(Please read the Scripture passage before the homily.)
Paul was in Antioch in Pisidia. This Antioch lay about 250 miles northwest from the Antioch on the Mediterranean Sea and about two hundred miles south of the Black Sea.
Paul usually spoke to the Jewish people first, then to pagans friendly to Jewish people and lastly to full-blown pagans. He proclaimed the death and the resurrection of Jesus. Paul, however, does not accuse the Jewish people of killing Jesus. Some Jewish people did work to have Jesus killed, but all of them did not. Paul announced the death and resurrection because this was as call to repentance. Because of the resurrection of Christ from the dead, we are able to receive forgiveness of our sins. In Romans (4:25) Paul will say that Christ’s death was because of our sins, but his resurrection was because of our justification.
Paul does not blame the Jewish people or the Roman people for the death of Jesus. Rather, Paul proclaims that God is keeping the promises made to our Jewish fathers of long ago. We are inheritors of those promises ourselves. We must proclaim the good news, not denouncing others or blaming others. All that God has done, God has done for us. To God be the glory.