New Jubilee’ in the Gospel of luke and its implications in the indian Context

Abstract

Jubilee is one of the most significant themes in the Old Testament that envisions an ideal and nationalistic kingdom for the people of Israel. Luke quotes Isa 61:1-2 in 4:18-19 as Jesus’ programmatic pronouncement in the Gospel. The Third Gospel as a whole orchestrates its ideological framework based on Jesus’ Nazareth Manifesto. But in Luke, Jubilee demonstrates a meaning beyond the traditional and nationalistic understanding of it. The Lukan narrator takes the message of Jubilee from the OT and reinterprets it for his new Sitz im Leben that comprises predominantly the poor and the oppressed sections in the community. In that sense, the Lukan understanding of the New Jubilee, as a gnomic and universalistic concept, can encompass the feelings and the aspirations of all people everywhere and in every context. In today’s Indian scenario, the New Jubilee concept introduces a new paradigm that can transform
the existent realities of the people.