Real Friends Give You a Shofar for Your 50th Birthday!
Last night, my funny, sweet, smart, Sunday school class surprised me with a birthday party. Oh it is hard to utter, but I will be 50 on June 24th.
Each Sunday, we gather to dig out biblical truths and try to wrap our minds around how we get to live it out the following week. There is a lot (I mean a LOT) of laughter, tears at times, and always gut-honest conversations about our successes and struggles as we strive “2BLike Him” (our class name).
Of course they gave me the things every 50 year old needs…antacids, muscle pain reliever, gas reliever, false teeth (thanks Jo Lynn). But they also gave me something they knew would grab my heart – a shofar.
Each January I pick my “one word” to keep me focused. This year I chose “jubilee” because it is rich in meaning, especially as I was headed toward my fiftieth year. You can read an in-depth explanation of the biblical meaning of jubilee here: Year of Jubilee.
In short, in Old Testament times, God instructed the Children of Israel to set aside every 50th year as the Year of Jubilee. All kinds of great things happened in this 50th year…slaves were freed, sold land was returned or leased to the original owners for fair prices, and it provided a rhythm of rest for the land and people.
8-12 “Count off seven Sabbaths of years—seven times seven years: Seven Sabbaths of years adds up to forty-nine years. Then sound loud blasts on the ram’s horn on the tenth day of the seventh month, the Day of Atonement. Sound the ram’s horn all over the land. Sanctify the fiftieth year; make it a holy year. Proclaim freedom all over the land to everyone who lives in it—a Jubilee for you: Each person will go back to his family’s property and reunite with his extended family. The fiftieth year is your Jubilee year…Lev. 25 (MSG)
Shofar is the original word for trumpet…basically a ram’s horn. The Children of Israel ushered in the Year of Jubilee, the 50th year, with a blast of the shofar. What a way to celebrate!
If you hear a loud blast of a ram’s horn on June 24th, it will likely be originating from my back yard. I need to be set free from some things. I need a sabbath from strongholds.
I get it…Jubilee is definitively a Jewish thing. But I am so thankful that Jesus provided our ultimate year of Jubilee the day we surrendered our sin debt to Him. The debt on our account was canceled, but it was transferred to Jesus’ account on the cross…“by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.” Col. 2:14
With all of this in my heart and my head, I am not dreading my birthday. I am looking forward to starting this new year of life with my husband of 30 years and family/friends whom I dearly love.
Happy Jubilee!