I heard it tear as I fell that Sunday afternoon. My cold but sunny run with friends ended abruptly as I slipped on a patch of ice. The swelling and pain let me know I was in some trouble. With the help of some friends, and the local fire department, I was taken from the woods to the Emergency Room.

Over the next week I had appointments, an MRI, and a surgery to repair a torn quadriceps tendon. I should recover, but it will take quite some time.

Sidelined to my couch, I have been given time to think about myself, the church, and the world. In 2025, I filled my time with running. Last year saw me run marathons in Michigan, Florida, London, Washington D.C., and even two in Japan — totaling over 2000 miles for the year.

Now? Nothing. I’ve tried to fill the space with new things. I’ve read some novels. I’ve even tried some board games. I’ve also watched a lot of news. From the events in Minneapolis to a full fledged war in Iran, there has been plenty to watch.

Christianity has intersected with so much of this. I saw the beauty of Christ followers, led by Lutheran (ELCA) pastors in Minnesota, stand up for the gospel and the immigrants. I also saw Christian Nationalists, in my opinion, abuse both the Scriptures and the marginalized, all in the name of Jesus.

I am realizing two things.

First, I need more music and less news in my life.

Second, I am angry in my faith. Not rage, but a simmering spirit of hostility is how I am experiencing the broader body of Christ. I think I have a right to be. Much of Christianity has wandered from the way of Jesus. I, however, must also own some of my anger. Part of my frustrations stem from the reality that I have spent the last few years defining my faith by what Christianity, or I, was not. I focused my eyes on its darkness. Christianity has earned that, but I had limited it to its failures.

The couch has given me the opportunity and the space to ask what yet is beautiful in the faith, what will I hold onto if I hope to keep the faith? In one word, Christianity is Jubilee.

In Luke 4, Jesus preaches his first recorded sermon. The scroll containing Isaiah was given to him and he read

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.

Jesus’ sermon was short and profound.

Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

In this passage, Jesus proclaims that God has anointed him, has made him the messiah, to bring good news to the poor, to set people free, to give people sight. And then he says to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. This is most likely a reference to the Jubilee year found in Leviticus 25. Every 49 or 50 years, Israel was to celebrate a Jubilee. In this year the land was to be given rest by not planting crops, all land sold due to poverty would be returned to its original owner, indentured servants were freed, and debt was forgiven.

Wow! I call this God’s reboot of society. God only allowed Israel 50 years of greed and injustice before God would step in and reset the scales, before God would reboot society. 

We have no idea how or if Israel ever really followed this law. But what is meaningful to me right now is that this holiday is the basis for what Jesus says the good news of his reign was to be about. Not once every 50 years but the entirety of his mission could be summed up in the concept of Jubilee. 

The gospel is God’s reboot on a society that is constantly being corrupted by greed. The good news is God’s reimagination of power. The messiah came to usher in the upside down world of the kingdom of God. 

I wonder if we haven’t lost a little of God’s Jubilee? Of course this isn’t new. I’ve taught and preached this for years. Jubilee isn’t a rejection of the more Pauline understanding of faith in Christ for salvation. But the gospel is not limited to “in or out,” nor is it just a set of beliefs or doctrines. Those are pieces of it, but it is so much more.

But maybe Jesus’ introductory sermon just reads a little different when you are on a self-imposed sabbath, sitting on a couch, being inundated with the anti-gospel for hours at a time. The evils of the church and the world need to be named and called out. But when I get off this couch, I will be reminded that I’ve been invited to participate in something beautiful. I have been invited into God’s Jubilee. 

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10 Responses

  1. Thanks Chad. Jubilee does not get its fair share of celebration, for sure. As I read this, it struck me that 2026 is the U.S. 250-year anniversary. That is 50 years times 5. Now I am certainly not a biblical code-cracker, but wouldn’t it be “great” if the US rebooted itself to be the place that granted jubilee for all those seeking life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Would not amnesty and a reasonable pathway to legitimate citizenship, even a very rigorous one, be cheaper, more unifying, and less violent than the current crusade?

  2. Thanks, Chad…a good word…thinking a good year to walk, the walk of Jubilee. May just get a hitch in my step!

  3. Sorry for your injury! Love what it’s producing in your heart! Thanks for the uplifting words of truth! May God’s healing hand be upon your body and soul!!!

  4. Chad, I too had an injury because of running. I needed to have my knees replaced so no more jogging for me. I walk a few miles each day which is not as good as running but it is a substitute. I am sorry for your injury because I think you take running more seriously than I, however we see politics similarly. I do pray for our nation and for Christianity and the ugliness it is displaying.

  5. Thanks!

    A slight push back regarding: “Much of Christianity has wandered from the way of Jesus.” Maybe in the Western world, but I am not convinced this is true globally.

  6. Since you have more time to read, I would recommend Bearing Sin as Church Community: Bonehoeffer’s Harmatiology by Hyun Joo Kim (available for free from dokumen publications). He shows how Bonhoeffer takes communal or social sin to be just as important as personal sin and also how our passive sins can hurt other people just as much as our active sins against them. Individuals try to live up to the image of God but as a church, we need to try harder to be the body of Christ in the world. Our failure to be Christlike has very serious consequences.

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