I host a bible study as part of my ministry. Recently, I was asked about a comment I made in passing, “What we really need is a year of Jubilee."
It’s something I’ve heard my dad say my whole life. And it doesn’t surprise me when a teen doesn’t know an obscure, old testament reference, yet the question came from a learned adult Christian.
I love when God brings us to a place where the youth and the adults are all learning, together. The Spirit really moved and we all saw each other in a new light as we shared a lot of different perspectives.
We started in Leviticus 25 talking about God’s call to Sabbath rest; not just for us, but everything. Some of the adults felt put on the spot when asked why they didn’t keep Sabbath, or why we change it around. Don’t ever underestimate a Street Kid’s ability to make you squirm. =)
“But how is this about Jesus?”, a teen popped out with volume. So I took them to Luke 4: 16 - 30. The first written out sermon of Jesus after His temptation in the desert and the start of His ministry. I asked them all to share why they thought that all the people tried to kill Christ when He spoke those verses from Isaiah and then talked about who God used and saved. Lots of perspectives, here’s a few:
We talked about how Christ was declaring that He was the Jubilee come in flesh to give the people and the land rest, to bring justice and mercy. How those that owned and possessed much didn’t want Jubilee.
How the Jubilee is for everyone but not for everyone. It is only required of believers, yet it benefits everyone as we share it’s fruits, just like the Gospel.
We talked about the question of Peter to Jesus about how many times we should forgive, where Jesus said 70x7. (This is where I learned something new about the correlation to Jubilee in that statement.) That’s how many Jubilee years the Jews had not observed until the coming of the Christ.
This night will stick with me my entire life, for the interaction, the laughter & teasing, the scriptures & the deepened relationships. This night, we were all the savory sweet fruit of the Spirit.
