Jubilee (without the cherries) or
I promise you can have ice cream if you eat your vegetables

Some days it is hard to feel like encouraging people. I mean self-centered living is at the very hub of our existence, at least of mine. What is there to do when you don’t feel like being “Christ-like” or Christ-centered? Getting lost in a good rerun on DVR or burying my head under the blankets sounds good. Logic dictates that would be a far cry better than carrying around a me-centered attitude and barking at the locals. But something struck me in the Bible this morning that forced my hand.

I am currently reading in what some might call the biblical “wasteland” of Leviticus. As a Pastor, I would never recommend someone read Leviticus, Numbers or Deuteronomy as a starting point. There is too much detail, too many laws, too many regulations and instructions to a society that is mostly dead today. The luxury of only reading the “good parts” is lost for one in my profession. After all I have long been a student and teacher of the Bible – the whole thing. In fact, as I think back, it was in this exact “wasteland” that I did my Masters of Divinity work. Why? Because the history of God’s interaction with creation and the nation of Israel gives insight into the character and nature of God.

Today I was reminded of God’s loving-kindness. For me that means God always has our best interest in mind. In the middle of what seems like a never-ending list of demands we can find God looking out for us. He could have chosen to let us learn the hard way, and sometimes he does. God could also let us run around crazy, using up all our resources and energy until it is depleted. God could set us on a course or path and leave us to our own devices. But he doesn’t. God is looking out for our best interests. Take the concept of a year of Jubilee:

Leviticus 25:1-13
¹ While Moses was on Mount Sinai, the Lord said to him, ² “Give the following instructions to the people of Israel. When you have entered the land I am giving you, the land itself must observe a Sabbath rest before the Lord every seventh year. ³ For six years you may plant your fields and prune your vineyards and harvest your crops, ⁴ but during the seventh year the land must have a Sabbath year of complete rest. It is the Lord’s Sabbath. Do not plant your fields or prune your vineyards during that year. ⁵ And don’t store away the crops that grow on their own or gather the grapes from your unpruned vines. The land must have a year of complete rest. ⁶ But you may eat whatever the land produces on its own during its Sabbath. This applies to you, your male and female servants, your hired workers, and the temporary residents who live with you. ⁷ Your livestock and the wild animals in your land will also be allowed to eat what the land produces.

⁸ “In addition, you must count off seven Sabbath years, seven sets of seven years, adding up to forty-nine years in all. ⁹ Then on the Day of Atonement in the fiftieth year,^[a] blow the ram’s horn loud and long throughout the land. ¹⁰ Set this year apart as holy, a time to proclaim freedom throughout the land for all who live there. It will be a jubilee year for you, when each of you may return to the land that belonged to your ancestors and return to your own clan. ¹¹ This fiftieth year will be a jubilee for you. During that year you must not plant your fields or store away any of the crops that grow on their own, and don’t gather the grapes from your unpruned vines. ¹² It will be a jubilee year for you, and you must keep it holy. But you may eat whatever the land produces on its own. ¹³ In the Year of Jubilee each of you may return to the land that belonged to your ancestors. NLT

What we only began to realize in modern times, and frankly to dismiss, is that everything, including the land, needs time to rest. God gave us the Sabbath day to rest and reflect on his goodness. God gave the Sabbath year for the land to rest and replenish the soils. God gave the 50^th year, after 7 Sabbath years, as the Year of Jubilee. During this year all land was returned to its’ original owner. All indentured servants were released from their servitude. All things borrowed or lent were returned and received. Now that’s something great. But God didn’t stop there with simple commands and no means to accomplish them.

God knew and knows that we will always have questions about his plans and commands. Why? We are children. We always want to know why and how and how come. So before the questions and objections could even begin, God explained:

Lev. 25:18-22
¹⁸ “If you want to live securely in the land, follow my decrees and obey my regulations. ¹⁹ Then the land will yield large crops, and you will eat your fill and live securely in it. ²⁰ But you might ask, ‘What will we eat during the seventh year, since we are not allowed to plant or harvest crops that year?’ ²¹ Be assured that I will send my blessing for you in the sixth year, so the land will produce a crop large enough for three years. ²² When you plant your fields in the eighth year, you will still be eating from the large crop of the sixth year. In fact, you will still be eating from that large crop when the new crop is harvested in the ninth year. NLT

That is just the way God is. His character always has our best interest in mind, even when we fell restricted and closed in by commands, requests, restrictions, etc., etc., etcetera. Can you grasp, even for a moment, how great of thing this is? God promised to bless them so much that they would have enough for 3 years! Not just enough for one year, but for 3 years! What does that tell us about God’s character? How much must God love us? Enough to feed us? Yes. Enough to clothe us? Yes. Enough to get us through a recession/depression/melt-down? Yes. Enough to heal us? Enough to forgive us? Enough TO DIE for us? Yes, yes, yes. There is no end to the loving-kindness of God towards those who follow him with all their heart, soul and strength.

So, when we don’t feel like encouraging one another…when we don’t feel like being “Christ-like” or “Christ-centered”…when we’d rather bury our heads in mindless movies or a warm blanket, I guess all we really need is to hear from God and point people to him. His loving-kindness will take over. What a concept…wish I would have thought of it sooner.

Pastor Tim