Exploring Jubilee: Step 3 - Restoration
Passages: Leviticus 25:10, Luke 4:16-21, Acts 2:42-47
Preacher: Mark Kingston
Jubilee. It’s not just an old idea. It’s a future-shaping, life-altering, radical, holy reset. And it starts with forgiveness and freedom—God breaking chains, cutting ties, setting people loose.
But here’s the real question: What are we being freed for?
That brings us to the next step of Jubilee: Homecoming. When someone is set free, where do they go? Home. To their people. Their place. Back to where they belong.
It is painful when you lose home. I felt it when I left my childhood home in Malawi when I was 10 years old. And I also know the deep sense of joy and relief when you find home again!
This longing? It’s universal. And for some, losing home is more than memory—it’s history. A loss passed down, generation to generation. First Nations communities know this pain—the pain of home taken away. Land. Culture. Identity. Gone.
Jubilee is God’s answer. Leviticus 25: Every 50 years—debts erased, land returned, families restored. Homecoming. A fresh start.
And then Jesus. Luke 4: He stands in the synagogue, unrolls the scroll, and reads the Jubilee manifesto. Good news to the poor. Freedom for captives. The year of the Lord’s favor. Then He says: It’s happening. Right now. In me.
And so Jesus forgives sins and frees captive. But where’s the land restoration? The political revolution? Why isn’t Jesus rallying troops? Overthrowing Rome?
Jesus is playing a bigger game with a much greater aim. Not the restoration of just one nation, one place or one moment in history. This isn’t about reclaiming one piece of land. It’s about restoring the whole world. Jesus’ Jubilee is cosmic in scale. Total in restoration.
Now look how Jesus start this grand restoration. He doesn't start with land and politics. He starts by establishing a new kind of community, a family, with God at the centre - a place where everyone is invited to belong.
The early church took this idea and ran with it! Acts 2: They shared everything. No one in need. Joy overflowing. A new kind of family.
So - here we are in Gibsons at the start of 2025. What does Jubilee restoration look like here?
Maybe it’s a community café, a generous table where strangers become friends. Maybe it’s affordable housing, a place where people can quite literally make home. Or maybe it’s simply reaching out to involve someone who feels on the outside of things.
These are important ideas and big questions. So - this year, we’re going to take time to dream. Listen. Pray. Imagine. And ask: What is God calling us to build?
Let's end with this: finding true home starts with Jesus. He is the one who forgives, frees, restores, and welcomes us in. Ready to come home?
Questions
Close your eyes. Picture a time you felt deeply at home, where you felt you truly belonged. Where was it? A place? A meal? Being in the presence of certain people? What did it feel like? What difference did it make to you?
Why do we long to belong and what's the opposite of belonging? Why is loneliness such a big problem these days? Is it hard to find belonging? Why?
The early church in Acts 2 turned the world upside down with one simple act: they ate together. Rich and poor. Jew and Gentile. Friends and former enemies. All because of Jesus. Divisions crumbled. People worshipped together and feasted around one table. What does that say about how healthy belonging is created and sustained?
Sometimes, communities build walls without even realizing it. Why do churches become hard to enter? What unspoken rules or expectations keep people out? Does that happen here? If it does, what could we do about it?
Dream with me. If we could do one thing—something wild, unmistakable, Jubilee-sized—to make Calvary known as a Jubilee place where everyone is invited to belong, what would it be? What would it take to make it happen?
