You shall count off seven weeks of years, seven times seven years, so that the period of seven weeks of years gives forty-nine years. Then you shall have the trumpet sounded loud; on the tenth day of the seventh month - on the day of atonement - you shall have the trumpet sounded throughout all your land. And you shall hallow the fiftieth year and you shall proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you; you shall return, every one of you, to your property and every one of you to your family. That fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you: you shall not sow, or reap the aftergrowth, or harvest the unpruned vines. For it is a jubilee; it shall be holy to you: you shall eat
only what the field itself produces.
Leviticus 25:8-12
In Leviticus, we see God's guidance about restoring & maintaining the Jewish community after they returned from exile. God's attention is not on how to help the upper class secure more wealth and privilege, but on freedom for those who are captive. As I read Leviticus 25, it seems that God recognizes the way that socioeconomic forces ("the status quo") often perpetuate the marginalization of the lower classes. God is not a deist God that stands by but rather a God who is both active and compassionate. God responds to the status quo by calling God's community to act on behalf of justice and freedom. This freedom applied both to the land and to oppressed social groups. The vision for Jubilee is not meant to be a fuzzy, feel-good dream but a challenge to the social and economic constraints that structure our communities. The intervention of Jubilee restores and preserves the dignity of the vulnerable people whom God loves, including "aliens and temporary residents" (NIV language that probably referred to immigrants and refugees). Jesus' ministry of the Good News was and continues to be an experience of Jubilee in which freedom and justice is graciously given to those who are most often kept down.
Natty Plunkett
only what the field itself produces.
Leviticus 25:8-12
In Leviticus, we see God's guidance about restoring & maintaining the Jewish community after they returned from exile. God's attention is not on how to help the upper class secure more wealth and privilege, but on freedom for those who are captive. As I read Leviticus 25, it seems that God recognizes the way that socioeconomic forces ("the status quo") often perpetuate the marginalization of the lower classes. God is not a deist God that stands by but rather a God who is both active and compassionate. God responds to the status quo by calling God's community to act on behalf of justice and freedom. This freedom applied both to the land and to oppressed social groups. The vision for Jubilee is not meant to be a fuzzy, feel-good dream but a challenge to the social and economic constraints that structure our communities. The intervention of Jubilee restores and preserves the dignity of the vulnerable people whom God loves, including "aliens and temporary residents" (NIV language that probably referred to immigrants and refugees). Jesus' ministry of the Good News was and continues to be an experience of Jubilee in which freedom and justice is graciously given to those who are most often kept down.
Natty Plunkett
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