[Question]{.underline}: How can it be said that Our Lord came to preach “the acceptable year of the Lord”?
[Answer:]{.underline} This expression is a part of the prophecy of Isaias (61:2) that is read by Our Lord on the Sabbath day when He unfolded the scroll of the book of Isaias in the synagogue of Nazareth (Lk 4:17-19). This is a directly messianic text, referring to the person of Our Divine Savior, of which Our Lord Himself stated: “This day is fulfilled this scripture in your ears” (Lk 4:21).
The complete text from Isaias, as read by Our Lord, is this: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. Wherefore He hath anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor, he hath sent me to heal the contrite of heart, to preach deliverance to the captives and sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to [preach the acceptable year of the Lord]{.underline}…” The meaning of the first part of the text is clear, referring to Our Divine Savior’s deliverance from the blindness and slavery of sin that has bound and bruised our wretched souls. The expression “the acceptable year of the Lord” contained in Is 61:2 is in fact a reference to the law of Moses, and in particular to Leviticus 25:10, which orders a jubilee year to be celebrated every 50 years. “And thou shalt sanctify the fiftieth year, and shalt proclaim remission to all the inhabitants of thy land: for it is the year of jubilee. Every man shall return to his possession, and every one shall go back to his former family; because it is the jubilee and the fiftieth year.”
This Jubilee year was a time of remission, much more even than the sabbatical year, which came around once every seven years. According to the Mosaic law, at the sound of trumpet announcing the Jubilee year all debts were abolished, all lands and houses that had been alienated in any way returned to their former owners free of charge, even when the purchaser had promised them to the service of the temple. Likewise, all Israelite slaves recovered their liberty. (Lev 25—27). If it is true that this aspect of the law was most of the time a dead letter, it nevertheless is very clear that it was a part of the Mosaic law, and that it had a profound symbolism, for it indicated to the Israelites that they were not the true owners of the land that God had entrusted to them, that all were effectively slaves of Yahweh, and that no family or corporation could accumulate wealth here on this earth.
However, the real symbolism of this year of grace, the Jubilee, the year of the Lord, is the perfect remission obtained by Our Divine Savior on the Cross when He freed us from the debt of our sins, and opened up the gates to the promised homeland, and this not just for the Jubilee year, but for everlasting life.
Answered by Father Peter Scott, SSPX.