The ORIGINAL "Share the wealth plan"

Lv 25:1, 8-17
The LORD said to Moses on Mount Sinai, “Seven weeks of years shall you count–seven times seven years–so that the seven cycles amount to forty-nine years. Then, on the tenth day of the seventh month, let the trumpet resound; on this, the Day of Atonement, the trumpet blast shall re-echo throughout your land. This fiftieth year you shall make sacred by proclaiming liberty in the land for all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, when every one of you shall return to his own property, every one to his own family estate. In this fiftieth year, your year of jubilee, you shall not sow, nor shall you reap the aftergrowth or pick the grapes from the untrimmed vines. Since this is the jubilee, which shall be sacred for you, you may not eat of its produce, except as taken directly from the field. “In this year of jubilee, then, every one of you shall return to his own property. Therefore, when you sell any land to your neighbor or buy any from him, do not deal unfairly. On the basis of the number of years since the last jubilee shall you purchase the land from your neighbor; and so also, on the basis of the number of years for crops, shall he sell it to you. When the years are many, the price shall be so much the more; when the years are few, the price shall be so much the less. For it is really the number of crops that he sells you. Do not deal unfairly, then; but stand in fear of your God.

I, the LORD, am your God.”

Leviticus consists mainly of laws conveyed to Moses and Aaron. It began with rules for the rituals and sacrifices to be performed by the Levite priests, then expanded to include everyone. They set standards of behavior in both the legal and personal sense that showed their intimate relationship with God. In part, the rules required returning acquired land to its original owners; freeing slaves; restoring captives to native lands; lifting debts with no charge of interest. In addition, fields were to be left uncultivated and animals relieved of their labors. God would enable this by providing large crops and stores of food to sustain the people until the next harvest.

Today's first reading describes a "Jubilee Year" to be celebrated throughout every 50th year, starting and ending on the Day of Atonement. It's purpose was to restore social and economic equity and to assure freedom to all by preventing the formation of "classes." Gee whiz! I guess Obama wasn't the first guy to think of "sharing the wealth!" :)

Isn’t it interesting that God’s message has NEVER changed? We must love one another as He loves us. And not let greed and envy get in our way—or politicians. ‘Nuff said.