Americans have a lot of debt. The national debt is above $22 trillion and consumer debt is around $14 trillion. The ACLU’s report, “A Pound of Flesh: The Criminalization of Private Debt” which found people pursued for as little as $2.00 (well below the prosecutable threshold), names the additional fees and interest folks end up paying that make them unable to pay for life’s basics. The ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) found that, “In more than 1,000 cases reviewed…many were struggling to recover after the loss of a job, mounting medical bills, the death of a family member, a divorce, or an illness. They included retirees or people with disabilities who are unable to work." (p.7)
The truth is that one of the ways America practices injustice is to engage people in terrible debt when they’re trying to make ends meet. This increase in suffering is neither just nor compassionate. This is not a new problem. When we speak of theological redemption (who will save us from this terrible suffering), we are literally imagining the Holy as the one who cleans up our debts, recognizing a world in which we may be good people trying to live good lives and we still end up in difficult to terrible straits. Leviticus 25:1-26:2 (Parashat Be-har) addresses this reality of inequity and suffering, when our communities and economies become not about living well together, everyone with their basic needs met and pursuing lives of purpose and meaning, but when the purpose and meaning of the majority’s lives are turned into enriching the minority.
The theological and ethical antidote to rampant greed is Sabbath keeping, and not just our personal and spiritual Sabbaths. The land itself and all who work it is expected to rest in the seventh year and then in the fiftieth year there is a jubilee where society resets itself, easing and erasing debts, so that neighbor shall not wrong neighbor (Lev. 25:14-15). There are specific obligations to be redeemers of others who are related to you, and then expectations where you cannot further take advantage of that person (Lev. 25:35-37-46). Debt bondage has limits, and the experience of debt bondage has strong expectations of equitable and compassionate treatment, so that “..no one shall rule ruthlessly over the other.” (Lev. 25:46). And the jubilee year is the generational failsafe, offering freedom for those families who could not be redeemed in any other way. The Sabbath years and the Jubilee are ways of limiting greed and cruelty to one another, and there are good reasons why they are appealing practices today.
When we fail to live generously and compassionately with one another and we allow our society to exploit and steal the lives of the people exploited, we are failing how we are called spiritually. Loving the Holy means loving one another, not for what you can do for me to make my life easier or richer, but just because we are in the life together. Loving the Holy means leaning into extravagant actions like forgiving debts and decent actions like treating people who come afoul of debt due to life’s challenges as though they are still people worthy of respect, dignity, and compassion, because they are. Sure we need to be responsible with our lives, but let’s remember what the ACLU found: most of the people entangled in the criminal justice system for being poor were facing life crises that can come to any one: loss of a job, divorce, serious illness or disability, or a beloved family member dying. That is, they are not prosecuted because they are bad people. They are prosecuted because they are experiencing distress and suffering and had not economic net to hold them.
If we’re really going to take loving one another seriously, we need practices of debt forgiveness due to horrible life events. We need to support and care for one another when we’re in trial and trouble, and not be sent to court or levied fines and arrest records to add to our misery. Where is the Sabbath of rest for those weary and heavy-laden? Where is the Jubilee for those suffering from an inequitable, unjust economic system? Rather than worrying about our eventual redemption theologically, we could pick up our responsibilities right here and now to release those captive to debt because of miserable life events, and actually bother to care for one another with love, compassion, equity, and justice.
In the coming week, may we consider the debts others may have to us and the possibilities for debt reduction or forgiveness. May we consider how we can join together pooling resources to relieve someone else’s debt. And may we advocate for a more loving, compassionate, and equitable society, for indeed, we are called to be redeemers of one another. The Holy may be our ultimate redeemer, but Leviticus and the Prophets are very clear that we are called here and now to redeem one another first.
