by Dr. Jeff Mathis
Be honest.
What's your first reaction to the prospect of regularly giving away what you have received? What if I tell you that there would be a significant redistribution of wealth every seven years so that no one was in need?
Giving away our land, possessions, and income is bad news for those who have accumulated much. But for those who have little, this news is sweet music to the ears of the underprivileged.
You may be surprised that the idea of a Jubilee—a periodic Sabbath from debt, poverty, and bondage —is a Biblical principle articulated in Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.
Don't take my word for it. Check this out:
"Every seventh year you shall grant a remission of debts… If there is among you anyone in need, a member of your community in any of your towns within the land that the LORD your God is giving you, do not be hard-hearted or tight-fisted toward your needy neighbor. You should rather open your hand, willingly lending enough to meet the need, whatever it may be. Be careful that you do not entertain a mean thought, thinking, "The seventh year, the year of remission, is near," and therefore view your needy neighbor with hostility and give nothing; your neighbor might cry to the LORD against you, and you would incur guilt. Give liberally and be ungrudging when you do so, for on this account the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake. Since there will never cease to be some in need on the earth, I therefore command you, "Open your hand to the poor and needy neighbor in your land." (Deuteronomy 15:1, 7-11)
Every seven years, God commanded His people to make financial amends. And if you missed it, you should not be sour about it.
But then, in the fiftieth year—the Jubilee year—the economic Sabbath-taking becomes grand as God's people "shall proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you." (Leviticus 25:10)
The Year of Jubilee was a time of great economic justice where debts were forgiven, and wealth redistributed.
What? Have you never heard of the Year of Jubilee? Jubilee may be an unfamiliar concept because we may not love the idea of losing what we've received. Like the rich man who went away sad after his encounter with Jesus, we may not see giving our wealth away as good news.
Our longtime friend and missionary guide to Cuba, Stan Dotson, talks about the challenge that presents itself when inequity figures prominently in our relationships. When privileged people rub elbows with those who are not, the exceptionalism of those with all the wealth can poison our understanding of the Other. Frequently, those who feel superior to others don't feel the need to listen and understand the plight of others.
Stan Dotson puts it this way: "The concept of exceptionalism carries with it a false assumption about the reason we (citizens of the U.S.) have more wealth, more power, and more privilege than others in the world. The often hidden and unconscious assumption is that our material abundance signifies that God has blessed us. This equation of prosperity with blessing is a deeply rooted belief, not only among the churches associated with the "prosperity gospel."
When this happens--when we assume that those who have all they need are more blessed than those who do not--we may justify how we got our wealth in the first place. To oversimplify it, the playground bully has a lot of money to spend at the candy store because they beat up their classmates to get it. That doesn't mean the bully is more blessed simply because he has more money in his pocket.
God responds to these dynamics of economic injustice by commanding His people to be a Jubilee People who strive to redistribute unequal distributions of wealth. Your third-grade Sunday School teacher called this sharing.
The task for those who are taking our abundance of medicines, medical supplies, and other much-needed supplies to the underprivileged in Cuba is not to assume a position of superiority. No one likes a patronizing patron. The model we're trying to develop with our sister church in Cuba is friendship based on mutuality and respect.
Stan Dotson reminds us of the concept of Jubilee when he tells us that "The Mosaic law reveals God's original intent for community in terms of a level playing field— the possession of land was originally shared equally among the families and clans. But, given human nature's inclination toward inequality, where the more powerful gain land and the less powerful lose land, there was a mechanism of regularly returning to God's original plan: Every 7 years, and every 50 years, there was a "re-boot," a new start, where inherited privileges were dismantled, and every family returned to what they had possessed at the beginning. The reasons why some families had become poor did not enter into the equation. No matter if it was due to warfare or natural disaster or disease or personal failures—the systemic mechanism for regularly redistributing wealth and returning to an equality of resources was the same."
Stan asks us to consider a convicting question: "What if we used the Jubilee concept to re-frame the sending of resources from the U.S. to Cuba? What if we incorporated this concept in our worship liturgy, and instead of passing the "offering plate," we had a moment of Jubilee and passed the "reparations basket," recognizing that the unequal acquisition of material resources was never part of God's plan? So each time we bring a suitcase of medicines or send funds, we are simply returning to God's original plan of equality, one step at a time."
I'm moved by the wealthy tax collector who was changed by his encounter with Jesus. What was it Zacchaeus said?
"Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much." (Luke 19:8)
May we all adopt such a spirit of Jubilee.