97. Jews are not collectively responsible for Jesus' death.

Jews are not collectively responsible for Jesus' death.

YOUCAT Catechism + Catechism of the Catholic Church Lesson 97

Ave Maria series

97  Are the Jews guilty of Jesus’ death?

No one can assign collective guilt for the death of Jesus to the Jews.  Instead, the Church professes with certainty that all sinners share in the guilt for Jesus’ death.  [597-598]

“And even the demons did not crucify Him, but you, together with them, have crucified Him and are still crucifying Him by delighting in vices and sins.”  St. Francis of Assisi (above) (1182-1226). Oil painting by Jusepe de Ribera (1642). ….. 97

The aged prophet Simeon foresaw that Jesus would become “a sign that is spoken against” (Luke 2:34b).  And in fact Jesus was resolutely rejected by the Jewish authorities, but among the Pharisees, for example, there were also secret followers of Jesus, like Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea.  Various Roman and Jewish persons and institutions (Caiaphas, Judas, the Sanhedrin, Herod, Pontius Pilate) took part in Jesus’ trial, and only God knows their guilt as individuals.  The idea that all Jews of that time or living today are guilty of Jesus’ death is irrational and biblically untenable.  135

[597-598]

Jews are not collectively responsible for Jesus' death

597 The historical complexity of Jesus' trial is apparent in the Gospel accounts. The personal sin of the participants (Judas, the Sanhedrin, Pilate) is known to God alone. Hence we cannot lay responsibility for the trial on the Jews in Jerusalem as a whole, despite the outcry of a manipulated crowd and the global reproaches contained in the apostles' calls to conversion after Pentecost (compare Mark 15:11; Acts of the Apostles 2:23, 36; Acts 3:13-14; Acts 4:10; Acts 5:30; Acts 7:52; Acts 10:39; Acts 13:27-28; 1 Thessalonians 2:14-15). ³⁸⁵ Jesus himself, in forgiving them on the cross, and Peter in following suit, both accept "the ignorance" of the Jews of Jerusalem and even of their leaders (compare Luke 23:34; Acts of the Apostles 3:17).³⁸⁶ Still less can we extend responsibility to other Jews of different times and places, based merely on the crowd's cry: "His blood be on us and on our children!", a formula for ratifying a judicial sentence (Matthew 27:25; compare Acts of the Apostles 5:28; Acts 18:6).³⁸⁷ As the Church declared at the Second Vatican Council: “[N]either all Jews indiscriminately at that time, nor Jews today, can be charged with the crimes committed during his Passion. . . [T]he Jews should not be spoken of as rejected or accursed as if this followed from holy Scripture.” (Nostra aetate 4) ³⁸⁸ --Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition

All sinners were the authors of Christ's Passion

598 In her Magisterial teaching of the faith and in the witness of her saints, the Church has never forgotten that "sinners were the authors and the ministers of all the sufferings that the divine Redeemer endured ( Roman Catechism I, 5, 11; compare Hebrews 12:3.)."³⁸⁹ Taking into account the fact that our sins affect Christ himself (compare Matthew 25:45; Acts of the Apostles 9:4-5),³⁹⁰ the Church does not hesitate to impute to Christians the gravest responsibility for the torments inflicted upon Jesus, a responsibility with which they have all too often burdened the Jews alone: —CCC

We must regard as guilty all those who continue to relapse into their sins. Since our sins made the Lord Christ suffer the torment of the cross, those who plunge themselves into disorders and crimes crucify the Son of God anew in their hearts (for he is in them) and hold him up to contempt. And it can be seen that our crime in this case is greater in us than in the Jews. As for them, according to the witness of the Apostle, "None of the rulers of this age understood this; for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory." We, however, profess to know him. And when we deny him by our deeds, we in some way seem to lay violent hands on him (Roman Catechism I, 5, 11; compare Hebrews 6:6; 1 Corinthians 2:8).³⁹¹ —CCC

Nor did demons crucify him; it is you who have crucified him and crucify him still, when you delight in your vices and sins (Acts of the Apostles 2:23).³⁹² --CCC