"Jubilee"

They have a thing called Jubilee,

It happens way down south,

Brings the bounty of the sea,

To everybody’s mouth.

The founder, shrimp and blue crabs, too,

Ask you to cast your net,

In shallow water just for you,

Not likely you’ll forget.

And people up and down the bay,

Are ringing bells and more,

Shouting Jubilee today,

Along that eastern shore.

The boiling up what has been caught,

And all will eat their fill,

And not a single thing was bought,

Fresh seafood fits the bill.

It’s taken from the Good Book, see,

When year fifty rolls around,

All the debts and prisoners free,

And none plant fallow ground.

But all is rest and freedom,

A year to celebrate,

What has been saved will feed ‘em,

Homecoming times are great.

When Jesus Christ, God’s only Son,

Announced that He was here,

He said the reason that He’d come,

And to make it clear,

That He brought heaven’s bounty,

To set the captive free,

And no excluded county,

God’s favor sure to be.

The Jubilee has come at last,

To fill our hungry souls,

Forgiving all the sinful past,

And make the wounded whole.

Shout the news and ring the bell,

The Jubilee is here,

Find someone that you can tell,

That God’s grace has drawn near.

“…He has sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and freedom to the prisoners; to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord…” (Isaiah 61:1-2, NAS)

The great reset of the Jubilee year is personified in Jesus. He comes to cancel the debts, set the captives free, and give us God’s favor. When Jesus read from the scroll of Isaiah and said He fulfilled this scripture, the reaction was not good. In fact the people tried to kill Jesus but He slipped away. Why were they so violently opposed to Him? Perhaps it was because He was too familiar to them. When they hears His claim it sounded like the words of a prideful imposter. How could the carpenter’s son set the captive free? Yet that is exactly what He came to do and still does for all who call on His name.

Lord, set the captive free, in Jesus’ name.

Art by Jack Sorenson, used by permission. Thanks, Jack, and God bless you.