Chapter 9 Jubilee Periods

In Hope for Everyone we describe how people are raised from death and provided with homes in communities made up of people who have been specifically chosen to live together. We believe these communities will exist for a period of time long enough for people to have the opportunity to develop meaningful relationships with others and experience what they need to guide them on their journey towards maturity. We describe how Jesus intentionally places people together in communities in order for transformational scenarios to come about organically, rather than forcing or coercing anyone to change their attitudes. In a way, it’s a kind of chemistry whereby certain characters and traits are combined in order to bring about a desired effect.

In our story, the period that people spend together in a community is limited to fifty years. This is a measurement of time that makes sense to us, as we feel that any lessons that might be learnt would be achieved within this time, but we freely admit we have no ‘special insight’ or demand it be deemed a fact! Such periods we have called ‘jubilee periods’ in deference to the jubilees mentioned in the Bible; these are loosely based on the ancient principle of setting captive slaves free after a certain period of years (Leviticus 25:39-42) and also the periodical forgiveness of debts (Leviticus 25:28), also known in certain places throughout history as ‘debt jubilees’.

Causing people to move to a new community every fifty years prevents a build-up of wealth (in our vision it is not possible to take any possessions from one jubilee period to another). It also allows people to form new relationships unencumbered by the mistakes they may have made in previous jubilee periods.

An example of this in Hope for Everyone is when Johan, who died in the Second World War as a young German soldier, is placed in a community with Chester, a Canadian who was also involved in the same conflict. Initially Chester hates Johan and berates him for the atrocities of the Holocaust committed by Nazi Germany.  Johan, who had been unaware of such events, feels like a victim both for dying so young in the war and for now facing such hatred and prejudice in his community. Chester, on the other hand, feels morally superior to Johan and takes pride in mocking him. It takes years, but the two men eventually find common ground as Chester discovers that much cruelty and barbarity was inflicted in Canada on indigenous peoples, a part of the history of his nation of which he had been unaware. Both men realise that the binary ‘good guys and bad guys’ way of seeing the world is now redundant and that they are both guilty and innocent, but not in the ways they had initially imagined.

Having reconciled with one another and learned invaluable lessons, the two characters part at the end of the jubilee period, and we follow our principal character, Johan, to a new community where different lessons await him.

We believe that the journey of the human soul, through this life and the ages to come, is made up of many episodes and teachable moments that present us with the opportunity to learn the difficult but necessary lessons for us to grow and mature. Some of these occasions will cause people to react negatively and manifest characteristics that need further development, while others will provide breakthrough moments that bring about healing and reconciliation and move an individual along the path towards maturity.

Thus, throughout the ages to come, we suggest there will be the need for defined periods that are designed to keep the human heart from stagnating and becoming complacent as people move towards maturity in unfailing agape love. Even in the heavenly city we imagine that every so often people will voluntarily choose to move to a different area to contribute to and benefit from the wealth of experiences that new locations and new relationships can provide.