The journey to Easter in which we are engaged reminds us about the exodus of Israel, that is, its liberation from Egyptian slavery and its journey for forty years in the desert, in order to reach Canaan, the land of freedom. Nevertheless, beyond its political aspect, the freedom to which Israel is oriented is radically spiritual: for it is a matter of gradually abandoning the idols and making an alliance only with the "God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." Indeed, it is when Israel lives in the covenant with the living God that the Israelites experience themselves as a free people. Slavery is the other name of idolatry!

The "ten words" (also known as the "Ten Commandments") from chapter 20 of the book of Exodus that we meditate on this Sunday are at the service of the covenant and the true worship that is underlying it: when he puts them into practice, Israel walks with God and worships only God; when it moves away from it, Israel inevitably sinks into slavery, that is, into idolatry. From this perspective, the first commandment is the foundation and purpose of all others: "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You will have no other gods in front of me. Thus, through the commandments, Israel frees itself from idols to worship only the true God who has accompanied him throughout its history.

An idol is a reality shaped by my desire or the desire of my society, a reality that replaces God, and to which one devotes explicitly or implicitly a cult; the idol is a god at my disposal, a god who satisfies my needs, a god I manipulate, a god at my service. While in authentic worship man obeys God, in idolatry, it is god who obeys man. This counterfeiting of the religion that is idolatry may be at work where we cannot expect it. This is highlighted by the episode of Jesus' purification of the temple, which is reported in the Gospel of John in chapter 2. We read: "As the Jewish Passover was near, Jesus ascended to Jerusalem. In the temple he found the merchants of oxen, sheep and doves, and the changers. He made a whip with ropes, and drove them all out of the temple, as well as the sheep and oxen. The reason for Jesus' gesture is contained in this sentence addressed to the merchants in the temple: "Stop making my Father's house a house of commerce. The temple is dedicated to worship. However, sometimes, under the guise of worship to God, unspoken selfish interests are served. In this case, the temple paradoxically becomes the space of idolatry.

Idolatry takes shape where man no longer seeks God's will, when he refuses to say, "May your will be done on earth as in heaven."   Idolatry is ultimately the option for the god of ease at the expense of God who speaks to us from the cross of Christ. The crucified God is not loved. And yet it is he and he alone who opens before us a path of life in abundance. St. Paul understood this, as he, struggling with the detractors of the Christian faith, declared: "While the Jews demand miraculous signs, and the Greeks seek wisdom, we proclaim a crucified Messiah, scandal for the Jews, madness for the pagan nations. But for those whom God calls, whether they are Jews or Greeks, this Messiah, this Christ, is the power of God and the wisdom of God. »

As we move towards Easter, it is as if we are called to tell the truth about our lives. These questions can help us: "Is Christ crucified actually my God? Is it in him and in him alone that I put my trust? »

From father Pierre Emalieu, translated by Fr. Louis Bira