Salvation by the Grace of the Lord

 Reflection on Today’s Readings, Thursday of 5th Week of Easter, May 19th, 2022

Texts: Acts 15:7-21; Psalm 95:1-3,10; John 15:9-11

Today we are told that we are saved by the grace of the Lord. We may ask: ‘What does that mean?’ The Lord is Jesus Christ. The grace refers to the gift of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, to the world and the favour and benefits we receive from Him. It is a grace because we do not deserve it, it is unmerited. The grace of the Lord means the unmerited favour and benefits we receive from Jesus Christ as a gift to the world. One of the benefits or favours receive from Jesus Christ is the love and care of God. Jesus Christ makes this known in today’s gospel reading: “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you.” We enjoy in Him the love of the Father, for He loves us as the Father loves us.  He, then, tells us how to enjoy the love: “Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.” We experience the love by keeping His commandments. Hence, we enjoy the grace of the Lord by keeping His commandments. The commandments are also His grace bestowed upon us. They are path of salvation, since through them we experience the love of the Father through Jesus Christ .

Faith is also the grace of the Lord. In today’s first reading Peter makes reference to this in his words: “God made no distinction between them and us, since he purified their hearts by faith.” The Gentiles received the faith by hearing the good news from Peter. He says, “the pagans were to learn the Good News from me and so become believers.” Paul, in his letter to the Romans, says, “So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the word of Christ”  (10:17). The word, the Good News, is also the grace of the Lord. When we keep His word, we also remain in His love. The Holy Spirit is also the grace of the Lord. We receive the Holy Spirit by faith in Jesus Christ. Holy Spirit is a gift of God to us through Jesus Christ. To keep the grace of the Lord we have received, we are to follow the ruling James gave on behalf of the council of Jerusalem: “I rule, then, that instead of making things more difficult for pagans who turn to God, we send them a letter telling them merely to abstain from anything polluted by idols, from fornication, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood.” We are to abstain from idolatry, fornication, defiled thing and shedding of blood.

O God, by whose grace, though sinners, we are made just and, though pitiable, made blessed, stand, we pray, by your works, stand by your gifts, that those justified by faith may not lack the courage of perseverance. Amen (Collect) 

Fr. Andrew Olowomuke