Jesus, looking at them, said, “With men it is impossible, but with God, all things are indeed possible.” Mark 10:27

Leviticus 25

The Sabbatical Year

¹ The Lord spoke to Moses in Mount Sinai, saying ² “Speak to the Israelites and tell them, ‘When you come into the land which I am giving you, then the land shall keep a Sabbath to the Lord.

³ For six years you shall sow your field, and for six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather its fruits, ⁴ but in the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath of complete rest for the land; a Sabbath to the Lord. You shall not sow your field or prune your vineyard.

⁵ What grows by itself in your harvest, you shall not reap, and you shall not gather the grapes of your untended vines. It shall be a year of complete rest for the land. ⁶ The Sabbath of the land shall be for food for you, for yourself, for your servant, for your maid, for your hired servant, and for the foreigner who sojourns with you. ⁷ And for the cattle and the animals that are in your land, all its increase shall be for food.’ ”

The Year of Jubilee

⁸ ” ‘You shall count off seven Sabbath years (7 x 7 years) that comes to the timespan of seven Sabbath years which is equal to 49 years. ⁹ Then you shall sound the trumpet loudly on the tenth day of the seventh month. On the Day of Atonement you shall sound the trumpet throughout all your land.’ ”

Return of Property

¹⁰ ” ‘You shall consecrate the 50^th year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee to you, and each of you shall return to his own property, and each of you shall return to his family. ¹¹ That 50^th year shall be a jubilee to you. In it you shall not sow, nor reap that which grows of itself, nor gather from the untended vines. ¹² For it is the Jubilee. It shall be holy to you. You shall eat of its increase out of the field.

¹³ In this Year of Jubilee each of you shall return to his property.

¹⁴ If you sell anything to your neighbor, or buy from your neighbor, you shall not wrong one another. ¹⁵ According to the number of years after the Jubilee you shall buy from your neighbor. According to the number of years of crops he shall sell to you. ¹⁶ In proportion to a greater number of years, you shall increase its price, and according to fewer years you shall decrease its price, for it is the total number of crops that he is selling to you. ¹⁷ You shall not wrong one another, but you shall fear your God; for I am the Lord your God.’ ”

The Blessing of Obedience

¹⁸ ” ‘Therefore you shall do my statutes and keep my ordinances and do them, and you shall dwell in the land in safety. ¹⁹ And the land shall yield its fruit, and you shall eat your fill and dwell in safety.

²⁰ If you say: What shall we eat the seventh year, if we do not sow or gather our crops? ²¹ I will command my blessing on you in the sixth year, and it shall bear fruit for the three years.

²² When you sow the eighth year, you shall eat of the fruits from the old crop until the ninth year. Until its fruits come in, you shall eat the old crop.’ ”

The Law of Redemption

²³ ” ‘The land shall not be sold permanently, for the land is mine, for you are foreigners and sojourners with me. ²⁴ In all the land of your possession, you shall grant a redemption for the land.

²⁵ If your brother becomes poor and sells some of his property, and if any of his kinsman come to redeem it, then he shall redeem that which his brother sold. ²⁶ If a man has no one to redeem it, and he becomes prosperous and finds sufficient means to redeem it, ²⁷ then let him count the years since the sale, and restore what remains to the man to whom he sold it so that he may return to his property.

²⁸ But if he is not able to get it back for himself, then what he has sold shall remain in the hands of him who has bought it until the Year of Jubilee. In the Jubilee it shall be released, and he shall return to his property.

²⁹ If a man sells a residential house in a walled city, then for an entire year after it has been sold, he retains the right to buy it back. For a full year he shall have the Right of Redemption. ³⁰ If it is not redeemed within the timespan of a full year, then the house that is in the walled city shall be established forever to him who bought it, throughout his generations. It shall not be released in the Jubilee. ³¹ But the houses of the villages which have no wall around them shall be counted as fields of the country. They may be redeemed, and they shall be released in the Jubilee.

³² Notwithstanding, for the cities of the Levites, and the houses of the cities in their possession, the Levites may have the Right of Redemption at any time. ³³ The Levites may redeem the house that was sold, and the city of his possession, and it shall be released in the Jubilee; for the houses of the cities of the Levites are their possession among the Israelites. ³⁴ But the field of the pasture lands of their cities may not be sold, for it is their perpetual possession.’ ”

Redemption of the Poor

³⁹ ” ‘If your brother has grown poor among you and sells himself to you, you shall not make him serve as a slave. ⁴⁰ He shall be with you as a hired servant and as a temporary resident. He shall serve with you until the Year of Jubilee. ⁴¹ Then he shall depart from you, he and his children with him and shall return to his own family, and to the property of his forefathers. ⁴² For they are my servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt. They shall not be sold as slaves. ⁴³ You shall not rule over him with severity, but shall fear your God.

⁴⁴ As for your male and your female slaves, whom you may have from the nations that are around you, from them you may buy male and female slaves. ⁴⁵ Moreover, of the children of the aliens who live among you, of them you may buy, and of their families who are with you, which they have conceived in your land; and they will be your property. ⁴⁶ You may make them an inheritance for your children after you, to hold for a possession. Of them you may take your slaves forever, but over your brothers, the Israelites, you shall not rule one over another with harshness.

⁴⁷ If an alien or temporary resident with you becomes rich, and your brother beside him has grown poor and sells himself to the stranger or foreigner living among you, or to a member of the foreigner’s family, ⁴⁸ after he is sold he may be redeemed. One of his brothers may redeem him; ⁴⁹ or his uncle or his uncle’s son may redeem him, or any who is a close relative to him of his family may redeem him; or if he has grown rich, he may redeem himself.

⁵⁰ He shall calculate with him who bought him, from the year that he sold himself to him, to the Year of Jubilee. The price of his sale shall be according to the number of years he is with him and based on the standard time of a hired servant.

⁵¹ If there are many years remaining, according to them he shall give back the price of his redemption from the money from which he was bought.

⁵² If there remain but a few years to the year of jubilee, then he shall calculate the price with him and according to his years of service he shall give back the price of his redemption.

⁵³ As a servant hired year by year shall he be with him. He shall not rule with harshness over him in your sight.

⁵⁴ If he is not redeemed by these means, then he shall be released in the Year of Jubilee, he and his children with him. ⁵⁵ For the Israelites are my servants. They are my servants whom I brought out of the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.’ ”

Mark 10:13-31

Jesus Blesses the Children

¹³ And they brought little children to him, that he might touch them, and his disciples rebuked those who brought them. ¹⁴ But when Jesus saw this, he was moved with indignation, and said to them, “Allow the little children to come to me! Do not hinder them, for indeed, the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these. ¹⁵ With certainty I tell you, whoever will not receive the Kingdom of God like a little child, he will in no way enter into it.” ¹⁶ He took them in his arms and laying his hands on them, he blessed them.

The Rich Young Man

¹⁷ As he was going forth on a journey, someone came running and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?”

¹⁸ Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except one—God. ¹⁹ You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder. Do not commit adultery. Do not steal. Do not give false testimony. Do not defraud. Honor your father and mother.’ ”

²⁰ He said to him, “Teacher, I have observed all these things from my youth.”

²¹ Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “One thing you lack. Go, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up your cross and follow me.”

²² But at these words, he was sad, and he went away grieved, for he had great possessions. ²³ Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How difficult it is for those who have riches to enter into the Kingdom of God!”

²⁴ The disciples were astonished at his words. But Jesus answered again and said to them, “Children, how hard it is for those who trust in riches to enter into the Kingdom of God! ²⁵ It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God.”

²⁶ They were greatly perplexed, saying to him, “Then who can be saved?”

²⁷ Jesus, looking at them, said, “With men it is impossible, but with God, all things are indeed possible.”

²⁸ Peter began to tell him, “We have left everything and have followed you.”

²⁹ Jesus said, “With certainty I tell you, there is no one who has left house, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or land, for my sake, and for the sake of the Gospel, ³⁰  who will not receive 100 times more now in this time: houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and land, with persecutions; and in the age to come, eternal life. ³¹ But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”

Psalm 44:9-26

⁹ But now you rejected us and put us to shame,
and you do not go forth with our armies.
¹⁰ You make us turn back from the enemy.
Those who hate us take plunder for themselves.

¹¹ You have made us like sheep for food,
and have scattered us among the nations.
¹² You sell your people for nothing
and have gained nothing from their sale.

¹³ You make us a reproach to our neighbors,
a mockery to be scoffed at by those who are around us.
¹⁴ You make us a byword among the nations,
a shaking of the head among the peoples.

¹⁵ All day long my dishonor is before me,
and shame covers my face,
¹⁶ at the taunt of one who reproaches and verbally abuses,
because of the enemy and self-avenger.

¹⁷ All this has come on us,
yet we have not forgotten you,
nor have we been untrue to your covenant.
¹⁸ Our heart has not turned back,
nor have our steps strayed from your path,
¹⁹ though you have crushed us in the haunt of jackals
and covered us with the shadow of death.

²⁰ If we have forgotten the name of our God,
or spread out our hands to a foreign god,
²¹ will God not search this out?
For he knows the secrets of the heart.
²² Yes, for your sake we are killed all day long.
We are regarded as sheep for the slaughter.

²³ Wake up!
Why do you sleep, Lord?
Arise!
Do not reject us forever.
²⁴ Why do you hide your face,
and forget our affliction and our oppression?

²⁵ For we are bowed down to the dust.
Our bodies cling to the earth.
²⁶ Rise up to help us.
Redeem us for the sake of your loving kindness.

Proverbs 10:20-21

²⁰ The tongue of the righteous is like choice silver.
The heart of the wicked is of little worth.
²¹ The lips of the righteous feed many,
but the foolish die for lack of understanding.

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