis debated theology