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• The events of Hanukkah, the Feast of Dedication, had not been forgotten by the Jews, by the disciples, and by Jesus himself. Since Jesus was himself the son of David, in the lineage of David, in the line of the kings of Israel going right through the Maccabean period, he would have been in line to the throne of Israel - if Herod and the Romans had not come on the scene. Thus, Jesus of all people would have understood how important that victory was against the Greeks, against those foreign invaders in the Land of Israel, against Antiochus Epiphanes, how that Antiochus had magnified himself against the host of heaven (even to the Almighty God, the Father of Jesus), and caused craft or deceit to prosper in the Land of Israel.
• Jesus, a Jew in the line of king David and the Maccabeans, would have understood more than anyone else how important that victory against Antiochus was, and against Greek culture and language.