Leviticus 25:8-17, Acts 2:42-44, Luke 4:18, Isaiah 61:1-4
6. Redistribution
My wife and I have a lot of books and we have started reducing their number. We hate throwing books away, so we don’t much. We have been in the habit of naming our books. When we buy a book we put our name in the front. If the book is for someone else their name goes in there. As we have gone through the books we have found many that belong to other people, especially our boys. They often have inscriptions like, ‘To dear little Tim, from Great Aunty Gwyn.’ These named books we are putting aside, making a pile for each person. Then, when that person visits, he gets his books returned to him. In this way we divest ourselves of many books and they get what is rightfully theirs.
When God was giving Moses instructions for how the Israelite community would run he included the Year of Jubilee (Leviticus 25:8-17).
In the Year of Jubilee all property that has been sold is returned to its original owner or his descendants, all slaves are freed and the land gets a rest by lying fallow (not being worked) for the whole year. It was a time of equalizing in which each person got what was rightfully theirs returned to them, and it happened every 50th year.
The means of production is the land and this was to be returned to the original owners. Ultimately we all depend on the land. That’s where our food comes from. It is indicative of this that if one sold a house in a walled city one could buy it back within one year but if one didn’t buy it back that was it. The house was not returned in the Year of Restoration (Lev.25:30). Houses in unwalled villages were treated like fields and were returned in the Year of Restoration (Lev.25:31). This is because the people depended on the land to sustain their lives. God established his people on secure land-holding.
So the people could sell and buy land like they owned it but, in reality, they don’t own it. God owns the land. Leviticus 25:23 Your land must not be sold on a permanent basis, because you do not own it; it belongs to God, and you are like foreigners who are allowed to make use of it. When the Israelites occupied the land they didn’t buy it. Instead it was allocated, an area for each tribe and within that a piece for each family. So they didn’t sell the land, instead they sold the value of its production through to the next Year of Jubilee when the original owner would get it back. More like a lease, really.
Liberty
The Year of Jubilee is also the Year of Liberty when slaves are to be set free and debts are to be canceled.
This was the theory. In practice those who gained property were reluctant to give it back and the Year of Jubilee never caught on as a national thing.
Jubilee Economics in the Acts Community – Acts 2:42-44
But God didn’t give up. The principles of the Year of Jubilee are the principles of Christ’s life and of our salvation. See Isaiah 61:1-4
Redistribution of the means of production and economic freedom are inherent in the gospel message. These rely on forgiveness, which is basic to the gospel, and indeed pervades all of God’s creation.
This passage in Acts tells of relationships restored to God’s intention, of a full sharing of life and property. Many Christians in this and the last century have sought to live like this either in or separate from mainstream economic life. They have adopted a wide range of communal arrangements with an equally wide degree of success. Most would say it was worth the effort; at least they tried. Nothing ventured; nothing gained.
Do you realise that Jesus talked about money more than he talked about heaven? The reason is that we are attracted to money, or material wealth, or things, in a way that often takes our hearts away from God. Money is not our god; Jesus is. Money is a means to an end. The end we often have in mind is our own comfort and security. The end in God’s economy is caring, sharing and looking after people.
This theme of the Jubilee becomes central to the New Testament. In the central passage around which Luke builds his gospel and the Acts, Luke 4:18, Jesus declares his mission of Jubilee. Here he inaugurates the Jubilee eternally. Which, in practical terms, means freedom from slavery for all his people, restoration to their proper place in God’s kingdom, an equitable sharing of life and property, so that everyone is cared for and no one misses out. But, while it is true now to a certain extent, it won’t be fully realised until Jesus returns and his kingdom comes in all its fullness.
How does this apply to us?
We aren’t in a position to apply this on a national scale, but what can we do individually and as a church family? How can we work towards equitable distribution, full inclusion in liberty so that no one misses out? We will have to work on it, but there are things going on in NZ and around the world that are working towards this end and that we could be part of.
I’m not great on end times stuff or the Jewish calendar, myself, but it’s in the Bible so I don’t think we should ignore it. Counting from when Moses kicked this all off, the years have been traced to the present and the 70th Year of Jubilee has just begun – last Sunday, in fact. That’s pretty good record keeping over 3,500 years. 7 is a special number in the Bible. It is considered the perfect number or it signifies completion. So there is considerable interest and speculation as to what God might do in this 70th Year of Jubilee. Some people are asking if this is the year when the creation is returned to its Creator. If it is it will be very messy, politically. Like the wealthy Jews, Satan will not willingly hand over what he thinks is his.
Some are predicting a financial crash/recession. Recessions are getting a bit ho-hum now – we’ve had so many. But if this is the one in Revelation 18 it won’t be merely a drop in share prices, it will be the end of our world financial system. At the very least it would seem to be fitting for Christians to be on heightened alert in preparation for Christ’s return and the end of the world – the time when Christ will come back and take over. Not a time for sitting on a hilltop and watching, but a time to step up our propagation of the gospel. And stepping up our involvement in movements that seek to address inequality, etc, and ensure that no one misses out. Let’s join Jesus’ campaign to see that those who are captive to poverty are released and those imprisoned by debt are freed and as many as possible experience the Lord’s favour.