Biblical Jubilee for Nature
In the book of Leviticus, God introduced to his people the concept of Jubilee, describing the fiftieth year as a time of celebration and freedom, where debts are forgiven, slaves are set free, and the land is given rest. In chapter 25, God says, “When you enter the land I am going to give you, the land itself must observe a sabbath to the Lord. For six years sow your fields, and for six years prune your vineyards and gather their crops. But in the seventh year, the land is to have a year of sabbath rest, a sabbath to the Lord. Do not sow your fields or prune your vineyards. Do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the grapes of your untended vines. The land is to have a year of rest. Whatever the land yields during the sabbath year will be food for you—for yourself, your male and female servants, and the hired worker and temporary resident who live among you, as well as for your livestock and the wild animals in your land. Whatever the land produces may be eaten. The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine and you reside in my land as foreigners and strangers. Throughout the land that you hold as a possession, you must provide for the redemption of the land.”
In this biblical passage, God instituted three key principles to be observed by his people in their lives as Jubilee– restoration, stewardship and redemption. Halting human activities such as cultivation, sowing, and tendering crops for one year gave land and natural ecosystems time for renewal and restoration. This teaching has influenced Christian communities for years and is practised in different forms to date. In my native community, we practice it by allowing agricultural land to rest for 3 months between planting seasons. Restoration is also practised by renewing ecosystems to restore nature that has been lost due to human activity.
The Church of England, inspired by the need to grant Jubilee to over-farmed land, recently long-leased 100 acres of land from the Herefordshire Wildlife Trust on a block of land historically farmed intensively both for crops and dairy production. The Church is planting grass and wildflowers, restoring ancient hedgerows, reintroducing cattle grazing, and allowing for seasonal flooding. Once established, it will help protect the city of Hereford from flooding, improve soil and water quality, and become rich new habitats for plants and wildlife. The Episcopal Church in the United States equally inspired by this concept, has embarked on restoring healthy prairie and other habitats in Kansas.
Jubilee also entrenched the concept of stewardship as God made it clear that land belonged to him and was not to be sold permanently. The people were holding it in trust as they were residing on it as foreigners and strangers and during Jubilee it would be redistributed. This reality that humans are only passing through the earth in short lifetimes, has influenced the lives of many Christians who see their role as that of stewardship of God’s creation rather than ownership and dominion of it. This is the basis of our theology and motivation for our creation care activities.
The year of Jubilee was a year of redemption, a time to reset systems. In that year, slaves were set free, debts forgiven and properties restored to their original owners. In our time when humans have overexploited nature’s resources, we are at the perfect time to declare a jubilee for nature and reset natural ecosystems in line with the Global Biodiversity Framework’s 2030 mission “to put nature on a path to recovery for the benefit of people and planet.”
Jubilee is a reminder of God's desire for His creation to live in harmony and unity, and to prioritize the well-being of others over personal gain as envisioned by the Global Biodiversity Framework – “a world of living in harmony with nature”. As a faith community, we are committed to the implementation of the biodiversity plan as its aspirations are in sync with our theological perspectives and inspired by our faith teachings such as Jubilee.
Written by Nicholas Pande
Nicholas is an agronomist serving as the environmental policy lead for Anglican Communion and the global facilitator for Communion Forest - an ecosystem conservation and restoration initiative of the Anglican Communion. He is a member of Faiths for Biodiversity and is passionate about environmental stewardship.
