I am not a golfer. By any stretch of the imagination. The last time I went golfing I went with a few friends who did golf on a semi-regular basis. Why they asked me along I have no idea. I am guessing they needed a few good laughs. All I can say is that, out of 18 holes, I got the ball out of the TEE BOX once. For those who don’t play golf, the tee box is the area where the tee is located…where you first hit the ball towards the hole. The goal is to drive the ball as straight and far as possible. The tee boxes on that course were maybe 20 yards long. Yup. That was my longest shot on 17 holes. And the 18th? Well I did launch that one pretty good…into the side of a house.
Now in golf there is a thing called a Mulligan. Essentially you act as if the shot never happened. You get to do it over. My understanding is that typically you get 2 mulligans for every 18 hole golf game. I would have needed one per every shot I took. As a consequence, I don’t golf any longer. Even mini golf. When I was a kid my Father took me mini golfing. Essentially this is 18 holes of putting through different creative obstacles. Putting means you do not drive the ball. And my Father made this very clear BEFORE we started. I then promptly hit the first shot out of the facility, into the parking lot and off a car. That was probably the best drive…in my life!! So, no golf for me.
But the idea of a mulligan, or a do-over, is intriguing. The ability to say, “oops. I goofed up. Can I do that one again?” Kind of like chess. As long as you don’t take your hand off the chess piece, you can take the move back. But what about in life?
In today’s first reading from Leviticus, we hear about the sabbath year and the jubilee year. This is the third book of the Torah (first five books of the Old Testament) and deals mainly with ritual laws and also laws that deal with how society should be structured for the Israelites, particularly as they roamed the desert for 40 years. It deals with relationships. The first concept is that of the Sabbath Year. This actually comes from the verses of the chapter that immediately precedes today’s reading. But it is related to what takes place during what we read today. For 6 years farmers may sow and reap from their fields. But in the seventh year the field must rest, as we rest on the sabbath day. The Lord is said to supply enough crops in the 6th year to last for 3 years thus providing food to bridge the sabbath year.
In today’s reading we are introduced to the concept of the Jubilee Year. Basically, the Jubilee year occurs every 50 years. During this time all property that has been bought and sold during the previous 49 years reverts back to the original owner. Also, anyone who has been sold, or sold themselves, into servitude, can return to their families. It is not certain as to whether the Israelites generally complied with these two concepts. I read, however, that some tried to get around the spirit of the Sabbath Year idea by selling the land to a Gentile in the 7th year then bought it back the following year.
Now these social structures for the Israelites had the goal of accomplishing a few things. One is faith that God will provide by supplying enough food from the fields in the 6th year to carry them over past the sabbath year. The idea that rest, even for farm land, is crucial. The idea of the Jubilee year was meant to help not to take advantage of the less fortunate. That they would not lose their land for generations in spite of temporary financial difficulty. That the family unit would not be dissolved due to poverty. Prevent individuals from amassing land monopolies.
While the idea of a sabbath year and a jubilee year would unlikely fly today since we have a larger population, widespread global economy and we do not have the same degree of focus on agricultural land that was present during the time of the Israelites. However, the spiritual basis of these specific laws, and the 613 laws the Israelites followed that included these, are timeless.
We should not take advantage of those who are less fortunate. There is a scene from Season 2, Episode 8 of the Chosen that highlights this. In the scene 2 individuals (we later find out that one is Judas) are negotiating with a shepherd to buy his land. Ostensibly to build a cavern for the dead who have no where else to be buried. In reality, they know that there are valuable minerals on the land that will net them a handsome profit. The farmer was eager to sell to relieve some of his debts.
Faith. The Sabbath Year required the Israelites to have faith that God would provide sufficiently in the 6th year. They were not to accumulate large amounts of crop over the 6 years and store it in barns for the 7th year. They were to leave it up to God.
Come together as a family. The law of Jubilee provides for relatives of the individual who had to sell his property to purchase the land back from the purchaser at a reasonable price based on the time to the next Jubilee. In this way, family is vital to support each other to keep the family unit alive and viable.
In these ways, a mistake(s) by an individual is less likely to cause irreparable harm to the individual and to the next generations in the family. The individual gets a mulligan…a do-over. And isn’t that what we get as Christians. As believers in the saving, merciful power of Jesus. We can make a mistake. We can commit a very serious sin. Voluntarily and with full knowledge. But once we admit that sin and ask for forgiveness, we enter a period of jubilee. The debt is forgiven. And our repentance can prevent our sin from effecting the lives of those who come after us. Christ is our mulligan. No matter how many we need. 7 times? Seven times seven? Seventy times seven? Or to infinity and beyond?
Maybe if I ever go back on the golf course I should pray and take Christ along with me. Maybe with that kind of mulligan machine I can break 100?! Who am I kidding?
