Three days ago we looked at the first action initiative, “Tithing to the Church” and today I want to present to you the second initiative from Tacking the Elephant, “Debt Forgiveness and Kingdom Proclamation.”
When Yahweh delivered his people from slavery in Egypt as recorded in the book of Exodus, he did so to make them a holy nation of redeemed slaves. In Exodus, Leviticus and Deuteronomy God reveals his laws for such a nation. Scattered throughout are several economic mandates related to debt forgiveness. God envisioned a people made of redeemed slaves who would resist the temptation to enslave one another economically.
“At the end of every seven years you must cancel debts. This is how it is to be done: Every creditor shall cancel the loan he has made to his fellow Israelite. He shall not require payment from his fellow Israelite or brother, because the LORD’s time for canceling debts has been proclaimed. You may require payment from a foreigner, but you must cancel any debt your brother owes you. However, there should be no poor among you, for in the land the LORD your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance, he will richly bless you, if only you fully obey the LORD your God and are careful to follow all these commands I am giving you today. For the LORD your God will bless you as he has promised, and you will lend to many nations but will borrow from none. You will rule over many nations but none will rule over you.” Deut. 15:1-6 (NIV)
Leviticus 25 outlines the even more radical “year of Jubilee” in which the nation was to restore (reboot?) the land and possessions of the community every fifty years. Though there is no Biblical evidence that Israel practiced this “Jubilee” at any point, the heart of God was that Jubilee would bring rest for the land agriculturally, remission of debts, liberation of slaves, redemption of family property and a powerful reminder that land and possessions are ultimately God’s belongings gifted to his people as stewards.
It appears that Jesus, at least in part, saw his own ministry as proclaiming the year of Jubilee as a tangible reality within the Kingdom of God (Luke 4). If this is true, then the church exists in part to proclaim Jubilee and live within the reality of God’s economic reign.
In the “Lord’s Prayer” Jesus teaches his disciples to pray, “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.” It is certainly true that we are to forgive and be forgiven in all areas of life, but the prayer seems to start the issue of forgiveness as an economic reality, which can later be parsed and spiritualized into other “trespasses” and sins.
It is not our intent to make any other theological statement here apart from the idea that the church often overlooks literal fiscal debt forgiveness as a powerful way to proclaim the reality of the year of Jubilee and the Kingdom coming to earth.
We encourage Christians to forgive personal debts with Kingdom language. “Because of what Jesus has done for me, and because of the reality of the his reign over my life, I want to forgive you the debt that you owe me.” We believe that in this practical way the church can be a witness, foretaste and agent of God’s love to the world.
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