Leviticus 25:8-22- The year of Jubilee

Leviticus 25:8-22

Luke 4:16-30

The year of Jubilee

One of the discussion points that often comes up when I am organising a funeral with a family, is whether or not, there will be an open microphone time during the eulogy section, to allow anyone the time to get up to the microphone and say a few words about the deceased.

This question is often debated, because on the one hand, some think it would be good for others to say a few words about the deceased, as they may add another light to their life that others didn’t mention.

But on the other hand, there is always a fear that someone could get up to the microphone and start speaking bad of the deceased and start speaking bad of other family members which would open old wounds and thus set world war three in motion.

Or as I have witnessed first-hand, some people use the open microphone time, not to talk about the deceased, but to talk about themselves or something completely off topic.

Today, as we look at this story from Luke chapter 4, we will see that Jesus had an open microphone moment in the synagogue. A moment that people were waiting with bated breath to hear what he would say next.

Jesus went to the synagogue, in his home town of Nazareth where he grew up, to read the scriptures, as he normally would have done, specifically, at this time, he read the scroll of Isaiah chapter 61. But then after he read the scripture, he rolled up the scroll, gave it to the attendant, sat down and went on to explain what he had just read from the scriptures.

It was like an “awkward open microphone” moment, where people were not quite sure what to do, some loved what he said, some hated, it, and some really hated what he said, as soon after, the plan to kill Jesus was set in motion.

It was a little like the person who has been rostered to read the bible readings in a Sunday service, giving a mini sermon before and after the reading. Sometimes it can just seem a little awkward.

Although if Jesus had an open microphone moment, he definitely had a drop the mic moment also, were people were left with their jaws open, processing what on earth he had just said.

Just look at Luke chapter 4 verses 16-19 with me:

16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. 17 And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him.

He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,

18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,    because he has anointed me    to proclaim good news to the poor.He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives    and recovering of sight to the blind,    to set at liberty those who are oppressed,19 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.”

And so there is the “normal” practice, the open microphone, Jesus stood up unrolled the scroll of Isaiah that was given to him, which suggests- he didn’t chose it, but it was the text for the day, and he read the scroll,  but then look at what happened next.

Look at verses 20-21 with me:

And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21 And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” 

There it is….. the drop the microphone moment.

He rolled back up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, sat down, all eyes were on him, waiting with bated breath- wondering what he was going to say, and he said this….

“Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing”- “Boom- drop the mic”

As Jesus dropped the microphone, some found his words gracious and marvellous and yet others found his words offensive.  We read in verse 28 and 29 that people were so filled with wrath and anger, after listening to the words of Jesus, that they drove Jesus out of the town, to the edge of a cliff where they were going to throw him off and kill him.

Now, it wasn’t Jesus’ time for death that hour, and so he just walked on through the crowd and didn’t die that day.

What did Jesus say that had this congregation so rattled that they wanted to kill him?

Well he had said this, and I will break it down for you, line by line from the scripture he read from Isaiah: remember that was the prophet who wrote those words 700 years before Jesus uttered them that day in the synagogue.

Jesus said this:

The spirit of the Lord is upon me- me- Jesus- just like the spirit was upon the prophets of old, like Isaiah and Ezekiel and Daniel and David and others…. the spirit of the Lord is upon me- Jesus.

Because he has anointed me- Jesus, God has chosen me, just as he chose the nation of Israel, he chose me, I am the anointed one, the chosen one, just as king David was anointed to be king of Israel, God has anointed me, to be King

To proclaim good news to the poor- I- Jesus- am here to proclaim the good news of God’s kingdom to the poor, the poor in spirit, those who know they are spiritually bankrupt.

He God, has sent me- Jesus, to proclaim liberty to the captives

and recovering of sight to the blind,    to set at liberty those who are oppressed,

God has sent me- Jesus, to set the captives free, those who have been enslaved by sin, those who are slaves, God has sent me- Jesus, to set them free.

And finally, which is where we are going to spend most time looking at today, Jesus said this:

I, Jesus I am here to proclaim the year of the Lord's Favor.

I am here to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour- me- Jesus!

Jesus said this…If you are looking for peace, if you are looking for a second chance, if you are looking to afresh start with God- I am your chance, I am the one who can bring you this Favor of God upon your life. I am here to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.

Now in order for us to understand the meaning of this year of the Lord’s favour that Jesus proclaimed came in and through him, we have to go back to Leviticus 25 and look at this festival, this event,  called the year of Jubilee.

Look at Leviticus 25:8-10 with me:

8 “You shall count seven weeks of years, seven times seven years, so that the time of the seven weeks of years shall give you forty-nine years. 9 Then you shall sound the loud trumpet on the tenth day of the seventh month. On the Day of Atonement you shall sound the trumpet throughout all your land. 10 And you shall  consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, when each of you shall return to his property and each of you shall return to his clan.

So, the year of Jubilee happened once every 50 years.

After 49 years, 7 x 7, there would be a year of Jubilee.

And what would happen once every 50 years, starting on the Day of Atonement of that year of Jubilee (no co-incidence) is that any land that had been sold anytime during those 50 years would be returned to their original owner.

If people fell on hard times and had to sell their land to someone else, in order to make ends meet, that land that they sold, would be given back in the fiftieth year. And so in essence, land was never really sold, it was leased, and then every 50 years given back.

In Joshua chapters 13-21, we are told the allocations of land that each of the 12 tribes of Israel received when they entered the promised land of Canaan- and so each of these allotted territories would stay in that clan forever, since every 50 years, there would be a reset and the land would go back to the original clan.

Of course, the Levite clan, who worked in the temple, where not allotted any land, since the Lord Himself was their inheritance.

Now, we cannot apply these land laws directly to us today, since God has not specifically allocated land to us, like he did the Israelites, but we can apply some biblical principles when it comes to possession of land today.

Leviticus 25:23 gives us a good guiding principle

Look at that verse with me:

The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine. For you are strangers and sojourners with me

The first biblical principle we need to consider is this:

God is not against us owning our own land, he is not against us using and cultivating our own land for our good. He is not against us owning property and selling property and using our property to generate wealth.  That’s a good thing to do…..

However, and here is the key biblical principle that separates us from the rest of the world, our land, our property, ultimate belongs to God. That is what God told the Israelites, don’t think that this land is eternally yours, hence don’t sell land in perpetuity, it’s not yours, it never had been, for the land is mine.

In essence we don’t really own anything, God is leasing it to us, while we await our eternal land, our eternal home.

This same point was driven home to the Israelites, when he called them sojourners and strangers. The very same words that the apostle Paul used to describe us, strangers and aliens just passing through this life.

And so yes, own property, own land, make some money, sure, but hold it all loosely, it is not really ours, it is all a gift from God. Psalm 24 tells us, “the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof”

And so that’s one thing that happened in the year of Jubilee, all land was returned to their original owners, and so those who had fallen on hard times and had to sell some of their land, had a chance to start over.

Another thing that happened in the year of Jubilee, is that all slaves would have been set free and able to return to their clan. Again if a person fell into debt, they would give themselves over to the debtor as a slave in order to work off the debt, but in the year of Jubilee, all slaves would be set free, the debt would be declared paid and forgiven and the slave who was now free, had a chance to start over.

Another thing that would happen during the year of Jubilee, is that not only would people have a chance to start a fresh, by being set free from slavery and having their land returned to them, but the land itself would have a chance to replenish, as during that year, the fields were not to be sown and the vineyards were not to be pruned. The soil would be left alone.

Now considering that this practice of no working the land was to take place once every 7 years, in what was known as the sabbath year, (Leviticus 25:1-7) for a whole year, it meant that in the year of the Jubilee, the 50thyear, would mean that the Israelites would not work their land for two years in a row.

For the Israelites to observe this law of the year of Jubilee meant that they would have to trust God to provide for them. They would have to trust that God provided more than enough in previous years and would provide abundantly in the years to come.

This pause on working the land, was a real faith tester for the Israelites, since they had to rely more on God and less on themselves.

And it appears it is a faith test they failed.

In Leviticus 26:34, God warned the Israelites that if they didn’t observe this sabbath years of rest for the land, i.e, they continued to farm the land and not give the soil rest, then God would force the land into rest, by sending his people into exile and making the land desolate.

And guess what?

That is exactly what happened in 586BC

The Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem, took the Israelites captive for 70 years and during that time, the land was desolate, it got the rest that the Israelites failed to give it.

Now, if we were to sum up what the year of Jubilee was all about, it is found right there in Leviticus 25:10, and it is these words that are etched onto the Liberty Bell in America, etched by the forefathers, who fought for freedom from the British empire.

Look at Leviticus 25:10 with me:

And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants.

Liberty (freedom) throughout the land to all its inhabitants

For the founders of America it was a declaration of freedom from the British empire.

For the Israelites it was a declaration of freedom from the slavery of the Egyptians, but more than that, it was a declaration of freedom from all slavery, it was a declaration of the freedom that they had in God.

Friends, when Jesus came to this earth and declared in that synagogue in Nazareth that day, that he was the year of the Lord’s favor, he was declaring that in Him and only in Him, there is freedom, freedom from the punishment which our sins deserve, freedom to live in this world as strangers, knowing that our eternal home in heaven. Freedom that comes from knowing as it says in Leviticus 25:23, that as we are strangers and aliens in this world, we are strangers and aliens with God, with Jesus.

We have freedom now and for eternity because we know that through Jesus, God is with us.

Friends, Jesus is the year of jubilee.

Jesus is the God of second, third, fourth chances: Jesus is to whom we turn now or any day, since today like any day is the day of salvation, the day we receive forgiveness in him, the day we receive a fresh start, the day we receive a clean plate, the day we receive life and life everlasting.

Jesus is the year of Jubilee- the year of God’s favor.

What is your response to that?

Well if you have accumulated your kingdom here on earth, if you have built up your wealth and fortune and you are holding onto that with a vice tight grip, this news of Jubilee, may be offensive to you….after all, to follow Jesus, to receive the freedom he gives you, just like on the fiftieth year, it means you may have to give up some stuff, it means you have to loosen your grip on worldly possessions….and so you may respond by kicking Jesus out of your town, your heart.

I hope this isn’t your response.

I hope you see your need for a saviour.

I hope you see that you have been trapped and blinded by your sins

I hope you see that these things that we see that we may invest so much into, are but fading

I hope you see that our eternal hope is found in the year of Jubilee- Jesus Himself.

Let us pray.