Gratia Domini | The Grace of God

"On the contrary, we believe that we will be saved through the grace of Lord Jesus, just as they will." — Acts 15:11 (NRSV)

As we all know that St. Paul is called the Apostle of the gentiles, when he was proclaiming the good news in Antioch, there arose a discussion as to whether the gentiles need to be circumcised like that of Jews, to be saved. St. Paul and Barnabas along with a few others were sent to Jerusalem to discuss this matter with St. Peter and the rest of the Apostles. There were many arguments among them both for and against. St. Peter said that all will be saved by the grace of the Lord Jesus and not by keeping the law of Moses alone and therefore circumcision was not a requirement. Earlier when St. Peter had preached, the Holy Spirit descended upon all including the gentiles. This clearly shows that God doesn't show any partiality.

When we look in the world we see many religions worshiping many different gods. But we being the Christians we know that only Jesus Christ is the true God. He is the truth, the way and the life. But among us Christians we have differences and many arguments, which often create division than unity. We need to learn from the early leaders of the church like St. Peter, St. Paul and St. James. They worked for one common goal and that is to establish the Kingdom of God and indeed they succeeded. Even though they had many different opinions, arguments, temperaments, different ways of doing the mission work but still they co operated with each other and appreciated each other rather than condemning and ridiculing.

However, do we do the same or most often do we create division? Are we able to appreciate each other and co operate with each other rather than condemning and not encouraging?  Let us allow those good people who want to do good works and let us not stop them, even if we are more educated or in power or rich. We are called for one thing to do in this life and that is to believe and trust in Jesus Christ by worshiping Him and glorifying Him through our lives.

 

Reflection on Acts 15:1-21  by Fr. George Joseph SVD 

(Listen to the Podcast here)