One hundred seven

Luke 1: 39-45
39At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, 40where she entered Zechariah's home and greeted Elizabeth. 41When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 42In a loud voice she exclaimed: "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! 43But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. 45Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!"

Mary and Elizabeth were blessed with so much joy being 1st time mothers, but that is not the reason they were so joyful. They were both carrying children that were both being born for God’s specific purpose.
John didn’t even meet Jesus until he was well into his ministry speaking about the salvation of Jesus.

Today is the start of the Jewish holiday Hanukkah. They will have eight days of celebrating and each day light one candle of the Menorah. The Menorah came about because there was this guy, Antiochus, the Greek king,that destroyed a temple and demanded that everyone sacrifice pigs only in the temple. The priest, Judah Maccabee, who was over the temple, fought against Antiochus and killed him, and when Maccabee went to honor God to burn a lamp, all they could find was a small bottle of olive oil. The bottle of oil was not supposed to last long as fuel for the lamp(some thought it to be a drop of oil, some say it was only engough to burn for a day), but the small amount of oil lasted for eight days.

Today’s menorah that celebrates the miracleof the lamp burning for the Maccabees, it has nine candles, the center candle is the “servant candle” It is used each night to light the other candles. It stands taller than the others and is to signify Jesus Christ as “the servant.”That is an abbreviated version how the menorah and the lighting of the menorah came about.

I’m not Jewish, but Mary was a Jew and Jesus was a Jew. It is good to know other religious customs so that we can know and appreciate the life of Jesus and celebrate with others, no matter if the religion is Jewish, Catholic or Baptist. We are all celebrating Jesus Christ.

Peace and Mercy to you from God our father.