YOUCAT Question n. 96 - Part II. Why was a man of peace like Jesus condemned to death on a Cross?
(Youcat
answer - repeated) Jesus posed a decisive question to his contemporaries:
Either he was acting with divine authority, or else he was an impostor, a
blasphemer, and a violator of the Law and who had to be called to account.
A deepening through CCC
(CCC 594)
Jesus performed acts, such as pardoning sins, that manifested him to be the Savior
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. 594
Reflecting and meditating
(Youcat comment) In many
respects Jesus was a 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.
(CCC Comment)
(CCC 575)
Many of Jesus' deeds and words constituted a "sign of contradiction"
(Lk 2:34), but more so for the religious authorities in Jerusalem, whom the
Gospel according to John often calls simply "the Jews" (Cf. Jn 1:19;
2:18; 5:10; 7:13; 9:22; 18:12; 19:38; 20:19), than for the ordinary People of
God (Jn 7:48-49). To be sure, Christ's relations with the Pharisees were not
exclusively polemical. Some Pharisees warn him of the danger he was courting
(Cf. Lk 13:31); Jesus praises some of them, like the scribe of Mark 12:34, and dines several times at
their homes (Cf. Lk 7:36; 14:1). Jesus endorses some of the teachings imparted
by this religious elite of God's people: the resurrection of the dead (Cf. Mt
22:23-34; Lk 20:39), certain forms of piety (almsgiving, fasting and prayer)
(Cf. Mt 6:18), the custom of addressing God as Father, and the centrality of the
commandment to love God and neighbor (Cf. Mk 12:28-34).
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