The Lord’s Release

The same God speaks in these readings: He judges the proud, remembers the afflicted, and yet calls His people to become unlike their oppressors. Therefore He commands release of debts, open-handed care for the poor, and mercy toward a brother in need. If we ask God to rise against wickedness while we ourselves exact every last due, shut our hand, or grind the weak, our prayer condemns us.

Tertullian sets the matter plainly: “You shall remit every debt which your neighbour owes you; and of your brother you shall not require it, because it is called the release of the Lord your God.” The Lord’s release is not mere policy; it is a sign of His own mercy. Jeremiah shows that the new covenant is not the setting aside of obedience, but its engraving within. The fathers broke covenant and were judged; the renewed people must have the law written on the heart, so that mercy, justice, and the fear of God become their habit.

Psalm 94 warns us not to envy the triumph of the wicked nor imitate it. God hears the cry of the widow, the poor, and the innocent. He disciplines His own as well. As Clement says, “Do not any longer, he says, my son, despise the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when you are rebuked of Him.” Therefore accept correction now, before judgment falls. Loose what you tightly hold. Forgive what you can demand. Feed the needy brother before your accounts are settled. The God who plants the ear hears; the God who formed the heart sees. Blessed is the man whom He teaches, if that man obeys.