CHURCH: MODEL OF CONFLICT RESOLUTION HOMILY FOR THE SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER 21ST MAY 2022)
CHURCH: MODEL OF CONFLICT RESOLUTION SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER (22 May 2022) Acts 15:1-2,22-29; Jn 14:23-29 In today's liturgy of the word from the Acts 15 a great controversy arose in the early Christian community between the Jewish Christians on the one hand and Paul and Barnabas on the other hand, on whether the Gentile Christians must conform to the law of Moses in other to be saved. We are told that “certain individuals came down from Judea (to Antioch) and were teaching the brothers, “unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved” (Acts 15:1) and in Jerusalem “ some believers who belonged to the sect of the Pharisees stood up and also said ‘ it is necessary for them to be circumcised and ordered to keep the law of Moses” (Acts 15:5). This debate was birthed on the grounds of the significance of circumcision and the law of Moses to the Jews. For them, in Judaism, these are unchangeable and irreplaceable laws and traditions that guarantee salvat...