A short history of an ancient tradition: The jubilee year

(OSV News) -- The Jubilee Year is a glorious interruption to the routines that govern so much of our lives. Every jubilee, God invites us to look beyond the rules and rhythms of our human relationships and adopt his way of being -- the way of mercy, generosity and unconditional love -- as the surest foundation for our lives.

The jubilee tradition springs from God's covenant with Israel. After the Exodus, God gave Israel a distinct rule and rhythm of life that marked them as his chosen people. Among these "rhythms" was the jubilee cycle. God commanded Israel to observe a sabbath day of rest every week and a sabbath year of rest every seven years.

After seven cycles of seven years, Israel was to blow a ram's horn, or "yobel" (the origin of the word "jubilee"), to announce a year of favor (Lev 25:8-10). During this jubilee, God instructed Israel to free their slaves, forgive debts, restore any property that had been sold, and rest from work. God's reasoning is simple yet profound: "I am the Lord your God" (Lev 25:55). The jubilee was thus a call to profound reconciliation and renewal in Israel's relationships with God, with one another and with creation.

This Old Testament tradition finds complete fulfillment in Jesus Christ. Jesus not only proclaims "the year of the Lord's favor" (Lk 4:19); he enacts this holy year by healing the sick, expelling demons and forgiving sins. Today, we still enjoy this "year of favor" as Jesus continues to heal, exorcise and forgive through the ministry of the church. Nevertheless, the church continues the jubilee tradition by periodically "re-announcing" this truth, accompanied by special invitations and offers of grace. These jubilee years, as we know them today, thus function as a kind of sacrament of God's mercy.

We see this sacramentality on full display in the first papal jubilee proclamation, issued by Pope Boniface VIII in 1300. As the new century dawned, the pope watched as countless pilgrims flocked to Rome to beg God's mercy. Moved by their faith, the pope formally proclaimed a jubilee year and assured contrite pilgrims of a plenary indulgence, or complete liberation from the punishment due to sin. The message of the jubilee year stirred so many people to repentance that the church moved to formalize the jubilee cycle.

Today, the church celebrates "ordinary" jubilees every 25 years. On rare occasions, an "extraordinary" jubilee (like the 2015 Year of Mercy) may also be called to mark a special occasion in the life of Christ and his church. Many jubilee years are also characterized by a particular theme or grace (like our current jubilee of hope) that the church perceives God offering his people.

Ultimately, these sacred years remind us that humanity, history and time do not merely belong to God; they have been taken up into God in the person of Jesus Christ. And just like the Israelites of old, it is our sacred duty and lasting joy to find our rest in him.