In our Gospel this weekend, we hear the story of Jesus’ return to his hometown of Nazareth. After marching into the synagogue, unrolling the scroll, and proclaiming a passage from the prophet Isaiah, he then boldly says: “Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.”

Certainly a very brief…very shocking homily by Jesus!

But what exactly is Jesus claiming to fulfill?

The key seems to lie in that final verse from Isaiah’s prophecy:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me… to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.”

All the other things Jesus mentions: Bringing glad tidings to the poor, proclaiming liberty to captives, recovery of sight to the blind, letting the oppressed go free… is summed up and connected with this last one:

Proclaiming a year acceptable to the Lord.

This language is very deliberate and very specific. 

It’s referring to what’s called a “Jubilee Year.”

In the Old Testament, the concept of Jubilee reaches all the way back to the book of Genesis and is deeply rooted in the Creation account itself: 

The Lord works 6 days, and then He proclaims a holy day of rest — He Himself pauses to appreciate and admire all of His work. The Sabbath, as we call it, is therefore a kind of weekly “jubilee” — a day of rest and celebration, honoring God’s work. That’s what the word “jubilee” actually really means — it’s an expression of happiness, exultation, rejoicing restoration!!!

But the general idea of Jubilee — of marking set times for rest, forgiveness, and joy — then began to grow and expand in Israel’s history…until it ultimately took the form of celebrating the “Jubilee Year” every 50 years. This was a prescribed time for all of Israel to enact “the remission of monetary debts, the release of slaves, and the return of ancestral property to its original family owners.”

Jubilee years were marked with the sounding of trumpets — of liturgical festivity — of public worship and praise — It was a chance for renewal, revival, and rest among the holy people of God.

We catch a glimpse of what this must have been like in our first reading from the book of Nehemiah. While it’s not explicitly a “Jubilee year,” it captures something of the “spirit” of such a celebration.

To put the story we heard in context, the Israelites had just returned to Jerusalem following the Babylonian Exile. The Persian king allowed them to return home, rebuild the Temple, and restore the walls surrounding Jerusalem. And so our reading today picks up when Ezra the priest is proclaiming the Law of Moses to the people of God. He climbs up a wooden platform, reads the Law, and then interprets it for the people so that they can understand it. 

And really this scene is a beautiful precursor to the Liturgy of the Word which we are celebrating right now. We just listened to the Scriptures — the Inspired Word of God proclaimed to us — and now I’m doing my best to interpret and apply those Scriptures to our lives here and now today!

As Ezra shared the Word of God with the people, we hear that they all began to weep — Why? …Because they could see how their lives fell very short of the demands of the Law of Moses. They understood that they were sinners!

In response, Nehemiah and Ezra do not scold or belittle the people! No! Quite the contrary, they encourage the people, saying: “Today is holy to the LORD your God. Do not be sad, and do not weep! For rejoicing in the LORD must be your strength!”

Rejoice in the LORD! Jubilate in the Lord….In His mercy and His forgiveness! In His Steadfast Love!…THIS must be your STRENGTH! This must be the source of your HOPE!

 

Ok, now fast-forward again to our Gospel — and Jesus is claiming that the Spirit of the Lord is upon him, and has anointed Him to proclaim a year — a JUBILEE YEAR — acceptable to the Lord.

If the Old Testament jubilees had to do with remission of debts, release of slaves, and a time of rest and restoration for the people of God… then what is this new Jubilee that Jesus was inaugurating?

1. Remission of the debt due for sin! — Saint Paul tells us the “wages of sin is death.” Death is the proper penalty for disobeying God! And yet, Jesus wipes that debt away. As Dr. Scott Hahn likes to say: “Jesus paid a debt he didn’t owe… because we owed a debt we couldn’t pay.”

2. Release from captivity — This is directly in Isaiah’s prophecy: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me and He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives.” The reality is that before Jesus, we were all under the captivity of sin… a much worse captivity than being in Egypt or Babylon… Jesus says in John’s gospel: “Anyone who sins is a slave to sin.” Jesus came that we may have freedom and life in His name. “The Truth will set us free!”

3. Rest from our labors — Jesus’ new Jubilee will bring about the greatest possible rest. Jesus Himself tells us: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Our hearts are so restless… until they finally rest in God. Jesus makes possible an eternal rest for our souls… a peace that surpasses all understanding. This is what Heaven is — a never-ending Sabbath — an eternal Jubilee — an endless celebration where we can take rest in the Father’s arms forever.

Jesus kicks off this Jubilee Year — a brand new Time when healing, forgiveness, and hope is actually possible. A time when ALL peoples, without exception, are to be invited into family of God… to be part of the Body, the Church. No member is to be excluded or unneeded! If the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye I do not belong to the body, “it does not for this reason belong any less to the body!”

No… everyone belongs. And I mean absolutely EVERYONE is included…

You belong! I belong! Nobody is left out. Now it is true… we will need to let go of certain ideas, some old beliefs… those bad habits that are not compatible with our new life in Christ… 

But the fact remains: YOU belong.

How do I know this? — Because I know and believe that Jesus loves you and He has made salvation possible for YOU… “Now is a very acceptable time! It’s the JUBILEE YEAR of the Lord!

And here’s the most awesome part:

Jesus’ Jubilee never ends. The jubilees of the Old Testament only came around every 50 years and then they were over. But Jesus Christ IS our Jubilee. Christ is our CELEBRATION… Christ has died, Christ has risen… Christ will come again! That’s our rallying cry!

What else brings us to Church every Sunday except THIS… to raise our hearts and minds in jubilation to the Lord, singing out with joy because of what Jesus has done for us???

If we want that joy, let’s ask for it right now:

“Jesus, fill me with Your joy. Jesus, fill me with JUBILATION.”

Amen!

We are a JUBILEE people, because Jesus has forgiven us the entire debt of our sins. He has set us free. He is allowing us to taste even now a little bit of that everlasting rest that He promises in the Life to come! Every Sunday… every Lord’s Day… we rejoice in these truths!

But it gets even better. Because the Church also marks Jubilees in another way … a beautiful and unique way… every 25 years.

Just as in the Old Testament, we call these special years “Jubilee Years.”

Pope Boniface VIII instituted the first “Jubilee Year” back in 1300, and ever since, Popes have been declaring “Jubilee Years” as a way of rejoicing in God’s mercy, setting the captives free, and proclaiming a year acceptable to the Lord.

Perhaps the most famous thing about a Jubilee Year is the opening up of what’s called the “Holy Door.”

Wherever a Holy Door is made available to the faithful, pilgrims are promised special graces, blessings, and indulgences when they enter a church through the door with the proper dispositions.

But a lot of people may wonder: “What’s so special about this particular door?”

Well, remember — the Holy Door is a symbol of Christ. Jesus tells us in John’s Gospel: “I am the Door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved.”

And so when we approach a Holy Door… we approach with faith, and pass through this physical, tangible symbol… knowing that Jesus is the True Door.. He is the one Way to the Father… he’s the Gate through which we need to pass in order to be saved. He is our ONE Hope.

And that happens to be the theme of this Jubilee Year that Pope Francis kicked off on Christmas Eve last month:

Hope.     …True hope does not disappoint.

When we place our hope in politicians, ideologies, governments, and the things of this world… we will always, always, ALWAYS be sorely disappointed. Reality will never match our expectations and deepest longing. The Golden Age will never come. The earthly Utopia will never be achieved. We will, in fact, one way or another…find ourselves in the depths of despair and hopelessness if that’s where we put our final trust…

But when we hope in Christ — we are guaranteed never to be disappointed.

And so, we give thanks to the Lord for this Jubilee Year of Hope. We enter into the eternal jubilation of all the angels and saints at this Mass today… We know that “Rejoicing in the Lord must be our strength” no matter what’s going on around us… good or evil.

We know that this is indeed “a year [very] acceptable to the Lord.”