Let My People Go, Version 2.0.

If any of your fellow Israelites become poor and sell themselves to you, do not make them work as slaves. They are to be treated as hired workers or temporary residents among you; they are to work for you until the year of Jubilee. Then they and their children are to be released, and they will go back to their own clans and to the property of their ancestors. (Leviticus 25:39-41)

Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it. The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their cry. (Psalm 34:14-15)

In Sunday's sermon Pastor Sam reminded us that all human life belongs to God. It is a reminder that we need to revisit every now and then, because sometimes we forget: that is, sometimes we act as if we own other people. This belief finds expression in our comments, our behaviors, and our responses when people fail to live up to our personal expectations.

The entrance of Jubilee is our signal to let people go. In ancient Israel, the Jubilee was marked by an exodus: workers left their communities of employ and returned to their own lands and clans. The people of God who had fallen on hard times, times so difficult that they sold themselves into servitude, could hang on to the hope of the Jubilee year. They knew that even if they did not live to experience the Jubilee for themselves, their children would one day be released.

But for us, in these modern times, what does it mean to be released?

Here at Bronx Bethany Church of the Nazarene, our Care Groups are reading and studying about the grace of God. And we are learning that, in today's context, we are called to release people spiritually. Though we do not own slaves in a literal sense, we may have been a figurative "slave-holder" in our hearts. We are called to forgive those who have wronged us. We are to walk in love, even though we live in a world where hatred is often the order of the day. We are to, as the Psalm says, "seek peace and pursue it" so that others will experience God's grace in our presence. We are to release people, because God in His mercy has released us from our bondage.

Perhaps the Lord has reminded you of a person or persons who have been abusive to you. Perhaps He has reminded you of a person or persons that you have been abusive towards. Perhaps your heart is breaking over the hardships of relatives or friends that are challenged with how to forgive, release, and rest in God's authority to love and judge His people as He sees fit.

Take heart. Jubilee has come.

Lord God, You offered freedom to us even before we understood the depth of our bondage. You loved us even though our lives were so unlovely. Please give us Your grace as we seek to follow You in this act of Jubilee. We speak the word of release and freedom over the lives of Your people. We know that You have heard our heart-prayers and we thank You for Your loving intervention.

Scripture references are from The Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Land LORD.

"The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine and you reside in my land as foreigners and strangers." (Leviticus 25:23)

In Sunday's sermon, Pastor Sam shared that God is the ultimate Owner of all property. It is the word of the LORD revealed in Scripture. In the Leviticus passage above, we see that God explained to Moses (and, by extension, to us) the reason for redeeming and returning properties in the Jubilee: it was never ours to keep. It's God's property.

King David reiterated God's ancient mandate in this way: The earth is the LORD's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it (Psalm 24:1).

Like ancient Israel, we in today's context recognize that we are strangers in this land. God has allowed us to live, and He has placed us in particular families and in particular regions of this planet, and we may even (like Israel of old) hold title deeds and legacies, but as we read Scripture we are cautioned to hold on to these distinctions loosely.

But, our lack of ownership does not exempt us from caring for God's earth and the things in it. Our pastor noted that, though we are not owners, we are called to be stewards of the things God has given us. The way in which we manage God's property reveals the passion, enthusiasm, disdain, or indifference that resides in our hearts.

Today, let's reflect on a few Scripture verses that pertain to stewardship.

This, then, is how you ought to regard us: as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the mysteries God has revealed. Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful. (First Corinthians 4:1-2)

To the LORD your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it. Yet the LORD set his affection on your ancestors and loved them, and he chose you, their descendants, above all the nations-- as it is today. Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer. (Deuteronomy 10:14-16)

"But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand." (First Chronicles 29:14)

But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. (First Timothy 6:6-8)

Scripture references are from The Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

"Cease" The Day...

"The fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you; do not sow and do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the untended vines. For it is a jubilee and is to be holy for you; eat only what is taken directly from the fields." (Leviticus 25:11-12)

"By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done." (Genesis 2:2-3)

In this past Sunday's sermon, Pastor Sam brought up a point concerning God's design for human beings (paraphrased here): In the beginning the Lord created man on Day Six, and then He instituted Sabbath rest on Day Seven. The first lesson taught to man, then, was not the mandate to work: it was the mandate to periodically and intentionally cease from work.

This is a mandate that was also given concerning the working of lands, supported in Scripture by the miraculous signs promised by God to the Israelites. In Leviticus 25 we see God's assurance of His provision being poured out into the lands that adhered to the cycle of rest and labor: "You may ask, 'What will we eat in the seventh year if we do not plant or harvest our crops?' I will send you such a blessing in the sixth year that the land will yield enough for three years. While you plant during the eighth year, you will eat from the old crop and will continue to eat from it until the harvest of the ninth year comes in." (Leviticus 25:20-22)

An old crop that feeds a household for three years?
An old crop that remains edible through the seasons' weather changes?
An old crop that does not succumb to the habits of insects and creatures known to invade farmlands?

Well, God promised to make abundant harvest a reality for those who demonstrated obedience by letting their lands rest. Let's take Him at His word.

Questions for reflection:

• Are we okay with taking a break from "doing our own planting"?
• Will we rest and make room for the miraculous to occur?
• Do we trust that God, who created us with the ability to work, is also the God who can sustain us in our rest?

Scripture references are from The Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

My Father Carries Me Into Jubilee.

Consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you; each of you is to return to your family property and to your own clan. (Leviticus 25:10, NIV)

In Sunday's sermon, Pastor Sam took time to speak of the father wound: there are some of us whose experience of fatherhood has been an experience not of compassionate support, but of abuse, neglect, or rejection.

We bear the risk of expressing the negative behaviors to which we have been exposed. The father wound is found in us as we live lives of apathy, anger, or alienation toward those around us. As Pastor Sam said, "The devil has conspired with history so as to produce a people who have to protect themselves by not feeling... it is the manifestation of the reign of sin."

However, there is good news: God our Father has promised healing to us! And for Bronx Bethany Church of the Nazarene in particular, as we celebrate our fiftieth year of ministry, there is a sense of kairos: we are in a jubilee season where God is pouring out wholeness and healing and grace. Our pastor made a wonderful point concerning Psalm 27:10: God steps in "...when father forsakes me...and when the Lord takes me up, that is going to represent healing to the father wound."

In the Jubilee year, ancient Israel experienced a profound shift in status. Debts were released. Lands were restored. People were set free from bondage. It happened then, and it can happen now. Today, as we submit ourselves to the Spirit of God, His presence and power releases us from our own bondage to apathy, anger, and alienation that had been built into our spirits.

God, our Father, is the Lord of Jubilee. Let your burdens go, and let your Father carry you into His grace, healing, and release.

Do you want to be free? Lift your chains, I hold the key!
All power in heaven and earth belongs to Me:
You are free!
(Mark Hall/Bernie Herms)

Oh, To Live Again...

During our three English-language services on Sunday, our guest speaker was Reverend Dimas Salaberrios. Pastor Dimas, a prayer ministry leader who has a heart for serving God, will minister at Bronx Bethany Church of the Nazarene for our March revival series (click here for schedule).

In yesterday's morning services, Pastor Dimas spoke with us from Luke 4, Isaiah 61, and Leviticus 25. He encouraged us to take Jesus's ministry objectives and make them our own. According to Luke 4:16-21, Jesus came into ministry with a particular mandate:

Now Jesus came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives

and the regaining of sight to the blind,

to set free those who are oppressed,

to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to tell them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled even as you heard it being read.” (Luke 4:16-21, NET Bible)

Though we might be tempted to say something like “Well, that was Jesus and He was perfect—I can’t do all that,” our Lord has also given us a particular mandate. We are called to be ministers of the gospel of grace, and God has given us His strategic plan. As we go through our day, let us check ourselves against the Luke 4 passage:

v  Are we filled with the Spirit of God?

v  Are we intentional about proclaiming the good news of Christ to the poor?

v  Do we work towards helping captive people gain release from bondage?

v  Do we actively pray and fast for the healing and deliverance of others?

v  Are we committed to making Jubilee (see Leviticus 25:35-42) a realized experience?

Lord God, thank You for giving us this privilege of participation in Your work. Give us Your grace and boldness, so that we might be effective ministers of Your gospel.

The American Girl, Year Forty-Six: Jubilee Rising.

"If a resident foreigner who is with you prospers and your brother becomes impoverished with regard to him so that he sells himself to a resident foreigner who is with you or to a member of a foreigner’s family, after he has sold himself he retains a right of redemption. One of his brothers may redeem him, or his uncle or his cousin may redeem him, or anyone of the rest of his blood relatives – his family – may redeem him, or if he prospers he may redeem himself. He must calculate with the one who bought him the number of years from the year he sold himself to him until the jubilee year, and the cost of his sale must correspond to the number of years, according to the rate of wages a hired worker would have earned while with him. If there are still many years, in keeping with them he must refund most of the cost of his purchase for his redemption, but if only a few years remain until the jubilee, he must calculate for himself in keeping with the remaining years and refund it for his redemption. He must be with the one who bought him like a yearly hired worker. The one who bought him must not rule over him harshly in your sight. If, however, he is not redeemed in these ways, he must go free in the jubilee year, he and his children with him, because the Israelites are my own servants; they are my servants whom I brought out from the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God." (Leviticus 25:47-55, italics mine)

Last week I quietly celebrated my forty-sixth birthday, and a few days afterwards Pastor Sam and I shared a very brief conversation around an experience he'd had when he was forty-six. Our little chat reminded me of the principle of Jubilee, which we find in the closing chapters of Leviticus. At the heart of Jubilee is the notion of buying back time and obtaining freedom: "If there are still many years, in keeping with them he must refund most of the cost of his purchase for his redemption, but if only a few years remain until the jubilee, he must calculate for himself in keeping with the remaining years and refund it for his redemption." (Leviticus 25:51-52).

This is a prophetic reality. When Jubilee arrives, you will be released. Further, if Jubilee arrives and you have not given the expected years of service, you will still be released, though at a cost: a small price if it's a gap of a few years; a high price if it's a gap of many years. Even further, if these standardized redemptive measures are not honored, you will still be released-- not because you have earned the right, but because it is the Lord's Jubilee. And, though the cost in that last example is not necessarily monetary, there is still a cost.

We in the United States of America now stand on the "post" side of this year's general election. And we are again reminded of this past Sunday's sermon, with respect to what Jesus says are important issues (as recorded in Luke chapter 4:18b-19): "He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and the regaining of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." The "year of the Lord's favor" is the Jubilee: a public proof that we have been released from our debts, including our sin debt. Jubilee requires that we, in our freedom, walk away from the familiar. We walk away from the routine. It is significant that the Leviticus passage does not say "We are free": it says "We go free." In the year of the Lord's favor, we get up and go. We, as believers, walk away from servitude to sin and we walk into servanthood in Christ.

But what of those persons who don't want to be free? In proclaiming Jubilee and its implications for God's people, Jesus was rejected by those closest to Him: His family, His congregation, His hometown. "When they heard this, all the people in the synagogue were filled with rage. They got up, forced him out of the town, and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff. But he passed through the crowd and went on his way." (Luke 4:28-30, italics mine)

Jubilee is important. Jubilee is exhilarating. Jubilee is costly. Jubilee is coming. 

Don't let it pass you by.