Vision Renewal: Jubilee
Vision Renewal: Jubilee by Rev. L. John Gable
April 23, 2023
In early 2015 I was telling a small gathering of Tab members the story of how in 1966 the Metropolitan Community Program committee was tasked by the Session with making a recommendation as to whether we should stay in place here at the corner of 34th and Central or follow the majority of our members who had begun to migrate north. The neighborhood had changed significantly since our ground breaking decades before. After extensive study they made the recommendation that we remain in place in order to be “a light for Christ in the metropolitan area.” That decision would forever impact our mission and ministry and the make-up of our membership. It is one of my favorite Tab stories to tell and is so inspirational to me that I keep a copy of that report in my day planner.
After I told the story, however, one of our new members approached me privately and asked, “That was 50 years ago. Do we still believe that?” I paused and reflected, first on the fact that, at that point, 1966 was indeed 50 years ago, and then on the essence of the question, “Do we still believe that?”
That question led to our Session’s creation of a Vision Renewal taskforce which was charged with helping us determine a current answer to that question. During the ensuing months we spent countless hours together: meeting, talking, reading, offering listening sessions with members, and meeting with neighbors and community leaders. We repeatedly asked two questions: “What are Tab’s greatest opportunities for impact in the future?” and “Where do you see God leading the people of Tab?”
After many months of engaging discussion, deliberation and prayer, the committee eventually crafted a document called the Vision Renewal statement which was adopted by the Session in March, 2016. During the next several weeks, in worship and in an adult study class, we are going to look again at this renewal statement and the impact and influence it is having on the way we do ministry today, even as we seek its guidance for the future. The opening section of the statement speaks of the “year of Jubilee”, a Biblical concept that is worthy of our consideration.
In our Old Testament lesson we read a fascinating passage from Leviticus. Recall, the “not oft read” book of Leviticus is commonly considered the Priest’s Manual as it gives guidelines for worship and laws concerning how the Children of Israel were to get along with one another as they came out of bondage in Egypt and settled in the Promised Land of Canaan. In the 25th chapter we read the instructions God gives regarding the use of the land and two very unique observances are put in place: the Sabbatical year and the Year of Jubilee.
In verse 2 we read, “When you enter the land that I am giving you, the land shall observe a Sabbath for the Lord. Six years you shall sow your field and six years shall you prune your vineyard and gather in their yield; but in the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath of complete rest for the land, a Sabbath for the Lord.” The purpose behind the command of the Sabbath year for the land, just as the purpose behind the Sabbath day for us, was two-fold: first, it was intended to be a time of rest and renewal for the land as well as for the laborers; and second, it was a reminder that God is the Owner of the land and the sole Provider of everything that it taken from it. We are not owners, we are stewards and caretakers of the creation. The land has been given to us, not as a possession, but as an inheritance from the Lord, so we are charged to take good care of it since one day it will all be returned to Him.
The Sabbath rest for the land was to take place every seven years, but an even greater event was to take place every fifty years. We read, “You shall count off seven weeks of years, seven times seven, so that the period of seven weeks of years gives forty-nine years…then you shall have the trumpet sounded throughout the 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 family.”
In the fiftieth year, on the Day of Atonement, the day when the priest ritually pronounces God’s forgiveness of the people’s sins, the ram’s horn was to be sounded throughout the whole land announcing the Year of Jubilee. During that year all of the inhabitants of the land were to return to their own property and families. Slaves were to be set free and debts forgiven. The intention of the Year of Jubilee was to restore everything and everyone to its original divine intention. It would be like pressing the reset button on your computer so that everything goes back to its original factory settings.
That sounds wonderful, doesn’t it? But you know what? There is no record that this wonderful idea was ever implemented. This legislation was never enacted because what sounded so great in the mind of God sounded completely and utterly impractical, socially and economically, in the minds of His people, so they never put it in to practice. Israel never had a year of Jubilee. She never enjoyed God’s intention of being restored to her original state of harmony. What a missed opportunity!
Fast forward to the 50th year anniversary of the Metropolitan Community Program report and the work of our Vision Renewal taskforce when we reaffirmed the commitment to remain in place and be “a light for Christ in the metropolitan area.” We saw this as a “Year of Jubilee” opportunity. I read from the report:
“Just as the 1966 report reaches its 50th year, we wish to make the most of this occasion by echoing a practice from ancient Israel: the Year of Jubilee. Each year the Hebrew people were called to atone for their communal sins on the Day of Atonement, which, as faithfully performed, resulted in God’s forgiveness. Once every 50 years, this ritual of atonement took on even greater significance, as the people of God were called to celebrate a Year of Jubilee to “proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants.” During this Jubilee year, the people of Israel were to dedicate themselves to economic justice and solemn reflection on God’ provision. Land was to be returned to those from whom it had been taken for unpaid debts, those in bondage were to be released, families were to be reunited, and all were to keep the year holy as the Sabbath.”
What a great vision! What a great opportunity! Not only did we think so, but Jesus did as well. As Jesus inaugurated His ministry He returned to Nazareth, His own hometown, and entered the synagogue on the Sabbath day, as was His custom. Serving as the reader for the day, He opened the scroll of the prophet Isaiah and began to read, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” After reading, He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the attendant and sat down. Luke tells us every eye was on Him, just waiting for Him to make some comment on what He had just read, but what He said shocked them, “Today”, He said, “this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
Friends, Jesus was announcing the Year of Jubilee, the day of God’s deliverance. Good news to the poor. Release to the captives. Recovery of sight to the blind. He was announcing the year of the Lord’s favor. But not just for a year, and that not just once every fifty years, but every day of every year. Because Jesus is our Jubilee!
We have spoken often that Jesus came announcing the in-breaking of the Kingdom of God in to our world and daily existence, and here He gives us a clear indication of what that Kingdom looks like and the part we have to play in making it a reality.
Look again at what He announces:
“Good news to the poor” – Good News, the Greek word is euangelion, the root of our English word “evangelism.” The “poor”, as we read in Matthew and Luke’s recording of Jesus’ teaching can refer either to “economic poverty” or “spiritual poverty”, as in “the poor in spirit”. Jesus came announcing Good News to the poor and calls us to do the same, both those impoverished spiritually and materially.
“release to the captives” – Again, these could be political or economic or social captives, or they could be spiritual captives to sin. Either way Jesus has come to announce social justice and righteousness, giving voice to the voiceless and aid to the helpless, as well as the forgiveness of sins. And we are called to do the same.
“recovery of sight to the blind” – Jesus came to offer a ministry of compassion, healing the sick and infirmed, touching the untouchable, opening the eyes of those who are blind, physically and spiritually. As are we.
“letting the oppressed go free”- another emphasis on social engagement, justice and reconciliation and advocacy. Not just acknowledging it, but addressing it.
“And proclaiming the year of the Lord’s favor” – announcing God’s love and grace and forgiveness in everything we say and do. Jesus announced the in-breaking of the Kingdom of God because Jesus is our Jubilee, and we are His people, called to do the same.
Given all the passages of Scripture Jesus could have chosen to read from as He announced His ministry it is not insignificant that He chose this one. To read it only as a political or economic manifesto would be to ignore the clear teaching of Scripture and deny the salvation He alone can offer; however, to read it only as a spiritual tract would also be to deny the call of the Gospel given to us carry on His ministry, to be the hands and feet of Christ in a broken world, “a light for Christ in this metropolitan area.”
To read again from our Vision Renewal statement 2016, “So on this the fiftieth anniversary of Tab’s 1966 report, we celebrate our year of Jubilee, our year of seeking liberty, and our acceptance of God’s offer of freedom from sin and entry into new life. We set apart this year (and I would add every year) for seeking renewed restoration in right relationships and justice in our community. We declare the year of the Lord’s favor as we keep to the path laid before us.”
In His life, death and glorious resurrection Jesus has announced the in-breaking of God’s rule in our daily lives. He has come to bring the Good News of salvation to all who spiritually bankrupt and offer release to all who are held captive to sin and injustice. He has come as “the light of the world” to open our eyes both to God’s truth and to the needs of our neighbors. He has come to liberate us from our fear of living and our dread of dying by offering us the promise of new life, abundant now and eternal in the Kingdom of Heaven. He has come to show us the way to live in right relationship both with God and with our neighbors, by modeling a ministry, not only of preaching and teaching, but of healing and caregiving, as He calls us to fulfill the two great commands: to love God and to love neighbor.
In the Old Testament the year of Jubilee was to be marked by the sounding of the ram’s horn throughout the whole land announcing the Day of Atonement and the liberation of all the people. Unfortunately, that horn was never sounded. There was no year of Jubilee. God must not have been satisfied with that denial of His divine intention, and neither should we be. Friends, this is an opportunity we must not miss or take for granted. In Jesus Christ, a different sound is heard, a new covenant of salvation and restoration has been offered. As Oswald Chambers writes, “The greatest note of triumph that ever sounded in the ears of a startled universe was that sounded on the cross of Christ, “It is finished!” That is the last word in God’s story of salvation.”
Jesus came announcing the year of the Lord’s favor, the year of Jubilee, because He is our Jubilee! Let us fully embrace the opportunity given to us, to be God’s people and do God’s Kingdom work “on earth as it is in heaven.”
Do we still believe the vision cast in 1966 that God is calling us to be “a light for Christ in the metropolitan area”? I pray we do because there is much Kingdom work still to be done. About that we will be talking in the weeks to come.
Rev. L. John Gable
Tabernacle Presbyterian Church
Indianapolis, IN