JESUS THE LIBERATOR

The more we see this first commandment of ‘have no other god before or besides me’ from Exodus 20, the more we see and understand the first beatitude. The more we are poor, detached and removed from our own selfish dispositions, is all the more God is God within us. The more we are ‘gods’ to ourselves; the less God is God within us. So the design is very clear: ‘He must increase, and I must decrease’ (John 3:30).

‘Blessed are the poor in spirit; the reign of God is theirs’ (Matthew 5:3), is a clearer way of seeing the meaning of our liberation. If we say, ‘the kingdom of God is theirs’ it leaves a bigness and broadness that can seem unreal and unreachable, but if we say ‘the reign of God is theirs’ is easier to understand. To the measure that we make ourselves poor (meaning: humble about own condition and position spiritually) and by letting go of our internal and external self-governing is to the degree that the reign of God may come to us. Mixtures on this authority and right to rule are what cause the majority of conflicts within us.

Conversely, to the degree we release ourselves into the care, government and rule and reign of God, the more the kingdom of God automatically and simultaneously begins to unfold. Liberation is on the way. ‘Let My people go!’

It is on these, the first commandment and the first beatitude that liberation advances. That God is truly God (the first command) is verified in the poor and humble (the first beatitude) and this is when we have our origin of liberation and freedom. Jesus Christ is the freedom fighter that endured the cross and set us free to make these mandatory choices about the reign and rule of God in our hearts.

“Get out of here, Satan, for the Scriptures say, ‘You must worship the LORD your God and serve only him.” Jesus