The fiftieth year you shall proclaim a jubilee year. Israel’s journey to the promised land was on course, and God wanted to ensure that by the time they set foot there, they shall have carved out and developed their identity. Part of building this identity was the rules and regulations (laws) that God continued to give them. These rules and regulations were not only to become part of their identity but were also meant to help them live out that identity. In today’s passage, God introduces to the Israelites the concept of jubilee. A sacred time that was to be celebrated every fifty years, the jubilee was to be like a prolonged Sabbath.
Like the Sabbath, the jubilee celebration was to be marked by acts of liberation and charity to one's fellow Israelite as well as to sojourners and aliens in their midst. It was to be faithfully observed as a celebration of the Lord their God. This jubilee celebration, more of a concept than an anniversary of an event in their past life, was to remind the people of God's goodness to them with the hope that they too would be moved to return the favor by being good themselves. While it was to be celebrated every fifty years, the jubilee year was nonetheless a summation of the life the Israelites were called to live on a daily basis. 
The jubilee celebration comes to us as a concept, as something that is part and parcel of our faith. Just as it was for the Israelites, so it is for us: a celebration of life in recognition of God’s goodness to us. Consequently, the best way through which we can make a faithful observance of the celebration is by ourselves becoming protectors of life. In a sense, we have to become co-creators with God.