Jubilee
And forgive our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. – Jesus, Matthew 6.12
Jubilee is the name God gives to the “year of favor,” the time when are told to cancel all debts to ensure the thriving of humanity, our communities, and the land and its bounty. The divine mandate for debt relief is unconditional and continual. This “Holiness Code” was picked up and re-interpreted by the prophets and then Jesus to include the relieving of undue burden wherever need is present. People of faith and conscience have proclaimed and advocated for “Jubilee” ever since.
This sacred commission has evolved for modern times to include life-giving efforts to cancel student debt, pay off medical debts, abolish predatory lending, and relieve the disastrous loans foisted on heavily-indebted poor countries by wealthy nations and their creditors, which prevent sustainable development. Repair is needed. The call and practice of Jubilee is a core pillar of a just economy.
Important Resources
What can Jubilee look like in action? The United Church of Christ recently mobilized a campaign with churches in partnership with R.I.P. Medical Debt that canceled over $100 million in medical debts! Read more about this effort and how your church can still do this transformational work.
We are everlasting debtors to known and unknown men and women…Before we leave for our jobs, we are already beholden to more than half the world. – Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
