Catechism of the Catholic Church · Part One › Section Two › Chapter Two › Article 4 · Paragraph 1 (§§574–594)
Paragraphs · 21
The Catechism's text is under copyright, so each paragraph is quoted briefly here with a link to the full text at vatican.va.
Paragraph 1. 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. Because of certain acts of his expelling demons, forgiving sins, healing on the sabbath day, his novel interpretation of the precepts of…vatican.va
- §575 — Many of Jesus' deeds and words constituted a "sign of contradiction", but more so for the religious authorities in Jerusalem, whom the Gospel according to John often calls simply "the Jews", than for the ordinary People of God.vatican.va
- §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…vatican.va
I. Jesus and the Law
- §577 — At the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount Jesus issued a solemn warning in which he presented God's law, given on Sinai during the first covenant, in light of the grace of the New Covenant:vatican.va
- §578 — Jesus, Israel's Messiah and therefore the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, was to fulfil the Law by keeping it in its all embracing detail - according to his own words, down to "the least of these commandments".vatican.va
- §579 — This principle of integral observance of the Law not only in letter but in spirit was dear to the Pharisees. By giving Israel this principle they had led many Jews of Jesus' time to an extreme religious zeal.vatican.va
- §580 — The perfect fulfilment of the Law could be the work of none but the divine legislator, born subject to the Law in the person of the Son.vatican.va
- §581 — The Jewish people and their spiritual leaders viewed Jesus as a rabbi. He often argued within the framework of rabbinical interpretation of the Law. Yet Jesus could not help but offend the teachers of the Law, for he was not content to propose his interpretation…vatican.va
- §582 — Going even further, Jesus perfects the dietary law, so important in Jewish daily life, by revealing its pedagogical meaning through a divine interpretation: "Whatever goes into a man from outside cannot defile him.vatican.va
Ii. Jesus and the Temple
- §583 — Like the prophets before him Jesus expressed the deepest respect for the Temple in Jerusalem. It was in the Temple that Joseph and Mary presented him forty days after his birth.vatican.va
- §584 — Jesus went up to the Temple as the privileged place of encounter with God. For him, the Temple was the dwelling of his Father, a house of prayer, and he was angered that its outer court had become a place of commerce.vatican.va
- §585 — On the threshold of his Passion Jesus announced the coming destruction of this splendid building, of which there would not remain "one stone upon another".vatican.va
- §586 — Far from having been hostile to the Temple, where he gave the essential part of his teaching, Jesus was willing to pay the Temple-tax, associating with him Peter, whom he had just made the foundation of his future Church.vatican.va
Iii. Jesus and Israel's Faith in the One God and Saviour
- §587 — If the Law and the Jerusalem Temple could be occasions of opposition to Jesus by Israel's religious authorities, his role in the redemption of sins, the divine work par excellence, was the true stumbling-block for them.vatican.va
- §588 — Jesus scandalized the Pharisees by eating with tax collectors and sinners as familiarly as with themselves. Against those among them "who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others", Jesus affirmed: "I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."vatican.va
- §589 — Jesus gave scandal above all when he identified his merciful conduct toward sinners with God's own attitude toward them. He went so far as to hint that by sharing the table of sinners he was admitting them to the messianic banquet.vatican.va
- §590 — Only the divine identity of Jesus' person can justify so absolute a claim as "He who is not with me is against me"; and his saying that there was in him "something greater than Jonah,.vatican.va
- §591 — Jesus asked the religious authorities of Jerusalem to believe in him because of the Father's works which he accomplished. But such an act of faith must go through a mysterious death to self, for a new "birth from above" under the influence of divine grace.vatican.va
In Brief
- §592 — Jesus did not abolish the Law of Sinai, but rather fulfilled it (cf Mt 5:17-19) with such perfection (cf Jn 8:46) that he revealed its ultimate meaning (cf Mt 5:33) and redeemed the transgressions against it (cf Heb 9:15).vatican.va
- §593 — Jesus venerated the Temple by going up to it for the Jewish feasts of pilgrimage, and with a jealous love he loved this dwelling of God among men.vatican.va
- §594 — Jesus performed acts, such as pardoning sins, that manifested him to be the Saviour God himself (cf Jn 5:16-18). Certain Jews, who did not recognize God made man (cf Jn 1:14), saw in him only a man who made himself God (Jn 10:33), and judged him as a blasphemer.vatican.va
Scripture cited · 247 verses
Psalm 69:10 · Psalm 118:22 · Isaiah 42:3 · Isaiah 42:6 · Isaiah 53:1 · Isaiah 53:11 · Jeremiah 31:33 · Hosea 6:6 · Matthew 5:1 · Matthew 5:17 · Matthew 5:18 · Matthew 5:19 · Matthew 5:33 · Matthew 5:34 · Matthew 6:18 · Matthew 7:28 · Matthew 7:29 · Matthew 8:4 · Matthew 9:12 · Matthew 9:13 · Matthew 12:5 · Matthew 12:6 · Matthew 12:24 · Matthew 15:31 · Matthew 16:18 · Matthew 17:24 · Matthew 17:25 · Matthew 17:26 · Matthew 17:27 · Matthew 21:13 · Matthew 22:23 · Matthew 22:24 · Matthew 22:25 · Matthew 22:26 · Matthew 22:27 · Matthew 22:28 · Matthew 22:29 · Matthew 22:30 · Matthew 22:31 · Matthew 22:32 · Matthew 22:33 · Matthew 22:34 · Matthew 22:35 · Matthew 22:36 · Matthew 24:1 · Matthew 24:2 · Matthew 24:3 · Matthew 26:64 · Matthew 26:65 · Matthew 26:66 · Matthew 27:5 · Matthew 27:39 · Matthew 27:40 · Mark 2:7 · Mark 2:14 · Mark 2:15 · Mark 2:16 · Mark 2:17 · Mark 2:23 · Mark 2:24 · Mark 2:25 · Mark 2:26 · Mark 2:27 · Mark 3:1 · Mark 3:2 · Mark 3:3 · Mark 3:4 · Mark 3:5 · Mark 3:6 · Mark 3:8 · Mark 3:22 · Mark 7:13 · Mark 7:14 · Mark 7:15 · Mark 7:16 · Mark 7:17 · Mark 7:18 · Mark 7:19 · Mark 7:20 · Mark 7:21 · Mark 7:22 · Mark 7:23 · Mark 12:28 · Mark 12:29 · Mark 12:30 · Mark 12:31 · Mark 12:32 · Mark 12:33 · Mark 12:34 · Mark 14:1 · Mark 14:57 · Mark 14:58 · Luke 2:22 · Luke 2:23 · Luke 2:24 · Luke 2:25 · Luke 2:26 · Luke 2:27 · Luke 2:28 · Luke 2:29 · Luke 2:30 · Luke 2:31 · Luke 2:32 · Luke 2:33 · Luke 2:34 · Luke 2:35 · Luke 2:36 · Luke 2:37 · Luke 2:38 · Luke 2:39 · Luke 2:46 · Luke 2:47 · Luke 2:48 · Luke 2:49 · Luke 5:30 · Luke 5:32 · Luke 6:6 · Luke 7:36 · Luke 11:37 · Luke 11:39 · Luke 11:40 · Luke 11:41 · Luke 11:42 · Luke 11:43 · Luke 11:44 · Luke 11:45 · Luke 11:46 · Luke 11:47 · Luke 11:48 · Luke 11:49 · Luke 11:50 · Luke 11:51 · Luke 11:52 · Luke 11:53 · Luke 11:54 · Luke 13:15 · Luke 13:16 · Luke 13:31 · Luke 13:35 · Luke 14:1 · Luke 14:3 · Luke 14:4 · Luke 15:1 · Luke 15:2 · Luke 15:22 · Luke 15:23 · Luke 15:24 · Luke 15:25 · Luke 15:26 · Luke 15:27 · Luke 15:28 · Luke 15:29 · Luke 15:30 · Luke 15:31 · Luke 15:32 · Luke 17:14 · Luke 18:9 · Luke 20:17 · Luke 20:18 · Luke 20:39 · and 87 more