21. JUBILEE: RADICAL
CHALLENGE AND PROMISE
Lev. 25
Corinne Scott
[Note: This study of Jubilee is in two parts. The aims
pertain to parts I and II.]
Aims: To help members recognize that:
1. Jubilee themes of justice and liberation, i.e. the
reign of God, run through the Old Testament and are
central in the ministry of Jesus;
2. Jubilee images in our contemporary context can
provide the framework for:
A vision of God’s reign on earth, a new order
of creation,
The basis for practical strategies to live and
work according to this vision in the midst of the critical global
situation,
A source of strength and hope, when
things seem hopeless.
Texts: Leviticus 25, especially vv. 8-12, 23-24 in Part I.
Isaiah 61, especially vv. 1-2, Luke 4:16-21 in Part
II.
Contemporary Celebrations of Jubilee:
In our times, the term "jubilee" has come to mean
the celebration of an anniversary -- usually a "golden jubilee," or
even a 25 year "silver jubilee." In the few years before the end
of the 20th century and of the millennium we are celebrating several
significant jubilees. They lead us to recall some of the
important events of 50 years ago, and the promises which they held
out - for those involved and for future generations.
We mention two, but suggest the group consider
others which may be of importance to your members.
1. 1997 -- the Jubilee Year of India's Independence: a Tryst with
Destiny
Discuss:
a. What were some of the original hopes of Jawaharlal
Nehru, Mahatma Gandhi, other leaders in the freedom struggle (and
ordinary citizens too) for the newly independent nation,
encapsulated in the phrase "India's tryst with destiny." Ask
any of your older members to share her/their personal experiences and
feelings at the time.
b. In what ways have those dreams been realized, at
least "in some small measure"? What are the major failures, in
your opinion?
c. Why do original visions or dreams fail to be
sustained?
Let's listen to Lakshmi, a young girl from a slum community in
Bangalore, who shared her views on Independence at a cultural program
on August 15th, 1997, at United Theological College,
We live in the small tin shacks covered with plastic sheets to keep out
monsoon rains, which you pass by each day...Independence brought "a new
dawn of freedom" to the country - but we are still waiting for that
dawn to come!
Fifty years after Independence -- some shocking data:
-- Lakshmi (ironically, the goddess of wealth) is
part of the 44% of India's population who live in absolute poverty
today.
-- She and other slum and pavement dwellers make up
57% of the population of India's major cities.
-- Though Lakshmi studies in school, nearly 1/3 of
India's children under age 16 are forced into child labor.
-- As a girl she is much more likely to be taken out
of school than her brothers. Only 1/3 of girls who enter primary
school complete higher secondary school. Many are never sent to
school at all.
-- Lakshmi is likely to be subjected to sexual
harassment and physical violence. There is a rape every 54
minutes in India, a molestation every 26 minutes, a dowry death every
two hours. During 1997 in the city of Bangalore, 550 cases were
reported of young women meeting unnatural deaths, 455 of them by
burning.
Discuss: We accept this situation as "the way life is," or even
blame the poor themselves for their situation. WHY ARE WE NOT
SHOCKED??
2. 1998 -- the Jubilee Year of the founding of the World Council
of Churches. It is also the close of the WCC's Ecumenical Decade of the
Churches in Solidarity with Women. For the 8th Assembly of the
World Council, to be held in Harare, Zimbabwe, in December, 1998,
the theme, "Turn to God: Rejoice in Hope," centers on Jubilee
themes. These Bible studies on themes arising from the Decade in
Solidarity with Women help us to prepare for the Assembly too.
Discuss:
a. Recount ways in which the Decade has been observed
in your church. Have there been steps toward reconciliation and
new beginnings? --of "turning to God and rejoicing in hope"?
b. Is there awareness of the negative impacts of
globalization, especially on women?
c. How can you better understand this process? and
work toward greater gender justice and equality in your context
and worldwide?
Dynamics of Globalization -- more shocking data:
-- The gap between wealthy countries of the North and the so-called
"underdeveloped" or "developing" countries of the South continues to
widen, as well as the gap between rich and poor within countries of
both North and South. The UNDP Human Development Report,
1997 (p.9) states:
The share of the poorest 20% of the world's people in global income now
stands at a miserable 1.1%, down from 1.4% in 1991, and 2.3% in
1960. It continues to shrink. And the ratio of the income
of the top 20% to that of the poorest 20% rose from 30 to 1 in 1960, to
61 to 1 in 1991, and to a startling new high of 78 to 1 in 1994.
-- Nearly 1/3 of the world's absolute poor live in India.
-- India's share of global debt means that India owes global creditors
Rs. 4000 for every man, woman, and child in the country, while
India's annual per capita income (1995) is only Rs. 2506.
-- Structural adjustment programs, as conditions for loans from World
Bank and the International Monetary Fund, require drastic cutbacks in
social spending on health, education, and food subsidies.
-- Global warming: Urban and industrial growth and increasing levels of
pollution around the world are causing rising temperatures,
depleting forests and fresh water, reducing agricultural outputs,
creating deserts, melting polar icecaps and flooding seacoasts and
islands, increasing incidence of asthma, respiratory infections,
cancer, and stress related diseases.
Whether in the North or in the South, women fare worse than men:
-- Women make up 70% of the world's poor.
-- Women do 2/3 of the world's work (paid and
unpaid); women earn 1/10 of the world's income, and women
own only 1/100 of the world's property.
-- Two out of 3 of the world's illiterates are women.
-- Degradation of the environment means fewer
bio-resources, of poorer quality. Women and children have to
spend more time and physical exertion in collecting water, fuel,
fodder. Women in Rajasthan spend up to 10 hours a day only to get
these necessities.
These global disparities are NOT ACCIDENTAL, NOR
INEVITABLE. They are UNJUST AND IMMORAL. They are still
REVERSIBLE (hopefully). But they require the will,
cooperation, organizational efforts and financial commitment of common
people in all countries, NGO's, governments, churches, businesses,
national and international leaders from both the North and the
South. At present there seem to be few signs of this will.
Discuss: Does that mean there is nothing we as individuals or groups
can or should do?
THE BIBLICAL JUBILEE YEAR
"Sound the trumpet throughout the land! ... proclaim liberty ... to all
its inhabitants! It shall be a jubilee for you" (Lev. 25:9-10).
Let's look together at the Biblical understanding of
Jubilee: that God will restore to the people their lands, cancel debts,
release slaves and generally bring liberation. The Jubilee themes
recur through the Old Testament and the Gospels. They are spelled
out first in Leviticus, a book of the Bible most of us rarely
read.
We will look briefly at three Jubilee texts, one in this study
and two in the next.
Read Lev. 25, especially 8-12, 23-24.
The Jubilee year occurs after seven cycles of
Sabbath years, i.e. after 50 years. The Jubilee legislation,
proclaimed on the holiest Day of Atonement, is both economic and
religious. We see clearly that for Israel, temple worship and
ritual, so-called "religious practice," and socio-economic justice are
integrally related and cannot be separated from each other. The
Israelites understand that YHWH, who led them out of slavery in Egypt
(v. 38, 42, 55), owns the land and allows them to tend and care for it
as YHWH's tenants (23). Their well-being and security, and their
very rights over the land, are dependent on faithful observance of
YHWH's statutes and ordinances (18) in a covenant relationship.
The majority of Israelites were small peasant
farmers, struggling to subsist under harsh conditions, where land was
their most basic requirement and their security. Behind the
jubilee laws we see a situation in which many families must have had to
mortgage their land and even pledge their children as bonded slaves in
order to pay their debts. Other Israelites profited from the
exploitation of their fellows, as the gap between rich and poor widened.
Thus, the Jubilee Year provided the hope and the
possibility once in every generation of a redivision of the land, based
on its original equal distribution among the people; cancellation of
debts; release of slaves and return to their family units; and a fallow
period of two years for the land itself to rest and recover.
Jubilee provided a radical opportunity to start over again on an equal
footing -- a basis for hope for the poor, no doubt, but a judgement on
those who had acquired more than their share of land, wealth, and
slaves.
Israel's vision of justice and equality was bound up
in their understanding of the covenant relationship with YHWH -- that
YHWH as sovereign would provide for their needs, AND that in return
YHWH required of them justice and fair dealing with their kin and
neighbors, and compassion and generosity to the disadvantaged.
Discuss: How do we read this text from women's perspective?
While there is a clear emphasis on equality, on God's care for the
poor, widows and orphans, yet the Israelite family and society were
patriarchal, with all property and power held by the male head.
In the Jubilee text, as told by men, women are silent and invisible and
presumably subordinate.
A Contemporary Jubilee Example:
A rare example of Jubilee in the midst of
contemporary global dynamics is the Biblically inspired movement to
demand debt relief for the world's poorest countries by the year
2000. The Jubilee 2000 Coalition has been organized largely by
Christians and church organizations in the North, inspired by the
Biblical tradition of debt relief and release for slaves every 50
years. So far development groups and organizations from over 40
countries are mobilizing support, creating awareness, and
conducting signature campaigns, to pressure richer nations and
international lending institutions such as World Bank and IMF to cancel
the debts of the poorest nations, in order to give a fresh start for
the world's poor through massive debt relief.
Discuss: What ways can you think of that the Jubilee images and themes
can provide hope and challenge in our present context of globalization?
of the increasing gap between rich and poor within nations? of
environmental threats to our planet Earth? of increasing burdens
on women and children, and threats to their very survival?
Sum up your answers to the several discussion
questions before going on to the next section.