Jesus understood his ministry in terms of setting people free. We really need to understand this. His life and death were about changing people's minds and hearts. His work of salvation directly addressed the issues of fear, ignorance, and darkness which clouded the religious thinking and images of the people.
The Gospel tells us that after his baptism Jesus returned to Galilee to begin His mission "in the power of the Spirit." It's the anointing with the Spirit that enables Jesus to begin His mission. At the synagogue, Jesus quotes the prophet Isaiah and announces a "year of favor," a year acceptable to the Lord. The people hearing this would know what he was announcing: a Jubilee Year when, according to the Torah, every 50 years debts would be canceled, slaves set free, lands returned to their original owners and people given a chance to start anew. But now Jesus announces that Jubilee freedom would become a reality through his words and actions.
Jesus sees himself as the fulfillment of God's promise to send an anointed one empowered with God's very Spirit. His mission is about justice, about discovering the structures that oppress people and trying to free them. It is really important for us to understand this. Jesus' life and death were about changing people's minds and hearts. His work of salvation directly addressed the issues of fear, ignorance, and darkness which clouded the religious thinking and images of the people.
The issue for Jesus is: stand up and be counted. Let the Spirit of God have its way with you - completely. Give all your mind and heart and soul to the "call" within you. This is conversion in its most radical form. This is conversion where it hurts most. This is conversion where it counts most. This is justice that goes beyond love.
Jesus reads the words of Isaiah and then proclaims: "Today these words are fulfilled in your hearing ." Today - and from now on - God's ancient promises are fulfilled.
What Jesus began was to be continued by us, his Spirit-anointed community of the people of God. We are to carry on the mission he inaugurated that day in the synagogue. If we take to heart the word we have heard, then we must put flesh on our own words and actions: giving sight to the blind and ignorant, freeing those oppressed in any way and relieving the burden of those indebted to us. This is Jubilee justice.
But doing justice is difficult and messy and definitely not easy. However, neither is it optional for those who follow Jesus. For us this means taking to heart the words of Isaiah - words that Jesus applied to Himself. We, too, are called to bring good news to the poor. We have been sent to proclaim liberty and freedom to those suffering oppression of any and every kind. We have been chosen to bring sight to the blind and to proclaim God's favor to all. Jesus calls us to discover the causes of injustice and to work to change the structures that support them.
These are all areas where religious people do not often feel comfortable and are not often welcome. But as we begin our own Jubilee Year of 2025 - our Jubilee of Hope - we must be mindful of the mission entrusted to us because we are sent by Christ to contribute to the transformation and rebirth of our world.
This is what Jubilee Justice calls us to do.
