$50 000

I was blown away this week when I read that a local business donated $50 000 to three local food banks during the Christmas food drive. They could have put it in their own pockets -

And since I was already mulling over the idea of Jubilee and Sabbath years, it tangled together in my head and I realized - I've never really thought about what Jubilee would be like from the perspective of a wealthy person.

When I read "all debts are forgiven" and "anyone with extra food opens their storehouses so no one goes hungry," I unconsciously imagine myself as the person whose debt is forgiven, the person who can fill up a waning cupboard again. 

And Jubilee blew my mind all over again, because it obviously blesses both the poor and the wealthy.

The poor? Their prayers are answered, food is available, and their debt is erased. They can start working forward again - building their future with joy and reaping the reward of their work. This seems like the obvious benefit of Jubilee to me - to feed and clothe and offer respite to the poor.

But the wealthy? What do they get out of Jubilee? They have to open their storehouses and share any abundance. They have to let the land rest from its constant cycle of planting and harvesting. They have to let the labourers rest too. So their stockpiles ebb, maybe entirely away. Their next few years will be leaner. 

I think this gives them the blessing of community, and sets them free from being envied. (When you know your landlord will open the silo and share the grain with you, you celebrate their success.) And it releases both the poor and the wealthy from worshiping money as the road to freedom or esteem, and sets them free as co-recipients of common grace. They can both rejoice when the crop succeeds, when the business booms, when resources pile up - because they will not be ground down by it. There will be sharing, and rest. And they can both be free from temptation to despair - because the highs will be made lower and the valleys will not be as steep. 

Jubilee reminds us that all blessing comes from God and is not God. It reminds us that we're stewards of the blessings we have received, and reminds us to freely give, as we have freely received. Jubilee resets our focus to remember to love God and love our neighbour.

And clearly, I'm not an ancient Israelite. I'm Canadian.

Jubilee isn't Canadian law. It has no legal claim on me, on us.

But His law is love, and His gospel is peace. God opened His heart and shared His Son with us. He gave his best and loved His little neighbours as Himself. And at Christmas, especially, I get a frisson of delight every time I see a snapshot of Jubilee. 

Throw open the storehouse doors! Forgive debts, feed the hungry, rescue the oppressed. Donate to the food banks, volunteer at a shelter, welcome refugees. Because our Jubilee - Jesus - has come. 

Merry Christmas, friends.
xo.