Our Jubilean Hope

An Advent reading for December 8.

Stephen Crotts

Week 2: The Prince of Peace


Amid the pain and violence of our world, we hold fast to this hope: One day Jesus will usher in true and ultimate peace. He also brings us spiritual peace in the here and now as we experience redemption and live by the values of his kingdom. Jesus is the Prince of Peace.

Read Isaiah 61:1–4 and Luke 4:16–21

When Jesus unfurled the scroll and read Isaiah 61, his hearers had been waiting for many generations for the Promised One—the Prince of Peace, the bringer of justice and freedom. They’d seen countless wars, successive occupying empires, and cultural changes that disoriented them as they navigated having faith in such circumstances.

We too live in times of geopolitical chaos, violence, and confusion. We too wait for the Prince of Peace to come in glory, to bring the final resurrection and restoration to places of death and mourning. It hurts to wait. It fills us with longing.

Isaiah 61:1–4 refers to the Jubilee Year in Leviticus 25—a radical command that called for restoring land and people who had been sold into slavery because of debt. The Jubilee Year was the year of the Lord’s favor, when debt-slaves would be freed and homes and lands would be restored. God desired every daughter and son of Israel to be restored to home. Yet Isaiah 61 also speaks of God’s vengeance—and Jesus unsettlingly says that he has come to bring not peace but the sword and division (Matt. 10:34–36). How then, could Jesus be the bringer of peace?

When Isaiah speaks of the Prince of Peace, he’s speaking of shalom—which is not only the absence of violence or evil, but also the fullness of a good life—of loving one’s neighbor to see her flourishing and following a loving God each day.

The weekly Sabbath breaks our rhythms of work with rest and shalom, and the Jubilee is the Sabbath of Sabbaths. It is the pinnacle of shalom. So when Jesus declares the arrival of jubilean shalom, he not only offers salvation from judgment after this life but also asserts that he is the arrival of deliverance from slavery to both monetary and spiritual debt—into freedom and restoration in this life and beyond.

Thus, Jesus’ birth and life are more than a prelude to the Cross. Indeed, his birth, his life, the Cross, and the Resurrection are all part of the larger story of God delivering his people—a people who trust God and love their neighbor. As the Israelites were called to trust in God for deliverance and provision in the wilderness, so we are called to lean upon the Lord for the same—against all odds and in war, political turmoil, or wandering. And we’re called to love our neighbor as part of that active hope.

Jesus inaugurated the Jubilee in the shadow of the occupying Roman Empire, and he invites us, despite the shadows all around, to follow him and to live in his jubilean kingdom. He bids us to actively yearn, hope, and wait for his resurrection power to break through in unexpected ways as he moves and lives in us.

Sarah Shin is a doctoral student in systematic theology at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland. She is the author of Beyond Colorblind: Redeeming Our Ethnic Journey.

Consider Isaiah 61:1–4 and Luke 4:16–21. Optional: Also read Leviticus 25.
How does the idea of Jubilee enrich your reading of Isaiah’s prophecy? Of Jesus identifying himself as its fulfillment? Of Jesus as the Prince of Peace?

Also in this issue

As we worship at the manger, may we marvel that this very child is the Mighty God, he is the Prince of Peace, and he is the Light of the World. He is the one who came to die. He is the one who rose triumphant, who ascended, and who will keep his promise to come again in glory. He will enact justice and bring to culmination his kingdom of peace. He is Immanuel, God with us.

The Beautiful Paradox

Jesus Is Our Peace

Born to Be Bruised

The Healing Peace of Jesus

Peaceful Rest

The Prince of Shalom

A Vision of Peace

The Greatest Hope of All

The Judge Who Is Faithful & True

Jesus Will Reign

Jesus Deserves All the Attention

Christ, the Everlasting Lord

For to Us a Child Is Born...

God of Mercy and Power

The Invitation of Incarnation

Unfather Christmas

Waiting On a Promise

He Shines in the Darkness

Christ in Ten Thousand Places

Delivered from Darkness

A Frightening and Freeing Light

The Light Leading Us Home

Salvation and Love

A Light Has Dawned

True Cleansing

A Path Through the Wilderness

Light of the World, Hope of the Nations

Christmas Day

Seeing Jesus, They Knew

A Flock of Shepherds

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