God's Economic Distribution Plan...
Psalm 56:9-13
Then my enemies will turn back
when I call for help.
By this I will know that God is for me.
10 In God, whose word I praise,
in the Lord, whose word I praise—
11 in God I trust and am not afraid.
What can man do to me?
12 I am under vows to you, my God;
I will present my thank offerings to you.
13 For you have delivered me from death
and my feet from stumbling,
that I may walk before God
in the light of life.
Leviticus 24:10-25:17
The Sabbath Year
Leviticus 25
The Lord said to Moses at Mount Sinai, 2 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When you enter the land I am going to give you, the land itself must observe a sabbath to the Lord. 3 For six years sow your fields, and for six years prune your vineyards and gather their crops. 4 But in the seventh year the land is to have a year of sabbath rest, a sabbath to the Lord. Do not sow your fields or prune your vineyards. 5 Do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the grapes of your untended vines. The land is to have a year of rest. 6 Whatever the land yields during the sabbath year will be food for you—for yourself, your male and female servants, and the hired worker and temporary resident who live among you, 7 as well as for your livestock and the wild animals in your land. Whatever the land produces may be eaten.
The Year of Jubilee
8 “‘Count off seven sabbath years—seven times seven years—so that the seven sabbath years amount to a period of forty-nine years. 9 Then have the trumpet sounded everywhere on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement sound the trumpet throughout your land. 10 Consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you; each of you is to return to your family property and to your own clan. 11 The fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you; do not sow and do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the untended vines. 12 For it is a jubilee and is to be holy for you; eat only what is taken directly from the fields. 13 “‘In this Year of Jubilee everyone is to return to their own property. 14 “‘If you sell land to any of your own people or buy land from them, do not take advantage of each other. 15 You are to buy from your own people on the basis of the number of years since the Jubilee. And they are to sell to you on the basis of the number of years left for harvesting crops. 16 When the years are many, you are to increase the price, and when the years are few, you are to decrease the price, because what is really being sold to you is the number of crops. 17 Do not take advantage of each other, but fear your God. I am the Lord your God.
Mark 8:1-13
Jesus Feeds the Four Thousand
1 During those days another large crowd gathered. Since they had nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples to him and said, 2 “I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. 3 If I send them home hungry, they will collapse on the way, because some of them have come a long distance.” 4 His disciples answered, “But where in this remote place can anyone get enough bread to feed them?”5 “How many loaves do you have?” Jesus asked. “Seven,” they replied. 6 He told the crowd to sit down on the ground. When he had taken the seven loaves and given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to distribute to the people, and they did so. 7 They had a few small fish as well; he gave thanks for them also and told the disciples to distribute them. 8 The people ate and were satisfied. Afterward the disciples picked up seven basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. 9 About four thousand were present. After he had sent them away, 10 he got into the boat with his disciples and went to the region of Dalmanutha. 11 The Pharisees came and began to question Jesus. To test him, they asked him for a sign from heaven. 12 He sighed deeply and said, “Why does this generation ask for a sign? Truly I tell you, no sign will be given to it.” 13 Then he left them, got back into the boat and crossed to the other side.
Reflections:
David the psalmist is able to overcome his fears knowing that his allegiance is to the Lord. It is to God he has made his vows, not to other human beings. Sometimes in an effort to please others around us we forget the vows we have made to God. Matthew tells us in chapter to 6 to, “Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness.” As we make God our first priority we will have a “due north”, and no how to better respond to others’ calls for help.
Leviticus 25 reveals two important principles in God’s laws that were meant for our betterment. First, every seventh year is to be a Sabbath for the land they will enter into. This may be counter-intuitive to our craving for productivity, but in the end as the Vine and Branches allegory in John 15 tells us, we need to have times of bearing fruit, times to abide in the Vine, and times to prune. Ultimately by abiding by God’s rhythms of work and rest we will be productive in the best sense as wired by our Creator.
In addition, the passage gives a plan for economic distribution of land as the Israelites would return to their homeland every 50 years. This would guard against the accumulation of wealth and allow everyone to have a place to live. There is also a formula for pricing the land based on how many years are left until the Jubilee. The more years that are left the more expensive the land, because of the accumulation of crops that would result by selling earlier than later. It is amazing how practical God’s law can be and we would do well to consider God’s principles in all areas of life. After all, God is a pretty smart guy!
Speaking of distribution, in our gospel lesson in Mark 8 shows the abundance that results when we put what we have in God’s hands. We often feel ill-equipped to meet the needs of the masses around us that crowd in on us. Jesus tells the disciples to give him what they have and there are even leftovers.
Where do you feel overwhelmed in your life? Where does it seem that the means you have won’t match the need you see out there? How can you offer what you have and leave the rest to God? God never gives us a challenge that He is not willing to partner with us to show His abundant provision, and He has given us all we need according to His glorious riches in Christ.
The Lord says, "I will be with them in trouble, I will rescue them and honor them." Psalm 91:15
I commend you to God and to the message of his grace, a message that is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all who are sanctified. Acts 20:32
Ever-present Help in trouble - trouble of our own making and trouble beyond our control - we give thanks for the witness through the years of those who have found in you what they needed in order to be built up and to move forward. Amen.
Then my enemies will turn back
when I call for help.
By this I will know that God is for me.
10 In God, whose word I praise,
in the Lord, whose word I praise—
11 in God I trust and am not afraid.
What can man do to me?
12 I am under vows to you, my God;
I will present my thank offerings to you.
13 For you have delivered me from death
and my feet from stumbling,
that I may walk before God
in the light of life.
Leviticus 24:10-25:17
The Sabbath Year
Leviticus 25
The Lord said to Moses at Mount Sinai, 2 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When you enter the land I am going to give you, the land itself must observe a sabbath to the Lord. 3 For six years sow your fields, and for six years prune your vineyards and gather their crops. 4 But in the seventh year the land is to have a year of sabbath rest, a sabbath to the Lord. Do not sow your fields or prune your vineyards. 5 Do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the grapes of your untended vines. The land is to have a year of rest. 6 Whatever the land yields during the sabbath year will be food for you—for yourself, your male and female servants, and the hired worker and temporary resident who live among you, 7 as well as for your livestock and the wild animals in your land. Whatever the land produces may be eaten.
The Year of Jubilee
8 “‘Count off seven sabbath years—seven times seven years—so that the seven sabbath years amount to a period of forty-nine years. 9 Then have the trumpet sounded everywhere on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement sound the trumpet throughout your land. 10 Consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you; each of you is to return to your family property and to your own clan. 11 The fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you; do not sow and do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the untended vines. 12 For it is a jubilee and is to be holy for you; eat only what is taken directly from the fields. 13 “‘In this Year of Jubilee everyone is to return to their own property. 14 “‘If you sell land to any of your own people or buy land from them, do not take advantage of each other. 15 You are to buy from your own people on the basis of the number of years since the Jubilee. And they are to sell to you on the basis of the number of years left for harvesting crops. 16 When the years are many, you are to increase the price, and when the years are few, you are to decrease the price, because what is really being sold to you is the number of crops. 17 Do not take advantage of each other, but fear your God. I am the Lord your God.
Mark 8:1-13
Jesus Feeds the Four Thousand
1 During those days another large crowd gathered. Since they had nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples to him and said, 2 “I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. 3 If I send them home hungry, they will collapse on the way, because some of them have come a long distance.” 4 His disciples answered, “But where in this remote place can anyone get enough bread to feed them?”5 “How many loaves do you have?” Jesus asked. “Seven,” they replied. 6 He told the crowd to sit down on the ground. When he had taken the seven loaves and given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to distribute to the people, and they did so. 7 They had a few small fish as well; he gave thanks for them also and told the disciples to distribute them. 8 The people ate and were satisfied. Afterward the disciples picked up seven basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. 9 About four thousand were present. After he had sent them away, 10 he got into the boat with his disciples and went to the region of Dalmanutha. 11 The Pharisees came and began to question Jesus. To test him, they asked him for a sign from heaven. 12 He sighed deeply and said, “Why does this generation ask for a sign? Truly I tell you, no sign will be given to it.” 13 Then he left them, got back into the boat and crossed to the other side.
Reflections:
David the psalmist is able to overcome his fears knowing that his allegiance is to the Lord. It is to God he has made his vows, not to other human beings. Sometimes in an effort to please others around us we forget the vows we have made to God. Matthew tells us in chapter to 6 to, “Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness.” As we make God our first priority we will have a “due north”, and no how to better respond to others’ calls for help.
Leviticus 25 reveals two important principles in God’s laws that were meant for our betterment. First, every seventh year is to be a Sabbath for the land they will enter into. This may be counter-intuitive to our craving for productivity, but in the end as the Vine and Branches allegory in John 15 tells us, we need to have times of bearing fruit, times to abide in the Vine, and times to prune. Ultimately by abiding by God’s rhythms of work and rest we will be productive in the best sense as wired by our Creator.
In addition, the passage gives a plan for economic distribution of land as the Israelites would return to their homeland every 50 years. This would guard against the accumulation of wealth and allow everyone to have a place to live. There is also a formula for pricing the land based on how many years are left until the Jubilee. The more years that are left the more expensive the land, because of the accumulation of crops that would result by selling earlier than later. It is amazing how practical God’s law can be and we would do well to consider God’s principles in all areas of life. After all, God is a pretty smart guy!
Speaking of distribution, in our gospel lesson in Mark 8 shows the abundance that results when we put what we have in God’s hands. We often feel ill-equipped to meet the needs of the masses around us that crowd in on us. Jesus tells the disciples to give him what they have and there are even leftovers.
Where do you feel overwhelmed in your life? Where does it seem that the means you have won’t match the need you see out there? How can you offer what you have and leave the rest to God? God never gives us a challenge that He is not willing to partner with us to show His abundant provision, and He has given us all we need according to His glorious riches in Christ.
The Lord says, "I will be with them in trouble, I will rescue them and honor them." Psalm 91:15
I commend you to God and to the message of his grace, a message that is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all who are sanctified. Acts 20:32
Ever-present Help in trouble - trouble of our own making and trouble beyond our control - we give thanks for the witness through the years of those who have found in you what they needed in order to be built up and to move forward. Amen.
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