20190803
THE
JUBILEE YEAR AS AN IDEAL THAT WAS NEVER REALISED
03 AUGUST, 2019,
Saturday, 17th Week, Ordinary Time
Readings at Mass
Liturgical Colour:
Green.
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First reading
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Leviticus 25:1,8-17 ©
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The law of the jubilee year
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The Lord spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai. He
said:
‘You
are to count seven weeks of years – seven times seven years, that is to
say a period of seven weeks of years, forty-nine years. And on the tenth day of
the seventh month you shall sound the trumpet; on the Day of Atonement you
shall sound the trumpet throughout the land. You will declare this fiftieth
year sacred and proclaim the liberation of all the inhabitants of the land.
This is to be a jubilee for you; each of you will return to his ancestral home,
each to his own clan. This fiftieth year is to be a jubilee year for you: you
will not sow, you will not harvest the ungathered corn, you will not gather
from the untrimmed vine. The jubilee is to be a holy thing to you, you will eat
what comes from the fields.
‘In
this year of jubilee each of you is to return to his ancestral home. If you buy
or sell with your neighbour, let no one wrong his brother. If you buy from your
neighbour, this must take into account the number of years since the jubilee:
according to the number of productive years he will fix the price. The greater
the number of years, the higher shall be the price demanded; the less the
number of years, the greater the reduction; for what he is selling you is a
certain number of harvests. Let none of you wrong his neighbour, but fear your God;
I am the Lord your God.’
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Responsorial Psalm
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Psalm 66(67):2-3,5,7-8 ©
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Let the peoples praise
you, O God, let all the peoples praise you.
O God, be gracious and bless us
and let your face shed its
light upon us.
So will your ways be known upon earth
and all nations learn your
saving help.
Let the peoples praise
you, O God, let all the peoples praise you.
Let the nations be glad and exult
for you rule the world with
justice.
With fairness you rule the peoples,
you guide the nations on
earth.
Let the peoples praise
you, O God, let all the peoples praise you.
The earth has yielded its fruit
for God, our God, has blessed
us.
May God still give us his blessing
till the ends of the earth
revere him.
Let the peoples praise
you, O God, let all the peoples praise you.
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Gospel Acclamation
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cf.Lk8:15
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Blessed are those who,
with a noble and generous heart,
take the word of God to themselves
and yield a harvest through their
perseverance.
Alleluia!
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Or:
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Mt5:10
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Happy those who are persecuted
in the cause of right,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Matthew 14:1-12 ©
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The beheading of John the Baptist
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Herod the tetrarch heard about the
reputation of Jesus, and said to his court, ‘This is John the Baptist himself;
he has risen from the dead, and that is why miraculous powers are at work in
him.’
Now
it was Herod who had arrested John, chained him up and put him in prison
because of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife. For John had told him, ‘It is
against the Law for you to have her.’ He had wanted to kill him but was afraid
of the people, who regarded John as a prophet. Then, during the celebrations for
Herod’s birthday, the daughter of Herodias danced before the company, and so
delighted Herod that he promised on oath to give her anything she asked.
Prompted by her mother she said, ‘Give me John the Baptist’s head, here, on a
dish.’ The king was distressed but, thinking of the oaths he had sworn and of
his guests, he ordered it to be given her, and sent and had John beheaded in
the prison. The head was brought in on a dish and given to the girl, who took
it to her mother. John’s disciples came and took the body and buried it; then
they went off to tell Jesus.
THE JUBILEE YEAR
AS AN IDEAL THAT WAS NEVER REALISED
When we consider the
laws and structures that Moses put in place for the New Nation that God
founded, it is truly amazing to see how Moses was inspired by the Lord to
formulate such wise laws to keep the people united in love and fear of
God. Indeed,
from the Ten Commandments, down to other specific laws governing relationships
with neighbours and with God, from the aspect of worship, rituals and
cleanliness laws, Moses established the key institutions deemed necessary to
keep the people one with each other and one with God so that they could be
strong enough to withstand against the pagan influences and unhealthy practices
of the neighbouring nations. That was what Moses said to the people,
“See, just as the Lord my God has charged me, I now teach you statutes and
ordinances for you to observe in the land that you are about to enter and
occupy. You must observe them diligently, for this will show your wisdom and
discernment to the peoples who, when they hear all these statutes, will say,
“Surely this great nation is a wise and discerning people!” (Dt 4:6f)
Among these laws was the
law governing the Jubilee Year. Leviticus 25 decreed
a Sabbath year, which was one in every seven years (Lev 25:1-7), and a Jubilee Year, which was one
in every fifty years. The Sabbatical Year was established in order to
protect the land by allowing the field to lie fallow as part of good
agricultural practice. The Jubilee Year however, sought to maintain the
equilibrium of the wealth of the people so that wealth was properly
distributed, and that no one became too rich, swallowing up the land and farms
of the poor. It ensured that everyone had access to some means of
livelihood and farm for production. Hence, Moses decreed, “You will
declare this fiftieth year sacred and proclaim the liberation of all the
inhabitants of the land. This is to be a jubilee for you; each of you
will return to his ancestral home, each to his own clan.” This Jubilee
Law was also important, so that those who sold their land and later became
slaves to pay their debts, would be freed of their obligations so that future
generations of their family would not have to suffer perpetually.
The basis for this
Jubilee Law was based on two criteria; namely, that all Israelites were
servants of God and that all the land was owned by God Himself. Since all were servants of
God, those poor Israelites who were so poor and had to sell themselves to the
rich could, on the Jubilee Year, or before if they had the money, redeem
themselves from the debt they owed and be freed from their obligations.
In truth, it was against the plan of God that Israelites be subjected to slavery
to fellow Israelites, since God had set all of them free from slavery in Egypt
and all were now considered to be servants of God. Secondly, since the
land was owned by God Himself and was given to the Israelites, they were
entitled to keep the land as a benefit given on account of their relationship
with the Lord.
Indeed, the goals of the
Jubilee Law were most noble and admirable. It ensured justice and equality with
responsibility. Most of all, the Jubilee Law and the rest of the laws
kept the people united in love for each other, based on equality and justice,
compassion for those who were poor or suffering, including foreigners, and yet
respecting the rights of ownership. Unfortunately, it did not seem, or
there was no concrete proof, that this Jubilee Law was actually carried out by
the people, or only in varying degrees. The people, we knew, were unjust
and corrupt in their dealings with each other, and like all of us, greedy and
selfish. So the Jubilee Law and many other laws, although instituted with
good intentions, were not readily implemented or obeyed because of the
selfishness of men.
Such unjust practices
continued in other ways as well, as seen in today’s gospel. We see the powerful dominating and
controlling the poor and the weak. King Herod, although a God-fearing man
in his heart, was helpless when it came to his relationship with
Herodias. He was under the control of Herodias even though he wanted to
do the right thing. His weakness was further complicated by the fact that
he was proud and arrogant. He wanted to protect his honour when it was
his pride that he was trying to save. After foolishly promising Herodias’
daughter half of his kingdom to display his generosity, he was tricked into
granting the head of John the Baptist instead, as the mother sought revenge
against him for reprimanding her in public and making her lose face.
Here, we see another form of injustice at work in the lives of common
people. The oppression of the weak, the poor and the vulnerable by the
rich remained a perpetual sin of humanity because of selfishness, pride and
greed.
It is within this
context that the Lord sought to restore the Jubilee Year and the Jubilee
Tradition, which was to set all men free from slavery in all its forms,
sickness, suffering, oppression and sin. Thus, He began His ministry by citing the text
of the Suffering Servant who, as a prophet, came to re-establish the Jubilee
Law. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed
me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to
the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed
go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Lk 4:18f)
As Christians, how
should we continue to live out the spirit of the Jubilee Tradition? Firstly, it requires us to
embrace the principles underlying the Jubilee Law, namely, that we are all not
just servants but children of God. This is what St Paul says, “As many
of you were baptised into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is
no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer
male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to
Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the
promise.” (Gal 3:28f) Furthermore,
“For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you
did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have
received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, “Abba! Father!” it is
that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God,
and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ – if, in
fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.”
Clearly, it is our conviction that we all share the same adopted sonship in
Christ and a common destiny which is to share the glory with our Lord in
heaven.
If that is the case,
having God as our heavenly Father and heaven as our Promised Land, we must seek
to love our neighbour as ourselves. The
Lord places the love of neighbour as the second commandment after the love of
God. (cf Mk 12:30f) So, we must
seek to share what we have with others because we are all stewards of God’s
blessing. Whilst the Church recognises the right to private property, we
are also responsible to those who are poor, marginalised and deprived of their
basic needs in life. We are responsible to help the weak and vulnerable,
the disadvantaged, whether financially, physically or intellectually to have a
place in society because we are all God’s children and equal in His sight.
Secondly, we are called
to be servants of each other insofar as we are servants of God. Jesus advised the apostles, “It will
not be so among you; but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your
servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your
slave; just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to
give his life a ransom for many.” (Mt 20:26-28) St Paul reminds us that
ultimately we are all servants of God. “Slaves, obey your earthly masters
in everything, not only while being watched and in order to please them, but
wholeheartedly, fearing the Lord. Whatever your task, put yourselves into
it, as done for the Lord and not for your masters, since you know that
from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward; you serve the
Lord Christ.” (Col 3:22-24) Every
Christian therefore must seek to be a servant of God’s people by contributing
his talents, resources, finance and skills for the good and well-being of the
people of God. It therefore behooves us never to think highly of
ourselves or to use our resources for our own benefit without regard for the
greater good of the community and God’s children.
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All
Rights Reserved
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