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Homily - 4th Sunday of Easter - 21st April 2024

St Peter preaches clearly about the centrality of Jesus Christ for the salvation of the world, he says these words about Jesus -

For of all the names in the world, this is the only one by which we can be saved, Jesus Christ the Nazarene.

The above statement is true.

How we read it is significant.

The fundamentalist Christians say that unless you are a Christian you are not saved. This is a very narrow view of who Jesus actually was. Jesus is Jesus Christ or Jesus the Christ.

Before God came to the earth as Jesus, He was the Christ living in all eternity with the Father and the Holy Spirit. In fact, St Paul says this about Christ -

"There is only Christ, He is Everything, He is in Everything. "Col.3.11

In other words, Christ is the Christ of the Universe. When He came to the earth He was born and given the name of Jesus, Joshua is the English name equivalent of Jesus. This was very much Christ in human flesh and so He had a human name given to Him.

So, it is true that all who are saved, all who are going to experience heaven are indeed saved only by Jesus Christ who is God. There is no other name under heaven by which anyone may be saved and destined for the experience of Heaven.

This means that God, who alone looks at each human heart, has planned that whoever is saved is saved through Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

Let each of us make sure that we are putting our trust in the one who holds the only name of Salvation, Jesus Christ, our Saviour.