Please read this passage before reading this homily.
We take a break from the Acts of the Apostles and look at what Paul preached when he went among the pagans. Of first importance he preached the death and burial of Christ. He also preached Christ’s resurrection on the third day. Then he listed witnesses to the Lord’s resurrection, including himself as a witness. It is in this good news of the gospel of the death and resurrection that we are saved.
All this has rendered all other ways ineffective. Circumcision doesn’t count any more nor do pagan sacrifices. For that matter, nothing we do on our own matters because all that matters is the death and resurrection of Christ. Him God raised from the dead, and us only God’s mercy can save: we are saved by faith, not by good works.
To some of us this is good news, those who find absolutely no good in themselves and despair of going to heaven. To others of us this may seem to be bad news because they think that heaven is a reward for their own goodness, and they do not like anyone taking away ttheir rewards.
To all of us Paul says that we are saved by the death and resurrection of Christ and not by our own merits. I do not know if the old pagans used to envy Jewish people for being God’s Chosen People, but that no longer matters because all are equal before God because of the death and resurrection of Christ.
It is this preaching that the Apostles and leaders of the Church approved when they met with Paul and Barnabas in chapter 15 of the Acts.