During that long period, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them… The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey…” Exodus 2:23-25; 3:7-8a
“No one should presume to offer a panacea for the woes of today’s world, but it is our belief that we must all strive to find ways to live and act conscientiously. The dominant socioeconomic order, which is becoming global at an alarming rate and in apparently irresistible ways, may overwhelm and immobilize us. On the other hand, we remember that the biblical history of salvation begins with supposedly powerless slaves, aliens living at the heart of one of the world’s greatest empires. Surely the God who liberated them can guide us into responsible action for personal, ecclesial, and social transformation. At least we can learn how others are making space and creating times for resistance and liberation. Jubilee spirituality may draw upon and incorporate experiences and perspectives from diverse sources, but it will relate them organically with the real world and the grave socioeconomic and ecological problems of life for our own and future generations.”
Ross and Gloria Kinsler in The Biblical Jubilee and the Struggle for Life (Maryknoll: Orbis, 1999) 19.
Throughout human history, money emerges as the driving force of the world’s economic system. Those who possess it rule. Those who do not find themselves oppressed and enslaved. But God sees all this. Revisiting the Exodus account reminds us that he can deliver “supposedly powerless slaves” and help them experience abundance.
So the generosity that comes into view first today is God’s generosity toward the oppressed. He sees and has concern for the suffering. That models for us how we must live and act toward those the enslaved. Not only that He comes to rescue His people. Again, we learn that we might be part of the solution for helping deliver people.
This is Jubilee spirituality. It’s personal (that means it starts with me and you), ecclesial (which means we do it as a church community), and it transforms social settings (the larger society in which we as believers and our church exists). We have concern for the oppressed and we act on their behalf to help set them free.
In God’s economy, we serve God and not money, so we make money our slave and use it to show our love of God and care for our neighbor. In following God’s design, we go from “supposedly powerless slaves” to being freed by God to help set others free. God’s generosity has liberated us to help liberate others in tangible ways.
So, next time you feel you are too small to make a difference, or you think the socioeconomic problems around you are too great to conquer, remember Moses. In the Exodus, God raised up a man who knew he could not do it himself but thought it was possible with God’s help. That’s what you will find when you help the hurting that God sees. He will work through you to proclaim Jubilee!