Jesus, along with many other Jewish people has come to Jerusalem to celebrate the feast of Hanukkah. During the feast, he comes to the Tempe area, where he is recognized as the prophetic teacher many have been talking about.
The people press to find out if he is the “Christ” (“messiah”). He replies that he is not simply God’s special envoy. He makes an astounding statement: “The Father and I are one.”
On this feast of the re-dedication of the Temple, when Jesus is at that moment standing right there in the sacred environs of the Temple, Jesus says that he replaces the Temple as the visible presence of God among them.
John’s Gospel particularly stresses the oneness of Jesus with the Father. Recall the opening words of John: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…And the Word became flesh.”
As I spend some quiet time with the Lord, I need to remind myself with whom I am spending this quiet time.
Cinco de May (Spanish for “Fifth of May”) is a holiday in Mexico, and popular among Mexican-Americans in the United States.
The holiday commemorates a military victory at Puebla, Mexico, in 1862. In itself, the battle was not that important. But symbolically, it meant a great deal.
The Mexican people had gained independence from Spain in 1810. This was followed by internal political wars, then the Mexican-American War, and finally, the Mexican Civil War of 1858. These were now behind them, but the economy was in ruins.
France, using as an excuse Mexico’s failure to pay its debt, sent an invading army to take over Mexico City and install Napoleon’s relative, Maximilian of Austria, as ruler. The French army was moving toward Mexico City when, on May 5, 1862, a small and poorly armed detachment of Mexican soldiers defeated them.
France eventually sent a much larger army that managed to take over Mexico City in 1864, but the success was short-lived, lasting only three years.
Cinco de Mayo honors the spirit of the outnumbered militia that bravely withstood the powerful French army.