Sound the Trumpet of Jubilee
According to God's guidelines in Leviticus 25: 8-10, the Israelites were to celebrate the Year of Jubilee every 50 years. Let us today and every day Sound the Trumpet of Jubilee as we share the gifts of freedom that God has given to us. December 7, 2008.
The Liberty Bell was commissioned in 1751 to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of William Penn’s Charter of Privileges, Pennsylvania’s original constitution. The leaders of Pennsylvania wanted to honor Penn for guaranteeing religious freedom and political liberty for all. And they wanted these words from Leviticus, “Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof,” inscribed on the bell. But why a bell? If they were promoting freedom why not a graphic of broken chains or a dove being released? A bell is a great idea, actually. It indicates the desire of Penn and his peers to proclaim to every person that he or she lives in a land of freedom. Because if people don’t know it, how can they enjoy it? So, can we then say that the bell, as the instrument of announcement, becomes just as important as the guarantee of freedom itself? Listen to the Bible answer that question: “How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings” (Isaiah 52:7)! “’Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them” (Romans 10:13,14)? And before God sent his Son Jesus to bring the kingdom of heaven to earth, God sent John the Baptist to announce the coming of Jesus. So without the instrument of announcement, the guarantee of freedom is worthless. Salt trucks and municipal plows free up our streets for safe travel, but they’re worthlessly parked in a garage during a storm if nobody announces the winter weather advisory.
In our worship today we celebrate double joy. First of all, we who were slaves to sin and guilt, have been freed by God. Secondly, we who have been freed are chosen by God as instruments to announce freedom to others. To accomplish the first, God did all the work. To accomplish the second, we must make some hard decisions. But here’s the good news: God doesn’t leave us without tools and instruments of our own.
According to God’s guidelines in Leviticus, the Israelites should celebrate the Year of Jubilee every 50 years, “Count off seven Sabbaths of years – seven times seven years – so that the seven Sabbaths of years amount to a period of forty-nine years … consecrate the 50th year … it shall be a jubilee for you.” If I were the marketing agent hired by God to brand the message of the Year of Jubilee I might have called it Super Sabbath but it wasn’t just more rest from work. Added to the mix was a release from debt or bondage and return of property that called for a special 50th anniversary celebration. “Proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants … each one of you is to return to his family property and each to his own clan.” If you owed any debt it was written off with no balloon payment necessary. If you had bartered off your family’s property it was deeded back to you at no cost. If you indentured yourself as a slave to a fellow Israelite you were released from the contract without buyout obligations. Of course, creditors, slave owners and land developers probably weren’t too excited to spread the news so God stipulated, “sound the trumpet throughout your land.” Like the liberty bell, God wanted the trumpet to be the instrument of announcement that proclaimed freedom directly to every Israelite.
There was more at stake than the Israelite economy, however. The day on which God wanted the Year of Jubilee announced every 50 years was the Day of Atonement. This was the annual day on which the high priest would slaughter special sacrifices for the Israelites to visualize God receiving substitute payment for sins. This was the annual day when the high priest would lay his hands on the scapegoat and send it away to die in the desert for Israel to visualize God sending away their sins on a substitute. The release of their debt, freedom from slavery, or return of land was the instrument of announcement itself from God that their debt of sin, slavery to guilt, and mortal destiny of being buried in the ground were reversed. The Year of Jubilee was more about soul saving than retirement saving. So what would you think if you were a slave in a remote part of the land and your slave owner didn’t want you to know about the Year of Jubilee as your spiritual release from guilt and death … because he wanted to retain you for economical reasons? He didn’t care if you suffered from a guilty soul, as long as he didn’t lose money.
What does God think if I don’t care about someone else suffering from a guilty soul as long as I don’t lose my money? It’s sinful for Christians to be more worried about our own personal economy than about another person’s soul and eternal destiny. It’s sinful for Christians to be more devoted to physical sustenance than spiritual health – for others, ourselves, or our family. One of Jesus’ own disciples objected vehemently when a woman offered an expensive gift to Jesus, only because he wanted the gift to be sold so he could have the money for himself. His greed later put Jesus on the cross and his soul in the pit of hell. His name was Judas. Greed never gives us anything, and it can rob us of everything.
Several years ago during a previous recession in our nation’s history, a pastor in Sacramento, California, knowing that many members of his small congregation were out of work, put $100 from the church’s benevolent fund, in one and five dollar bills, into a wicker basket. He passed the basket, urging those in need to take from it without embarrassment or shame. After the basket with $100 was passed through the pews, the ushers counted $167 in it. How do you explain that? Here’s how …
It wasn’t Judas alone who put Jesus on the cross. He had the most unlikely accomplice. God himself. Today’s Bible reading from Hebrews says, “it was fitting that God … should have [his Son, Jesus] reach his goal through suffering” (2:10). On that day when Jesus died on the cross it was the greatest Day of Atonement. God laid his hands on the head of our scapegoat named Jesus and sent him away – all by himself – with our selfishness and our greed, to die for it. For our spiritual liberty, to “free those who all their lives were held in slavery” (2:15). We don’t need to be embarrassed or scared that even during a recession God still makes demands for our worship and our wealth because he does not make them on any other day than on this greatest Day of Atonement when our Savior Jesus Christ became poor so that we might become rich. Yes, God has expectations for the use of money, hard decisions related to personal economy, and congregation plans for budgets but he announces those expectations not begging us with his poor, empty hands but bringing generous gifts to us in his hands filled with blessings. Gifts like freedom from worrying about sin or daily sustenance. Gifts like the jubilee of celebrating freedom by sharing it with others.
In 2002 Queen Elizabeth celebrated her fiftieth year on the throne with a pop concert on the lawn of Buckingham Palace, the first time the monarchy had opened the grounds to the public. Brian May, the drummer of the group aptly named Queen, played the drums from the top of the palace throughout the concert. This was no private ceremony but a public celebration. Our income, our church buildings and budget, and our synod programs do not belong to us for our private pleasure alone. They belong to God and he partners with us, asking only that we use them as public instruments of announcement, like trumpets or liberty bells. So as a Christian in this community, as a member of Grace and of our Wisconsin Synod, let freedom ring! Sound the Trumpet of Jubilee. Amen.
Preached at Grace Lutheran Church, Milwaukee, WI (http://www.gracedowntown.org/) on December 7, 2008
Related Sermons
A Disciple Named __________
Good stories don't have to take long to tell. Take Dorcas, for example. Dorcas was "always doing good and helping the poor," and we'd never know it except for what's written about her in Acts 9:36-42. Like Dorcas, each of us is "A Disciple Named ________. " Each of us makes a difference. May 13, 2012. Read on
Branch Out, but Not on Your Own
Jesus declares that he is the Vine—and we are his living branches, connected to him. And like grapevines, we often need to be "pruned" to be "productive." Through that, how do we stay connected to Jesus, our Vine? John 15:1-8 encourages us to "Branch Out, but Not on Your Own." May 6, 2012. Read on
Keep Watch, Shepherds!
Many joys and privileges come with positions of power and freedom; along with it comes just as much responsibility. No wonder the apostle Paul's final words in Acts 20:28-32 to the church leaders in the Ephesian church warned, "Keep Watch, Shepherds!" April 29, 2012. Read on