Text: Luke 4:1719

Topic: What God's Jubilee looks like today

Introduction:

• Christ declares the kingdom of God.
• Big Idea: The kingdom of God is a jubilee.

How does Leviticus 25 define the jubilee?

While the Hebrew people rested on the seventh day, and rested their land on the seventh year, in the fiftieth year:

• Debts are cancelled.
• Prisoners are freed.
• Land is returned to original owners.

Was the jubilee observed?

• Never once did the Jews observe it.
• The Messiah will declare it (Isaiah 61).
• Christ declares it (Luke 4).

Illustration: Campolo retells in detail and with humor Christ reading from the prophet Isaiah in the synagogue in Nazareth.

In Christ, "jubilee" is alive and well today.

• It's good news for the poor.

Illustration: Campolo meets Christ in the guise of a poor, homeless man on the streets of Philadelphia.

• It's healing (not necessarily curing) for the sick.

Illustration: Campolo prays for a dying man embittered about his illness, whose wife later says, "He wasn't cured, but he was healed [from his bitterness]."

• It's deliverance for those oppressed by sin.

Illustration: Since God is outside of time, Campolo says that when Christ was crucified, he is looking at us today from the Cross and forgives and frees us.

Illustration: At a funeral, the pastor shuts the casket and says, "Good night,Clarence. God is going to give you a good morning," and the choir sings,"On that great morning, we shall rise."

Conclusion:

• The jubilee is the whole gospel.