Epiphany 03: Jubilee

Redemption Church KC Sermon Podcast

1. In the system of the Jubilee year (also referred to as “the year of the Lord’s favor”), land, debts, and finances were to be redistributed back to an equitable baseline as orignally described in Torah. Tim taught that in inherent in this arrangement was the reality that, “nobody could ever become so rich that they could control the whole system, and make Israel serve their purposes.”
We might be inclined to respond positively to the idea of everyone having enough and no one being able to become dominantly wealthy. However, the enactment of this arrangement on a global level would likely mean that many of us would be required to have less than what we have now. Less land, less home, less cash, less savings, less stuff, less advantage, less privilege, and etc etc.
How do you feel about this idea at first blush?
If you can, think of someone you know who may have noticeably less material wealth than you do. Imagine pooling your collective resources and then splitting them exactly 50/50. Maybe spend a moment picturing the process of taking inventory of all that is owned between the two of you. Now imagine ending the process with no less and no more than your counterpart, and much of what was once yours now belonging to them.
What emotions and thoughts are surfacing for you? Where is resistance showing up? Where might your ideals and your priorities be in conflict within you? What does it look like to engage in those places of tension within yourself, and do so with curiosity and kindness?
2. Jesus was reordering the world not only to include, but also to center those who’d been excluded and pushed out of society up to that point. And as he lived out his ministry, his actions created and reflected this same type of Jubilee-esque restructuring.
With your group, generate a list of people-groups who, in our world today, are often marginalized, excluded, and discriminated against. What does it look like for you and/other individuals to live lives that functionally demonstrate a Jesus-like priority on and intention toward this social reorganization?
What does it look like for a church to excel at centering some of the various groups you came up with? What do we do with the reality that limits on our time, energy, and financial resources most likely preclude us from fully engaging in the Jubilee-like re-ordering Jesus describes? What thoughts and feelings surface as you consider that pragmatic idea? How would you suggest navigating that tension?
3. Tim shared a slide that read, “The church is meant to be the one place in the world where Jubilee is still the dominant reality.”
Yet the actions of many churches don't reflect that same value and priority. How do we love and revere the church-at-large with so many opposing ideas in our world about what a church is meant to do, and how they’re supposed to function in relationship to the rest of the world? If you can, avoid veering into a “they’re wrong/we’re right” trap.
How do you navigate the varied expressions of “Christianity” and church to which many lay claim? How do you understand it in your mind? Why are there such stark differences? How might you engage with someone whose experiences of church have left them disdainful of church in total?