🌅 Posted at sundown on purpose.
This new song, “The Feast Jesus Kept,” goes live tonight at sundown as a quiet nod to how this story has always been remembered: from evening to evening, light first—then the day.
To be clear up front:
I’m not telling Catholics to keep Hanukkah.
Our liturgical calendar is already… robust.
Eight more days would be overkill.
What I am doing is tipping my hat to a powerful moment in salvation history.
Hanukkah remembers God’s victory over oppression—when faithful men and women refused to let a pagan empire decide what was true, good, or holy. It comes to us from the books of Maccabees, which the apostolic Churches have always preserved, even though modern Protestants reject them and—ironically—most modern Jews no longer receive them as Scripture either.
And yet here’s the fascinating historical fact:
Jesus Himself kept this feast.
John’s Gospel mentions Him walking in the Temple during the Feast of Dedication—no explanation, no footnotes, no apology. Just lived tradition.
That leaves us with an interesting reality:
either Maccabees carries real authority,
or binding tradition mattered long before the New Testament was complete.
Either way, God was at work.
This song isn’t about appropriating a holiday.
It’s about remembering our shared history, honoring the faith of martyrs, and celebrating the truth that when the oil runs out, the light doesn’t always go with it.
Also worth noting: my very Gentile kids know who the Maccabees are—thanks in part to groups like The Maccabeats—which still makes me smile.
🎶 “The Feast Jesus Kept” — now live.
— Justin
Peter’s Barque
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