Written to be read from the dawn of the Eighth Day ∞ (and in the midst of the darkest of times)
The Eighth Day is the end … and the beginning; the Eighth is the last … and the first: the One who is, who is to come … and who was.
The journey of restoration, renewal and return to the beginning, to the first and to what once was; and the hope that fuels this journey out there and back again is embedded in the eight days of Chanukkah. However, the meaning, intention and purpose of the journey to, and hope in, the Eighth Day is not limited to the Jewish holiday of Chanukkah. Instead, it is embedded in the very weekly cycle itself shared by both Jewish and Christian believers and, as such, is most likely to reveal itself to anyone who sees and perceives in the twilight of the two faiths (e.g. Messianic Jews).
There is a totality of seven days in the weekly cycle itself:
Day 1 – Sunday
Day 2 – Monday
Day 3 – Tuesday
Day 4 – Wednesday
Day 5 – Thursday
Day 6 – Friday
Day 7 – Saturday
According to Jewish scripture, this seven-day cycle of Creation begins on the first and is complete by the seventh. The first day of creation being the origin of light and life itself through the simple yet supreme act of God’s speech.
“In the beginning God created heaven and earth – the earth being unformed and void, with darkness over the surface of the deep and the spirit of God sweeping over the water – God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, a first day.”
Genesis 1:1-5 (TNK)
God’s speech which created and separated light from darkness begins and sustains God’s creative process through the seven days of the weekly cycle.
On the other end of the cycle, the seventh day is the origin of rest and repletion, the first Saturday, followed in the Jewish faith through Shabbat, the Sabbath: a day where creative work ceases and creation itself is celebrated as a totality.
“The heaven and the earth were finished, and all their array.
Genesis 2:1-3 (TNK)
On the seventh day God finished the work that He had been doing, and he ceased on the seventh day from all the work that He had done.
And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because on it God ceased from all the work of creation that He had done.”
However, as God is infinite, God’s creative act is not contained in this totality. Instead of creation coming to a halt on the seventh day, the creative act moves beyond the brink and brim of completion. As God is eternal, God’s creation continues with redemption on the eighth day, where Christ is risen, seen and celebrated on the second Sunday: a second step into the beginning; another leap into the first light of the world; a living sign and symbol of restoration, renewal and return to what once was.
“Now when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome brought spices, that they might come and anoint Him.
Mark 16:1-9 (NKJV)
Very early in the morning on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen.
[…]
And entering the tomb, they saw a young man clothed in a long white robe sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed.
But he said to them, ‘Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid Him.
But go, tell His disciples – and Peter – that He is going before you into Galilee, there you will see Him, as He said to you.'”
The hope in the second Sunday is one that embraces God’s redemptive power, one that accepts possibility beyond possibility, beyond totality: infinity.
The hope in the Infinite is one that embraces resurrection as a possibility, a possibility that defeats impossibility, a day that defeats death itself: eternity.
The hope in the Eternal is one that embraces the possibilities and impossibilities of a time yet to come: a new day.
348 – The sabbath is at the heart of Israel’s law. To keep the commandments is to correspond to the wisdom and the will of God as expressed in his work of creation.
#348-9 Catechism of the Catholic Church, p.100
349 – The eighth day. But for us a new day has dawned: the day of Christ’s Resurrection. The seventh day completes the first creation. The eighth day begins the new creation. Thus, the work of creation culminates in the greater work of redemption. The first creation finds its meaning and its summit in the new creation in Christ, the splendor of which surpasses that of the first creation. –
There is a totality of seven days in the week, yet with infinity there is always extra and, as such, eternity always claims more time: an eighth day, a new day.
So as the eighth day of the Chanukkah festival has ceased into the normal weekly Sabbath, let us pray that we do not allow our inner Chanukkiah lights to cease.
And as the normal weekly Sabbath ceases into the second Sunday, let us remember to rise from darkness and awaken into a new day.
As a new day begins, let us live with hope. Hope for restoration, for renewal, for return.
As we keep hope alive despite temptation to despair, as we keep our lights lit in the midst of dark days, and as as tomorrow is and continues to be a another day, the Eternal Light of Eighth Day endures.
The Eighth Day does not end and the Festival of Light will not end as Eternity cannot end.
The eighth day is the beginning … once again.
The eighth day is the first … and the last.
The eighth day is, the eighth day was and the eighth day is yet to come.
Another evening passes, and another morning comes: the Eternal Eighth Day of Light ∞
“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, says the Lord, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”
Revelation 1:8 (NKJV)
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Sy 'Adamah #SageSpeaks 