When is it time to start over?

The beginning of the ministry of Jesus as a reputational rabbi was marked by his public reading of a passage from the Isaiah scroll, according to Luke’s gospel. His declaration was that a year special to God had arrived. It was a brash statement partly because Jesus was not a trained rabbi. His position as rabbi would not have been accepted outside of a small area in northern Palestine. According to the passage he made his statement in the town (Nazareth), in which he grew up.

Jesus had spent his early manhood attending local synagogue meetings as an active participant. A small village such as Nazareth had too few people to merit a trained rabbi. The regular Sabbath meetings were led by laypeople. At Sabbath meetings, the Scriptures (Old Testament) were read, discussed and argued. Jesus was the leader who emerged from the group. His reputation grew. He became their “reputational” rabbi. He embraced the Isaiah writings, and the Isaiah perspective had become the eyes with which he read and understood the law and will of God.

A key part of the understanding of Jesus involves his understanding of the Year of Jubilee. According to Levitical Law, all land was owned by God. The people who controlled the land and farmed it were stewards/servants, but according to Leviticus never really owned the land. Land could be bought and sold, but only for a limited time. Holders of land were under some strict rules. Every seventh year the land could not be farmed. The land had a Sabbath year when it rested. At the end of the seventh, seven-year cycle, Levitical law required that all the people start over. Land was completely redistributed. That 50th year was called the Year of Jubilee. Other important things took place. All slaves were set free and all debts were canceled. Levitical law envisioned a new day for everyone.

Over the years, the Israelites found ways of reinterpreting the law and avoided the keeping of the Year of Jubilee. People who had gained control of large land holdings were closely allied with the priests who ran the Jerusalem Temple. The prophet Isaiah despised the rich and powerful. A recurring theme in Isaiah is a call to celebrate the Year of Jubilee honestly. Many today would call him the ultimate socialist. As far as anyone can tell, the Year of Jubilee has never been celebrated.

Jesus lived at a time when farmers had completely lost control of their land. Wealthy men who lived in large cities miles away owned the land. Under the prevailing economic system, the farmers became poorer and poorer. Many times the farmers had to leave the farm and became day laborers working at the mercy of absentee owners and their local enforcers.

The greed of absentee landowners and the plight of poverty stricken farmers form the backdrop of the entire ministry of Jesus.

When Jesus at the beginning of his public ministry as a reputational rabbi read the particular passage from Isaiah, his entire audience understood what he was saying. He was calling for the celebration of the Year of Jubilee. He made his statement in a village of no merit to a group of people who had become powerless under the economic onslaught of the rich. Jesus was declaring that the new day had arrived. At last justice would be established.

At this point readers are probably jumping to the conclusion that this column is about Labor Day. Not so. It is not specifically about Labor Day; however, it is about the arrival of new days as an intrinsic part of the Christian message. Jubilee is any and every day when justice triumphs.

It has been nearly 42 years since the Stonewall riots started the revolution for gay acceptance in America. The Stonewall Inn was a gay bar in New York City that was regularly raided by the police. On June 28, 1969, the men at the Stonewall Inn had had enough. They rioted. The riots lasted several days. Gay rights organizations began springing up across the country. Within seven years, I felt it necessary to face the issue of gay acceptance in our churches. I wrote my first essay about acceptance of gay people in our congregation. I shared my call for acceptance with my congregation. A new day had arrived. It was a day that demanded justice for a persecuted and downtrodden group of people. The old ways were unacceptable. I believed it was and is the calling of our churches to declare the arrival of the new day. I have been sorrowed that so many Christian churches have chosen darkness rather than light. I am chagrinned by my fellow Christian clergy who have kept silent about justice for our gay friends when they should have been witnessing to the new Day of Jubilee.

I am also pleased with the large number of churches and clergy who have declared the arrival of the new day of acceptance for gay people in the family of God. We have come a long way in the past 42 years.

Jesus had the courage to apply Torah (the will of God) to the vicious economic injustice that had developed in his own day. He challenged injustice and declared a new day. Challenging injustice and claiming a new day for everyone are the calling of every person who calls Jesus “Lord.”

The Rev. Howard Bess is an American Baptist minister, who lives in retirement in Palmer. His email address is hdbss@mtaonline.net.

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