The Bible Challenge
Day 46 Reflection
Leviticus 25-27, Psalm 38, Mark 12
The Rev. Mark Andrew Jones, BSG
Congratulations! As of today, you’ve finished another book of the Bible, Leviticus – no small feat. And, in its closing segments, we are reminded that we are but stewards. We may enter and possess the land, and we may lease it; but in the 49th or 50th year (scholars disagree), it reverts back. The inheritance of God’s people is returned and preserved. Also, the debts of indentured laborers are abolished in the year of the Lord’s Jubilee; for God’s people are to be free.
Sadly, there is no evidence that Israel ever actually practiced the year of
the Jubilee. If one examines human history, it is clear that the Ancient
Israelites were not alone in being like the wicked tenants of Jesus’
parable. Indeed, human experience has given rise to a familiar
maxim: “Possession is nine-tenths of the law.” And so we justify
excluding, denying, and even killing so “the inheritance will be ours.”
The year of the Lord’s Jubilee also meant something else. It provided a free
chance to start over, to start fresh. One seldom buys oneself out of debt
or wage slavery. This is as true on the international scene in the case of
indebted Third World and Developing Nations as it can be true in the case of
individual workers. Will the Developed and Industrialized Nations of the
world, which consume a disproportionate share of the global economy’s goods and
services (and exercise inordinate influence over the world’s resources), accede
to calls for an International Debt Jubilee. Will we?
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and all your
mind, and with all your strength” and “you shall love your neighbor as
yourself.”
Jubilee – perhaps this should form the core of our Lenten
meditations.
“Do not forsake me, O Lord; O my God, do not be far from me;
make haste to help me, O Lord, my salvation” Psalm 38:21-22.
Day 46 Reflection
Leviticus 25-27, Psalm 38, Mark 12
The Rev. Mark Andrew Jones, BSG
Congratulations! As of today, you’ve finished another book of the Bible, Leviticus – no small feat. And, in its closing segments, we are reminded that we are but stewards. We may enter and possess the land, and we may lease it; but in the 49th or 50th year (scholars disagree), it reverts back. The inheritance of God’s people is returned and preserved. Also, the debts of indentured laborers are abolished in the year of the Lord’s Jubilee; for God’s people are to be free.
Sadly, there is no evidence that Israel ever actually practiced the year of
the Jubilee. If one examines human history, it is clear that the Ancient
Israelites were not alone in being like the wicked tenants of Jesus’
parable. Indeed, human experience has given rise to a familiar
maxim: “Possession is nine-tenths of the law.” And so we justify
excluding, denying, and even killing so “the inheritance will be ours.”
The year of the Lord’s Jubilee also meant something else. It provided a free
chance to start over, to start fresh. One seldom buys oneself out of debt
or wage slavery. This is as true on the international scene in the case of
indebted Third World and Developing Nations as it can be true in the case of
individual workers. Will the Developed and Industrialized Nations of the
world, which consume a disproportionate share of the global economy’s goods and
services (and exercise inordinate influence over the world’s resources), accede
to calls for an International Debt Jubilee. Will we?
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and all your
mind, and with all your strength” and “you shall love your neighbor as
yourself.”
Jubilee – perhaps this should form the core of our Lenten
meditations.
“Do not forsake me, O Lord; O my God, do not be far from me;
make haste to help me, O Lord, my salvation” Psalm 38:21-22.
RSS Feed