96. Jesus died to redeem us from our sins.

Jesus died to redeem us from our sins.

YOUCAT Catechism + Catechism of the Catholic Church Lesson 96

Ave Maria series

96  Why was a man of peace like Jesus condemned to death on a Cross?

Jesus posed a decisive question to his contemporaries:  Either he was acting with divine authority, or else he was an imposter, a blasphemer, and a violator of the Law and who had to be called to account. [574-576]

Christ healing the paralytic at Capernaum, ”At that (the healing), some of the scribes^* said to themselves, ’This man is blaspheming.’” Matthew 9:3) by Bernhard Rode 1780. ….. 96

In many respects Jesus was an unprecedented challenge to the traditional Judaism of his time.  He forgave sins, which God alone can do; he acted as though the Sabbath law were not absolute; he was suspected of blasphemy and brought upon himself the accusation that he was a false prophet.  All these were crimes punishable under the Law by death.

And when the hour came, he sat down at table, and the apostles with him.  And he said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I tell you I shall not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.”  Luke 22:14-16

[574-576]

Jesus and Israel

574 From the beginning of Jesus' public ministry, certain Pharisees and partisans of Herod together with priests and scribes agreed together to destroy him (compare Mark 3:6; Mk 14:1).³¹⁷ Because of certain acts of his expelling demons, forgiving sins, healing on the sabbath day, his novel interpretation of the precepts of the Law regarding purity, and his familiarity with tax collectors and public sinners (compare Matthew 12:24; Mark 2:7,14-17; Mk 3:1-6; Mk 7:14-23)³¹⁸ -- some ill-intentioned persons suspected Jesus of demonic possession (compare Mark 3:22; John 8:48; Jn 10:20).³¹⁹ He is accused of blasphemy and false prophecy, religious crimes which the Law punished with death by stoning (compare Mark 2:7; John 5:18; Jn 7:12, 7:52; Jn 8:59; Jn 10:31, 33).³²⁰ —Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition

575 Many of Jesus' deeds and words constituted a "sign of contradiction" (Luke 2:34),³² but more so for the religious authorities in Jerusalem, whom the Gospel according to John often calls simply "the Jews" (compare  John 1:19; Jn 2:18; Jn 5:10; Jn 7:13; Jn 9:22; Jn 18:12; Jn19:38; Jn 20:19),³²² than for the ordinary People of God (John 7:48-49).³²³ To be sure, Christ's relations with the Pharisees were not exclusively polemical.  Some Pharisees warn him of the danger he was courting (compare Luke 13:31);³²⁴ Jesus praises some of them, like the scribe of Mark 12:34, and dines several times at their homes (compare Luke 7:36; 14:1).³²⁵ Jesus endorses some of the teachings imparted by this religious elite of God's people: the resurrection of the dead (compare Matthew 22:23-34; Luke 20:39),³²⁶ certain forms of piety (almsgiving, fasting and prayer) (compare Matthew 6:18),³²⁷ the custom of addressing God as Father, and the centrality of the commandment to love God and neighbor (compare Mark 12:28-34).³²⁸ —CCC

576 In the eyes of many in Israel, Jesus seems to be acting against essential institutions of the Chosen People:

- submission to the whole of the Law in its written commandments and, for the Pharisees, in the interpretation of oral tradition;

- the centrality of the Temple at Jerusalem as the holy place where God's presence dwells in a special way;

- faith in the one God whose glory no man can share. --CCC