3rd Sunday in Advent - B
Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11
December 11, 2011
Jubilee!
Rev. John M. Caldwell, PhD
First United Methodist Church
Decorah, Iowa
Jubilee. There is a good Christian word that we don’t use nearly often enough. In fact, we might not even recognize the word, or, if we do, we may think that it’s a flaming dessert made with cherries.
Jubilee can mean many things. I went to Wikipedia—which I use, but skeptically—to see some of the ways that it can be used. Special anniversaries, especially of the reign of a monarch, are called jubilees.
There are two movies called Jubilee, one a 1977 cult film by Derek Jarman, the other a 2000 comedy by Michael Hurst. There is a novel by Margaret Walker, a Marvel comics character, and a collection of short stories by Jack Dann, all with the name Jubilee.
There is an indie rock band from California called Jubilee that released two singles in 2008 from a “forthcoming” album that never actually came forth.
We also have a musical, a play, and a Vegas burlesque show called, respectively, “Jubilee”, “Jubilee”, and “Jubilee!” (Did you catch the exclamation mark on the last one?)
There is a line of the London subway called the Jubilee line. Operation Jubilee was an Allied raid on the French port of Dieppe in 1942.
There is also, finally, a fascinating event that happens sometimes called the Mobile Bay Jubilee. Crab, shrimp and fish leave the deeper waters of the bay and mass at the surface near the shore, making for an easy catch of abundant seafood.
None of those things has much to do with the Jubilee I’m talking about this morning. To learn what Jubilee is about in our context, we need to turn to the book of Leviticus. Admittedly Leviticus is not light reading, even in the Common English Bible translation, because it is mostly a legal text. There are strange things in Leviticus. Some of these are strange because they seem odd, like laws forbidding the wearing of clothing made from blended fibers.
Others are strange because they are so far from our way of thinking that they are simply amazing. The laws of Jubilee in Leviticus 25 and 27 are among these. Jubilee is practice that is is related to the laws about rest, about sabbath. We know that one day each week was set aside for rest in the covenant community of Israel. Everyone was to rest: Dad, Mom, the kids, but also any servants or slaves. Even the animals were entitled to rest. The rest was for the whole community, not had by some at the expense of others. That’s the part of the sabbath that we probably already know about.
The rest of it, though, is that every seven years the land rests. Nothing is planted. The land itself is part of the covenant and it has covenant privileges. It is not to be worked to death, but allowed to recover for a year. Incidentally, this is the source of the word and the idea of the sabbatical. So there is a sabbath day each week and a sabbath year every seven years.
One of the things that we take for granted is that in any economic system some people do well and others do not. We take for granted that there will be rich people and poor people and people in between. We may think this is a good thing or we may not, but most of us believe that it is normal and natural and, really, inevitable.
It certainly happened in ancient Israel. Some people would prosper. Others would not. In fact, some people were impoverished to the point that they needed to sell their ancestral land or even to sell themselves into slavery just to survive. If this happened, the covenant required that their near relatives make every effort to buy back the land or their family members, but if the whole clan were impoverished this would not be possible.
The solution was Jubilee. Every fifty years there was Jubilee. When Jubilee was proclaimed the land was released and returned to its original owners. Slaves were freed. Families could be reunited on the land to which they had ancient rights. Freedom, release and return were the themes of Jubilee.
To be sure there is some question about whether Jubilee was ever actually practiced in ancient Israel. If it ever was we can imagine that the one percent did everything they could to put a stop to it. But, even if was never practiced and was only ever simply an ideal, I still have to say that this is pretty remarkable. Here was an ancient people who were convinced that too great a difference between the wealthy and the poor is bad for the community. Here was an ancient people who at least imagined periodically pressing the “reset” button and returning everyone to having an equal share in the wealth of the community.
Does this sound strange, perhaps un-American? Well, it’s certainly strange, but I’m not sure it’s so un-American.
At least consider this: in Philadelphia there is a large bell on display. It is no longer rung because it is badly cracked. It is seen by over two million visitors each year. On this bell is an inscription that reads, “Proclaim LIBERTY throughout all the Land unto all the Inhabitants thereof.”1 It comes from Leviticus 25:10 which reads in full, “You will make the fiftieth year holy, proclaiming freedom throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It will be a Jubilee year for you: each of you must return to your family property and to your extended family.”2
Abolitionists gave the Liberty Bell its name and adopted it as their symbol. They seemed to think that the idea of Jubilee should become a living reality in their day and that all slaves should be freed. Sounds pretty American to me. But, American or not, it’s a biblical notion.
It’s also the notion that lies behind the reading from Isaiah, even if the word Jubilee doesn’t appear there. Listen again, to these words of the prophet:
1 The Lord GOD’s spirit is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me. He has sent me to bring good news to the poor, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim release for captives, and liberation for prisoners; 2 to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor, and the day of vindication for our God; to comfort all who mourn; 3 to provide for Zion’s mourners, to give them a crown in place of ashes, oil of joy in place of mourning, a mantle of praise in place of discouragement. They will be called Oaks of Righteousness, planted by the LORD to glorify himself. 4 They will rebuild the ancient ruins, they will restore formerly deserted places; they will renew ruined cities, places deserted in generations past.3
Jubilee may never have been practiced in ancient Israel, but it has fired the imagination of this prophet and I have to say it has me pretty fired up, too. Jubilee speaks to me.
Jubilee says, You can go home again.
Jubilee says, You can have a fresh start in a good place.
Jubilee says, God’s love won’t ever let you go.
Even if you’ve messed up so badly you can’t imagine that your family and friends will ever forgive you, Jubilee says, you are still loved.
The talking heads tell us we can’t afford to feed and educate all our children, but Jubilee says, God has the last word and God’s last word is always, Yes!
There is a voice abroad in our land that sneers at human suffering and blames the poor for their poverty, but Jubilee says, The hope of the poor will not always be forgotten.
Jubilee says, The way it’s always been is not the way it has to be.
Jubilee says, Freedom is coming.
Jubilee says, It’s time to go home.
©2011, John M. Caldwell. Permission is given by the author to reproduce and distribute the unaltered text of this sermon provided this notice is reproduced in full and provided that this sermon shall not be offered for sale, nor included in any collection or publication that is offered for sale, without the express written permission of the author.
1Independence National Historical Park, http://www.nps.gov/inde/liberty-bell-center.htm, accessed: December 9, 2011.
2Leviticus 25:10, CEB.
3Isaiah 61:1-4, CEB.
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