The idea of a sabbatical for ministers and academics is now fairly well established at least in North America. I have not accomplished a thing. I have simply enjoyed the day and all that was in it. A Jubilee year beckons all people to recognize that the deepest meaning of human existence is not in making and doing. We are not our work, we are not what we accomplish.
People are more precious that what they produce.
The Sabbath was celebrated by Jew and gentile, slave and free. It was a time for remembering that we are equals and that what we have has been given to us in stewardship. According to the ideal of jubilee debts were forgiven, property returned to the original owners, slaves were set free because in the sight of God we are equal. The Sabbath and the Jubilee offers an alternative vision of what is just. The Sabbath is tied to the great story of liberation of the Jews from Egyptian slavery.