22. JUBILEE: VISION AND STRATEGIES
Is. 61 and Lk. 4:16-21
Corinne Scott
Case Study:
Many poor women around the world are actually
the heads of their households. On their meager daily wage
earnings, they struggle to support themselves and their families -- 70%
of those living in poverty worldwide are women and children. Most
are forced to live in substandard housing, whether in villages or in
urban slums.
Aleyamma, along with ten other women from her
village, works in a small "factory" nearby, in rural Waynad District of
northern Kerala. The factory produces rubber tubing, from which
rubber bands are cut. It is hot, smelly, exhausting work, for
which they are paid below minimum wage. Since Aleyamma's husband
deserted her several years ago, she has managed somehow to support her
three small children, and keep them in school.
The family used to live in a tiny one room hut made
from coconut leaves which needed lots of repair and maintenance, just
to keep a roof over their heads. That is, until last year, when
the women's self-help community organization they had formed with the
help of some young college students was visited by several members of
the international organization, Habitat for Humanity.
With the encouragement of the students, the women
approached the Habitat team for assistance. They never dreamt of
having pukka houses of their own, yet this is what Habitat
proposed! With the "sweat equity" of their own and their family's
labor, combined with the labor of the Habitat team of volunteers,
and an interest free long term loan for building materials, it would be
possible to construct sturdy two room brick houses with tile roofs for
each member of their group during a two week global workcamp!
They could hardly contain their excitement!
They willingly contributed their labor to build
their own and their neighbors' houses, something they did ordinarily
anyway. But what good times they had with the group of young
volunteers from several foreign countries and their friends, the
college students from town, who lived together at the village school
during the workcamp. How quickly they could construct ten
beautiful new houses, with everyone working together!
One year later, the women continue to pay back the
loans in small installments deposited each pay day. In another
two years the houses will be completely theirs -- a dream come
true! The lives of each of them, and the spirit of the village,
have been transformed!
Aleyamma has become the leader of the village Mahila
Samajam, and has spoken with other women in the factory and in
neighboring villages about how they too can build and own their own
homes. Next summer there will be another Habitat workcamp, and
this time they will build 15 - 20 houses! The women are actively
organizing work crews to prepare to host the workcamp.
They share a deep commitment to the purpose of
Habitat for Humanity, International:
To further the goal of eliminating inadequate and poverty housing as a
witness to the gospel of Jesus Christ, and to raise awareness of
the issues involved in this work throughout the world community.
Habitat does not offer charity -- it offers responsibility and it
offers hope.
Let's return to our study of another of the Jubilee texts. Read Isaiah
61, especially 1-2.
During the same post-exilic times as the priestly
writers of Leviticus, Isaiah also used jubilee imagery in his poetic/
prophetic message regarding Israel's deliverance and restoration,
proclaiming "the year of the Lord's favor"(2a) as God's promise of
salvation to Israel. Many of the jubilee themes are the same:
liberty to captives and release of prisoners (1), restoration of the
land (11), YHWH's love of justice, hatred of robbery and wrongdoing,
and covenant with Israel (8). The time frame shifts from a once
in fifty years' event to the inbreaking of God's reign into the
present, the "eschatological dimension." Isaiah's prophecies
become part of Israel's messianic expectation.
The prophet expresses jubilee imagery in poetry, not
law. It makes us realize that these are images, rather than literal
legislation, for post-exilic Israel and for our own context. As
with other prophetic speech, it breaks down the boundaries between life
on the day-to-day plane of human interaction, of action and
consequences, and opens -- in us, and in the way we see and experience
the world around us -- space for God's inbreaking. Or, said
another way, our perspective or paradigm shifts, to an experience
of God's sovereignty over the creation, i.e., the dimension of the
reign of God in the here and now. What can that mean, in practice?
Let's turn to our next text, a more familiar one, which may make this
more clear. Read Luke 4:16-21.
The author of the Gospel of Luke recounts Jesus'
inauguration of his public ministry in his sermon at Nazareth using the
jubilee images of Isaiah 61:1-2. These images would have been
recognized immediately by the Jewish congregation gathered for Sabbath
worship as reflecting their hopes and expectations.
Jesus identifies himself with the Spirit-anointed
messenger of Isaiah's prophecy, who brings good news to the poor,
release to captives, etc., the motifs of "the year of the Lord's
favor," the jubilee. But this is no ordinary sermon! Jesus
focusses the reading directly on himself: "Today this scripture is
fulfilled in your hearing!" (21) The neighbors and elders,
surprised and perhaps suspicious, turn to one another and question, "Is
this not Joseph's son?" (22) But they become truly enraged when
Jesus spells out the implications of his message more concretely
--that the promise of liberation is open to ALL, especially to those
thought to be outside of God's promises -- non-Jews (the widow at
Zarephath, Naaman the Syrian 26-27), and the disreputable and
impure within Israel -- the sick, disabled, vulnerable,
marginalized, women, and sinners.
Many Christians of our time are guilty of the same
tendency as Jesus' Jewish audience at Nazareth -- to see ourselves as
the exclusive, worthy, beneficiaries of Jesus' promises of salvation
and liberation, and to shut out "the other," whether they are people of
other faiths, those of other castes or communities, the poor,
especially poor women, i.e. those who are not "like us."
But unlike the Nazareth congregation, who understood
the jubilee motifs concretely, we are likely to make another, equally
serious misinterpretation of Jesus' message. Most Christians have
so spiritualized the promises of liberation that their challenge to the
many forms of oppression in the world has been neutralized. Jesus still
challenges all oppressive practices, including our own!
Jesus' context in 1st century Palestine was one of
colonial domination, coupled with exploitation by local elite
collaborators, resulting in widespread poverty among the peasant
population. His ministry of teaching, preaching, healing,
and performing miracles directly addressed the people's needs --
spiritual, physical, psychological, socio-economic, as well as directly
confronted the persons and structures of power and authority. He
pointed to the inbreaking of the reign of God in the here and now, and
in and through himself, "Today this scripture is fulfilled..."
Women were special recipients of Jesus' ministry of
acceptance and caring precisely because they were among the most
oppressed and marginalized victims of his society, and many women
continue to be so in our times. But that does not entitle all
women per se to a privileged position before God. Rather, we are
obligated to respond to others' needs, as those “to whom much has been
given, much will be
required.” (Lk. 12:48).
Good News to the Poor Today:
To follow Jesus' pattern of ministry in our times
requires more than preaching "good news to the poor." It requires
being in practical solidarity with the poor, the abused, sick,
vulnerable, and exploited of our community, our village, town or
city, our land, and our world. Solidarity also involves
understanding and tackling the root causes of poverty, injustice, and
violence. There is no doubt that this is an overwhelming task
beyond our own strength. But commitment to the poor and oppressed
is at the heart of following Jesus, of discipleship, which we can
fulfill only through God's grace which strengthens and enables.
Reflect together on the opening case study: Share any other
examples of good news to the poor. You might take time here to
read the closing poem by Rajendra Sail, "Jubilee, My Foot!"
Many of Jesus' teachings reiterate the theme of
serving the poor, e.g. the story of the man with many possessions (Mark
10:17-22), and the final judgement (Matt 25:31-46). Further
examples of jubilee motifs are found in the Lord's Prayer (Matt
6:9-13.) God's reign on earth, bread for the day without
exploitation of the earth, cancellation of debts and forgiveness of
sins, are all closely linked in the prayer Jesus taught his
disciples. We need to recognize the implications of praying that
our debts/sins may be canceled/forgiven only as we are willing to
cancel the debts/ forgive the sins of others to us.
To sum up our work so far, the imagery of the jubilee is one of the
major motifs shaping Israel's understanding of the reign of God. Jesus
drew on these images, reshaped and radicalized them in his context, as
he interpreted to his followers in 1st century Palestine the
meaning of God's reign. By studying together some implications of
the jubilee themes within several Biblical contexts, perhaps the
imagery of the jubilee will both challenge us in our context and
provide us with a practical vision of the reign of God.
PRACTICAL GROUP WORK
Your task is before you now, as Christians who take
the Biblical message seriously, and who practice a more critical,
responsible, challenging way of re-reading the Bible "with new
eyes": to look at your present context from the perspective of
the reign of God, as understood through the imagery and motifs of the
Jubilee.
1. Express your own VISION of the reign of God,
in concrete socio-economic, ethical, and
spiritual dimensions.
a. Take Biblical Jubilee motifs
one by one, and other
themes arising out of your group study.
Restate them in language relevant to the
contemporary situation, to global issues and problems.
b. Try to prioritize them as
follows:
--in terms of their urgency,
globally,
--in terms of their impact
on you -- on your context, on you personally,
--in terms of possibilities
for responding with some action.
2. Plan JUBILEE STRATEGIES in relation to your
context.
a. Plan to take up one or two
actions, as a group and as individuals [Do research about
the problem and its root causes, others who may be already
involved, establish relationships with those in need, etc.]
b. Commit yourselves to the plans
for a definite period of time -- say, 1 year.
c. Monitor your actions to see the
results and report back, altering the plans as needed.
d. Share your decisions, and
progress in implementing them, with your church, other women's
fellowships, any concerned women's group, NGO, YM or YWCA, SCM
and organizations of other faith communities. See if you
can join together in action.
3. Give voice to THE HOPE THAT SUSTAINS YOU.
Sustain each other and your commitment to the poor
through prayer and worship, seeking to follow in Christ's footsteps.
JUBILEE YEAR, MY FOOT!
by Rajendra Sail
An assembly of rulers was celebrating
50 years of Independence from British Rule!
Independence, My Foot!
Another assembly of believers was celebrating
50 years of Foundation of a Church!
Foundation, My Foot!
Yet another assembly of servants was celebrating
50 years of Service to the Nation!
Service, My Foot!
Have you seen My Feet?
Which have walked more miles
than the length and breadth of the British Empire!
Which are more firm than the Church's Foundation!
Which have served the Nation more than CASA's Relief!
Look at My Feet!
Learn from my feet;
Walk through my feet;
Wash my feet;
Worship my feet;
Fall flat at my feet;
Free my feet from the fetters of false gods;
Listen to the sounds of my footsteps;
Follow my footsteps;
Let the Jubilee Year be devoted to my feet!
Let my feet do the talking in the Jubilee Year!
Whatever you have done
to the least of the least of these...
You have done unto me!
And never forget
in whose image
they have been created!
Endnotes:
1. Sharon Ringe, "The Biblical Jubilee: A Strategy
for Hope in Times of Crisis." Keynote
Address at WCC Unit IV Workshop, Geneva,
1997, pp. 4, 7.
2. Ibid., p. 7.
3. Rajendra Sail is a human rights activist, based
in Raipur, Madhya Pradesh, and the National
Organizing Secretary of PUCL, People's Union
for Civil Liberties. The poem is used
with his permission.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Dietrich, Gabriele, The Impact of New Economic Policy
on Women in India and Feminist Alternatives,
the Fourth
M.A. Thomas Memorial Lecture.
Whitefield, Bangalore: Ecumenical Christian
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Dreze, Jean, and Amartya Sen, India: Economic
Development and Social Opportunity.
Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1996.
New Interpreter's Bible, Vol. I, "Leviticus."
Nashville:
Abingdon Press, 1994.
Raiser, Konrad, "An Ecumenical Jubilee: What It Might
Mean for the Churches," Bangalore Theological
Forum, XXVII, 3 & 4, September &
December, 1995.
Ringe, Sharon, "The Biblical Jubilee: A Strategy for Hope
in Times of Crisis." Keynote Address at
WCC Unit IV Workshop, Geneva, 1997.
(unpub)
Ringe, Sharon, Jesus, Liberation, and the Biblical
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Christology. Philadelphia: Fortress, 1985.
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