Remain in my love: Homily for Thursday, May 7, 2026

Remain in my love. But how to do that when something you thought was true is different than the actions of the Holy Spirit? Jesus has the answer. Readings for Today.

Remain in my love

One of the things that is interesting if you look at evangelical Christians or those who interpret the Bible literally, there are two observations that I would make. The first is that nowhere in the Bible does it say that we should take the Bible literally.

And this first reading describes what they did when they had a problem. And it was a significant problem indeed. What to do about the Gentiles? For centuries the Jews had followed the Mosaic law. The Jews are not proselytizers. They don’t go out and try to convince anyone to be Jewish.

And so when these Gentiles are receiving miraculous deeds and tremendous grace and doing phenomenal things, they don’t know what to make of it. They want to fit them into their category, which is to follow Jesus means to be Jewish, which means to follow the Mosaic law. But they can’t ignore the fact that even without following the Mosaic law, these Gentiles seem to be receiving the Holy Spirit.

The second thing I would say to evangelicals or those who are biblical literalists would be to look at what did they do when they had a problem. They went to the church. The Apostles gathered and discussed the matter in what is often referred to as the first council of the church. They debated. There was no small debate, we’re told. And understandably so.

This was completely different than anything that they had lived in their entire lives. And in fact, one of the purposes of the law was as a marker to set themselves as Jewish people. It was an identity statement. And now they were being encouraged to set it aside for something else. I would suggest that this council and the actions of Paul in particular deeply affected Paul.

He was a zealous follower of the law, part of the crowd that believed that if the law wasn’t followed perfectly, then the Messiah would not come. His heroes were people like Phineas and Elijah, who were so zealous they killed their opponents. Elijah, 450 prophets. But there was no stopping the Holy Spirit.

And in many ways, that’s the theme of the entire Acts of the Apostles. There’s no stopping the Holy Spirit. What was Paul’s great insight? The law served the purpose of showing us how we didn’t measure up. Jesus is the one who saves. Peter even makes the observation, “Why are we placing on the Gentiles a burden that neither we nor our ancestors could follow?”

Jesus is the fulfillment of the law. And Jesus makes the law accessible for us all. And while we, too, don’t live up to all of the requirements of what it means to be in a relationship with Jesus, we, too, sin, Jesus provides the solution in a way that the law didn’t. His love and forgiveness. He even tells them, “Live in my love.”

And Jesus makes the law accessible by saying, “You know, don’t worry about the 638 Commandments, I think. Live by two. Love God and love your neighbor as yourself.” And that’s what it means to live in the love of Jesus. And Jesus gave us the example of just how to do that and what it meant for us. By perfectly following the Father, by keeping his Father’s commandments, by remaining in his love, we’re saved by his example and by his life. And so in all things, remain in the love of God.

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