On December 24, the Holy Door of St. Peter's Basilica was opened. The Jubilee of 2025 began. The Jubilee will continue until the Feast of the Epiphany on January 6, 2026, under the official motto, "Pilgrims of Hope."
During the Jubilee, the Jews returned to their family lands, the fields rested, enslaved people were freed, and debts were forgiven.
According to Leviticus, the year following the seven Sabbath years was the Year of Jubilee. It was to return to the state of liberation when settling in Canaan after 400 years of slavery, they were able to give glory to God, who had provided liberation. The land of Canaan, flowing with milk and honey, was given to each tribe, clan, and family. However, as time passed, some people sold their land and rented other people's land, and some even became slaves. The Year of Jubilee was intended to immediately restore those broken relationships.
The meaning of the Year of Jubilee was a time of hope, not to throw out the lazy because there was no solution, and not to boast that the blessings given by heaven are selective, but to begin living together in peace and joy.
Today, the Year of Jubilee exists, but the practices that should have been done during the Year of Jubilee have disappeared. Those who have lost their homes are driven out and have to wander the streets, those who have lost their jobs have to worry about their livelihood, and the young who have lost their dreams and the elderly who have lost their health in body and mind are entirely excluded. They want to return, but their homes and jobs are gone. Immigrants who had no choice but to turn their backs on their hometowns are strangers in the new world.
It is said that even when the Jubilee of the Jews first came into existence, the practices demanded by the Jubilee were not often carried out. [There is much controversy about the degree of acceptance the Jubilee had among the Israelites. To give up what had been gained was not an easy thing to do.]
"The Spirit of the Lord is on me because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." (Luke 4:18-19) It was the core of salvation that restored the lost order of God.
We are once again called to the Jubilee. It is not just a Jubilee that ends with the opening of the doors and the proclamation of the holy liturgy, nor is it a Jubilee that is satisfied with gratitude for individual salvation through indulgences. Instead, we yearn for a year of hope to move towards a new world.
The generations who experienced the tragedies of the Sewol ferry and Itaewon sing: "Into the New World." "Goodbye to the repeated sorrows in this world!" It is a concrete, realistic world that we all create together. It is a song about the true Jubilee, not different from the one we sang together during the dark dictatorship era: "The country of true love and joy where 'lions play with the lambs'."
The Jubilee is no longer a Christian tradition inherited from the Jewish tradition. The peace that God gives is peace for the whole world. Peace is not enjoyed differently depending on skin color, ideology, possessions, education, or position. It is a peace for all. When the world is at peace, the church is at peace. When the church devotes itself to the world, the world will cherish and care for the church.
No comments:
Post a Comment