Jubilee

So the Jubilee celebrations have begun. We might even be having a street party and we’ve never had one of those in the 22 years we’ve lived in the road! There are many kinds of celebrations being planned and no doubt many people will be taking part in one or more of them. It is a remarkable achievement for the Queen. She has, whatever you think of the institution of the monarchy, been a great servant of the nation and very faithful to her role as head of state. I suspect though, that there will fewer people celebrating her Platinum Jubilee that celebrated her accession the the throne. It’s been 70 years. And that’s a long time. And many things have changed in those 70 years. Attitudes to the monarchy have changed. My guess is that there will be a lot of people who will not want to join in and celebrate an institution they feel is outdated. Like many, I watched the FA Cup Final last Saturday. Apparently there was booing during the National Anthem. Booing from people who live under the Queen as the head of state. No-one condones that. It’s not good. But one commentator suggested it was important to understand why some might feel they want to boo the National Anthem. That is a discussion beyond the scope of this simple blog, but it may be about how some perceive wealth and status and inherited position. And that may be especially so at this challenging time of the rising cost of living! To see privilege and wealth must be hard for some. It seems to me those kind of dynamics have always been a problem. Jubilee is a challenging Old Testament concept that was supposed t be practised in the nation of Israel: Israel, the nation chosen by God to be a light to the Gentiles. Another way of saying that is to say that Israel was supposed to be an example of how life was to be lived at its best. Trouble is, it didn’t often do that. In Israel the rich got richer and the poor got poorer. Sound familiar? So God instituted Jubilee. Jubilee was an economic thing. It was designed to challenge the economic disparity in the nation. Every 50 years the whole economic life of Israel would get shaken up and the wealth redistributed. And when the trumpet sounded it would begin. The sound of the trumpet would be good news for the poor. The sound of the trumpet would not be good news for the rich. And guess what? Jubilee was never really practised in the nation of Israel. The poor longed for it. The rich didn’t want anything to do with it. Sound familiar? The Queen has been a great example to the nation: a faithful servant to her calling. And that is worth celebrating. As followers of the King, we are servants of another, far bigger and better Kingdom. And there’s another Jubilee that might be worth celebrating too. I might be part of a street party to celebrate one. I have to figure out my response to the other. And, perhaps, so do you.