Jesus and the Jubilee: The Biblical Roots of the Year of God's Favor

Jubilee means joy—a joy that’s not fleeting, a joy that lasts.

In biblical times, a jubilee was a time to rejoice. And this is still the case when the Church announces a jubilee.

In Jesus and the Jubilee, biblical scholar John Bergsma gets to the roots of the jubilee, showing how this practice was established in order to preserve freedom, family, and the fullness of God’s blessing for the ancient Israelites.

But what the Israelites were promised by God—and experienced partially—was truly fulfilled by Jesus. As Jesus and the Jubilee reveals, the Catholic Church is the perpetual jubilee, offering redemption, release from spiritual bondage, return to our true home and family, and rest in God’s fullness.

Discover how the jubilee is the very center of Jesus’s mission and how we can fully participate in this ongoing “year of favor.”

John Bergsma is Vice President of Mission for the St. Paul Center and Professor of Theology at Franciscan University of Steubenville. Bergsma is a former Protestant pastor who entered the Catholic Church in 2001 after years of searching for theological truth. He holds a Ph.D. in Theology from the University of Notre Dame, with a concentration in the Old Testament and the Dead Sea Scrolls. Dr. Bergsma has written over twenty books on Scripture and the Catholic faith and speaks regularly both nationally and internationally. He and his wife, Dawn, reside in Steubenville, Ohio and are blessed with eight children and a growing number of grandchildren.