In the Year of Jubilee the field will revert to the person from whom he bought it, the one whose land it was. – Leviticus 27:24

Today’s Scripture Reading (July 25, 2012): Leviticus 27

The other night I watched “Another Earth.” Essentially it is the journey of a young girl charged with vehicular manslaughter back from the edge. She had been brought there by a momentary mistake. It was not something that she did on purpose. It was a mistake that she wished that she could take back, but that was impossible. It is these moments that we all struggle with – it is the what ifs and whys of life. And most of us have them lurking somewhere in our past. They are the things that we regret; often the things that we never thought would happen to us. But they did. And they are the things that we need a second chance to recover from, if any one would only give us the chance – but often no one does.

Maybe that is why I love the idea of the year of Jubilee. It seemed to be a galactic reset button – a second chance. It did not come around often, but it did come around. It was the moment when what had been lost could be restored. A time when what belonged to the family and had been sold could be returned. It was almost a fantasy world; one that could not exist – but somehow it did.

But the other side of the year of Jubilee was that it was a reset button that never really worked. We could not get past our greed – our need for more. The idea of a reset button never really seemed fair. Yes, we all needed the reset button, but some of us needed it more. Those with power are usually the ones that need the reset the least – and sometimes they are the ones that have found another way to push that button. And so they found the excuses and loopholes that would forever keep the reset out of the hands of those that needed it the most.

Grace is the extension of the reset button to the people around us. And the beauty of grace is that we do not have to wait fifty years for it to be extended. We can do it now. But the problem is that we have to put away our greed to be able to do it. And those with power have to be the ones to extend it to those without. Because those who need a reset button are always those without power.

Today, be the reset button in someone’s lives. In some way, allow them to start over with you. Because it is you that has the power.

  

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Numbers 1 & 2