A good place to begin an inquiry about the role of jubilee in the teachings of Jesus and the early church is Jesus, Liberation, and The Biblical Jubilee: Images For Ethics and Christology by Sharon H. Ringe.  Ringe begins by reviewing jubilee traditions in Hebrew scripture and then traces the development of jubilee themes in the synoptic gospels.  She looks at material in Luke, Matthew, and Mark as she examines Jesus as the herald of liberation.

Careful treatment is given to each Gospel with particular attention to jubilee themes.  Jubilee images which appear in all three gospels include:

• “the reign of God”
• “to proclaim good news” (euaggelizomai)
• “the proclamation of good news” (euaggelion)
• “to proclaim” (kerysso)
• healing
• exocism
• “release” or “forgivness”
• “to repent”
• “repentance”

Professor Ringe explores each of these themes and concludes, “that passages containing Jubilee images are found in all four recognized sources of the Synoptic Gospels (Mark, Q, L, and M.)”  There appears to be a three-step process in the Gospels as it relates to jubilee themes.  “First, jubilee images and traditions appear to be have played a major role in Jesus’ own activity and message.  In the second step of the process, the early church, prompted and focused by the Easter experience that gave it birth, drew on a variety of images associated with Jesus’ own message in order to proclaim Jesus’ identity as the Christ and his saving significance for all believers.  Later on, as the early church built the traditions concerning Jesus’ life and ministry into the Gospel accounts, Jubilee references again appeared more explicitly.”(p.89) Dr. Ringe summarizes this theme as follows:

“In conclusion, then, whatever specific form the gospel takes, it encounters humankind as the proclamation of “good news” and “release” heralding God’s eschatological reign.  That proclamation entails the demand that one face God’s reign without the limitations, securities, and self-definitions that make the old order at once oppressive and familiar.  The Jubilee message is thus good news to those who know themselves to be dependent on God’s grace and not on their own powers, and a work of judgment to those unable or unwilling to share in its rhythms of release and liberation.  The particular message of that Gospel to us requires a careful hearing, with courage where it frightens us, and gentleness where is sets us free, in the name of Christ and for the sake of the sovereign God.” (p.90).

I strongly recommend the final chapter, “In Christ We Are Set Free: Jubilee Images Re-encountered”.  This chapter explores the implications of the careful exegetical work that was done in the earlier chapters for the work of ministry.  One needs to work through the earlier chapters for the last chapter to get a fair and full reading.

Ringe provides an accessible and scholarly treatment of this basic New Testament theme.  I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to get a better grounding in the liberation tradition which is imbedded in the teaching and work of the New Testament.

About the author

Keith Russell wrote 31 articles for this publication.

The Rev. Dr. Keith A. Russell, an American Baptist minister, is The Distinguished Senior Professor of Ministry Studies at New York Theological Seminary in New York City. He has served both as an urban pastor and a seminary president.

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