my way or the highway?
"This fiftieth year you shall make sacred by proclaiming liberty in the land for all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you." —Leviticus 25:10
In a few months, we will begin to celebrate the greatest of all jubilees (Toward the Third Millennium, Pope John Paul II, 16). If God has His way, slaves will be freed, debts forgiven, and land restored to its original owners (Lv 25:10ff). The Great Jubilee can be an unprecedented time of justice and freedom.
When Jesus announced the Jubilee Year at the beginning of His public ministry, the crowd's mood changed from favorable to hostile. They wanted the Jubilee Year their way. They were not interested in beginning the Jubilee with repentance, as the Lord commanded (see Lv 25:9). They wanted to skip repentance and immediately get into healing (see Lk 4:23). The Lord refused to oblige. He insisted on prophesying and calling the people to repentance (Lk 4:24ff). Because they could not get the Jubilee their way, they tried to murder Jesus and throw Him over a cliff (Lk 4:29).
Will we let the Jubilee be done to us according to God's word (see Lk 1:38), or will we miss it by insisting on having it our way?
Prayer: Father, Thy "will be done on earth as it is in heaven" (Mt 6:10).
Promise: "Do not deal unfairly, then; but stand in fear of your God." —Lv 25:17
Praise: St. Ignatius was led by the Spirit to call his followers to make a special vow of loyalty to the Pope.
Nihil Obstat: Reverend Robert L. Hagedorn, November 28, 1998
Imprimatur: †Most Reverend Carl K. Moeddel, Vicar General and Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, December 1, 1998