In today’s Gospel we hear the great Jubilee text. Jesus goes to the sabbath service in the synagogue at Nazareth. His reputation has spread throughout the countryside, and many have come to see Him, curious about what He might say. After all miracles He has been performing in other places, they look to Him to explain himself. Jesus concludes with: “This text is being fulfilled today even as you listen.” The Old Testament principle of Jubilee is restored in the teaching of Jesus. Jubilee behavior involves showing compassion and care for those crushed by social and economic injustice.
As a congregation, a school group, a family or even as individuals, we are called to live in step with the spirit of Jubilee renewal. This means showing compassion to people in need, but also working to break the chains of structural injustice that prevent millions throughout the world from realizing full and dignified lives. The biblical vision of Jubilee provides a perspective to guide the Christian community’s behavior in the larger economic system. It invites us to listen to the voice of people who are poor, oppressed and powerless, to deepen understanding of the structural causes of global poverty and injustice, to pray for long-term solutions to the global poverty crisis, and to share wealth with those who are poor. In recent decades, there have been strong Jubilee movements, involving churches, to cancel the debt of low-income countries, bring about trade justice, and challenge the huge amounts of global spending on arms trading and nuclear weapons. Through prayer and action, our congregation can be part of the worldwide Jubilee movement to tackle greed and inequity, and build a just and fair global economy within a sustainable environment, for the sake of the world’s poorest communities.