After describing the annual feasts for the Jewish people the Bible describes what it calls a “jubilee year.” Just as every week a day is set aside for resting in the Lord, so every fifty years should be dedicated to sabbath rest as a way of placing ones trust in God. The people shall make sacred the jubilee year by proclaiming liberty in the land for all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, when every one of you shall return to his own property. The freeing of slaves and the restoration of ancestral homes will characterize jubilee. It is probably not a surprise to learn that there is no evidence that a jubilee year was ever celebrated in Israel. Of course one of the complications in fulfilling the Biblical command is in determining whose property is whose. The Hebrew children were in fact invaders, who took the promised land from the native population. This story has repeated throughout history. The native peoples in this continent were displaced by Europeans. Whose land is it? Wars throughout the ages have been fought, and continue to be fought over this issue. The way forward is not to insist on my “rights” but to enter into dialogue about how to move forward toward a common good.
