Daily PresenceSample

Imagine that the Messiah hasn’t come. It’s 2022. But fortunately, 2022 is the year of Jubilee, the feast year celebrating the Day of Atonement. Jubilee only happens once every 50 years, so you must take advantage.

You go to the priest with a manilla folder, knowing that Jubilee comes with perks!

The priest asks, “What’s in your folder?

I extracted a letter from the land company that repossessed the four acre tract of family land that I inherited 20 years ago but had to surrender because I couldn’t pay the taxes. The priest peruses the letter, and a smile breaks across his face.

“Awesome!” he exclaims. “Your land will be restored, free of debt or encumbrance. It’s yours again! Anything else?”

I fish out a loan statement for my 2018 Tacoma. “Here,” I explained. “I owe about $15,000 dollars, and payments are four months behind. I was foolish to buy that truck.”

He takes the statement and smiles again. “You are blessed! In the year of Jubilee, debts are erased. You now owe zero. The truck is redeemed! “

“Gosh,” I stammered. “I’m speechless and humbled, but I thank God.”

“However,” the priest continues, “You also realize that the Year of Jubilee requires a year of rest. You must not work. Give notice to your employer that you won’t return until after Jubilee.”

Stunned, I blurt, “Impossible! I work to support my family. I will lose my career!”

The priest explains, “Your retreat from labor shows God that you depend on Him, not yourself—such is the Law.”

Wow! We are SO happy that the Messiah came! Sure, God instituted the Jubilee as an important Old Testament celebration of God’s redemptive work for Israel. But this ritualistic law could foreshadow but dimly the once-for-all, one-and-done redemption wrought by the Cross.

So glory to God! How much grander, how much more liberating, how much more complete is the redemption that Christ achieved in the redeeming work of Calvary! In closing, consider the lyrics from a hymn the church sang years ago:

“Free from the law—oh, happy condition!

Jesus hath bled, and there is remission;

Cursed by the law and bruised by the fall,

Christ hath redeemed us once for all.”

The archaic language notwithstanding, the hymn-writer here raises a joyous anthem to Christ’s complete redemptive work. Amen to the Cross!