Jubilee!

For Friday, March 21, 2025:

Leviticus 25:39-40 NLT: The Lord said to Moses, “If one of your fellows falls into poverty and is forced to sell himself, he should not be treated as a slave. Treat him instead as a hired worker or as a temporary resident who lives with you, and he will serve you only until the Year of Jubilee.”

I like several songs that carry the message, “Some things never change; that’s just the way it is.” Some things in life are like that! The Serenity Prayer teaches us to accept the things we cannot change. But it also says to change or improve the things we can. Now we just need wisdom to discern the difference!

In Leviticus ch. 25, God offers change and optimism where perhaps at first we didn’t expect it. Back then the economy was agricultural based. People worked hard to plant, grow and harvest crops. God says six years is enough nonstop work. Take the seventh year off. He calls it a Sabbath year.

Seven Sabbath years lead to a Jubilee year. God says, v10 “Set this year apart as holy, a time to proclaim freedom throughout the land for all who live there.” Slaves go free in the Jubilee year, and hired workers are free to go their own way. Those who have wandered can go back to the land of their ancestors. The Jubilee year gives everyone a fresh start, a do-over on life.

If someone sells real estate, they have up to a year to reconsider the sale, to change their mind about selling. Houses and pastures of priests may never be permanently sold.

The promised land and the people who live there all belong to the Lord, so his rules apply. That’s one thing that will never change!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship