A careful study of the Old Testament reveals that the purpose of the laws was to liberate all those members of the community who had become alienated from direct access to the means of livelihood (cf. Lev. 25:13, 23,35, 39-41). Justice is therefore another word for liberation. It is the removal of the barriers which prevent human beings from participating fully in the benefits and responsibilities of the community.

Jesus was quoting from Isaiah 61:1-2. Isaiah pictures the deliverance of Israel from exile in Babylon as a year of jubilee when all debts are cancelled, all slaves are freed, and all property is returned to original owners (Lev. 25) “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me. Because He has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind. To set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord” (Luke 4:18-19) NKJV.

The new community called into being by Jesus Christ was to be a “Jubilee” community not once every 49 years, but in its daily practice (Kirk: 1999). Now the question is: Have we been able as the Church to interpret the gospel and place it within its authentic perspective, namely, that of liberation? The Church should proclaim and lives by the liberating gospel of Jesus Christ. The church should minister to the poor not merely with a sense of compassion but with a sense of justice.

It is on this note that Parratt, (1997) says that “one cannot speak of a Christian, segregated church. Church ought to discover that the state of poverty and oppression is ugly, impermissible, and unnecessary.” Parratt goes on to say that conditions of poverty and underdevelopment are not metaphysical, but structural, and historically explicable. “In other words, poverty is one side of a coin of which the other side is affluence and exploitation.” The Christian Churches must therefore speak with one voice and condemn exploitation. The Church must rise up and preach the liberating gospel of Christ.

We have to note that human freedom is contrasted, not with necessity, but with bondage. Bondage unto sin occurs whenever men try to order their lives without reference to God. “Formerly, when you did not know God, you were in bondage to beings that by nature are no gods” (Gal. 4:8). Victims of these false gods become in turn a part of the conspiracy against human freedom. They are likened to hucksters who “promise… freedom, but are themselves slaves of corruption” (2 Peter 2:19).

The way to preserve and enhance human freedom is to love and be loved. Men do not achieve this kind of liberation simply by taking thought. Rather, their deliverance is the work of God Himself who, through His Holy Spirit, knits them into a redemptive community (cf. Rom. 5:5). “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (2 Cor. 3:17). This redemptive community, the Church, should engage in socio-political affairs in its search for the truth which shall set people free. In this way, the truth will be translated into action by the Church. It will no more be a description of reality but an involvement in reality, just as faith is active engagement in obedience to God. The quest is for a Church that dares to be the Church, that dares to take upon itself, as did its Lord, to side with the poor and the downtrodden and to liberate the oppressed.
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