Day 81: Christ’s Paschal Mystery (571-576)

• This is Day 81!!

• We’re in a new section! 

• Article 4: Jesus Christ Suffered Under Pontius Pilate, was Crucified, Died and was Buried

• We’re entering into the Mystery of Christ’s Passion and Death

• Last few days we’ve been talking about the Mysteries of Christ’s life

• Everything from the prophecy of His birth, to His infancy, to His hidden life, to His public ministry

• All the way up to this moment where we’re going to dive deeply into the mystery of His suffering and his crucifixion

• His death and burial

• We’re going to get to this place

• But what is it to say that Christ descended into Hell?

• Because we’re going to say that at some point

• What is it to say that He suffered under Pontius Pilate?

• We’re going to highlight this today

• Paragraph 571 highlights it very, very clearly, THE PASCHAL MYSTERY

• So when we talk about PASCHAL MYSTERY, think of it in this term

• PASSOVER

• THE PASSION OF JESUS

• These are words that don’t all mean the same thing 

• BUT… 

• They all reference the SAME REALITY

• And so they all come from the same root

• So we have this reality that the Paschal Mystery of Christ’s Cross and Resurrection

• If you want to know what the Paschal Mystery is

• IT IS THE MYSTERY OF CHRIST’S SUFFERING, DEATH AND RESURRECTION

• Paragraph 571 says, “The Paschal mystery of Christ’s cross and Resurrection stands at the center of the Good News that the apostles, and the Church following them, are to proclaim to the world. God’s saving plan was accomplished ‘once for all’ by the redemptive death of his Son Jesus Christ.”

• That’s what we’re going to highlight 

• Paragraph 572 says, “The Church remains faithful to the interpretation of ‘all the Scriptures’ that Jesus gave both before and after his Passover…”

• On the road to Emmaus, He’s talking the couple that don’t recognize that it’s Jesus

• And they’re downcast

• They’re heartbroken because they had HOPED that Jesus would be the one to restore Israel

• Paragraph 572 continues, “Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his Glory?”

• Paragraph 572 continues, “Jesus’ sufferings took their historical, concrete form from the fact that he was ‘rejected by the elders, and the chief priest, and the scribes,’ who handed ‘him over to Gentiles, to be mocked and scourged and crucified.”

• Paragraph 574-576, we’re going to talk about JESUS AND ISRAEL

• And it’s very important for us to never forget that JESUS WAS JEWISH

• That the whole Old Testament is the story of how God lovingly and faithfully chose the Jewish people as his own, as the firstborn

• He chose the Jewish people and entered into covenant with them in a powerful and remarkable way

• JESUS IS THE FULFILLMENT OF ALL OF THE OLD TESTAMENT!!

• JESUS IS THE FULFILLMENT OF THE JEWISH RELIGION!!

• So it’s not a distinction of are you Christian or Jewish?

• Well, in this case, there’s this distinction

• But we remember, from the very beginning, all of those early Christians simply saw themselves as this is the fulfillment of EVERYTHING they had been praying for, hoping for, waiting for

• Everything they had been promised here is now in Jesus

• So they did not necessarily see themselves as a new religion at all

• What they saw themselves is the fulfillment of everything that God has done because God has done this

• There has been a tense relationship, at times between Jews and Christians

• But we want to do our best, as we’re walking through this Catechism, to have a good understanding of what that relationship really is

• What that relationship ultimately could be for us as well

• So just keep that in mind as we move forward

• As we start this day let’s continue to pray!!

Prayer by Fr. Mike:  “Father in Heaven. Thank you so much for the gift of your Son. Thank you so much for the Jewish people. We praise you and glorify you. We thank you for giving us the Hebrew Scriptures like the Old Testament. Thank you for calling us into relationship with your Son Jesus Christ, through Baptism, and giving us your Holy Spirit, and making us into your sons and daughters. Father, send your Holy Spirit right now so that we can hear your wisdom, hear the truth, and say Yes to it with all of our hearts. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.”

• And entering into the mystery, the mystery of Christ’s suffering, his death, and his burial

• And in order to enter into this, the Church begins, once again, in this Article 4 by just giving us a reset

• Paragraph 571 says, “The Paschal mystery of Christ’s cross and Resurrection stands at the center of the Good News…”

• Remember that every part of Jesus’ life, not only reveals the mystery of his life and the teaching he wants to give us

• EVERY PART OF HIS LIFE IS PART OF THAT REDEMPTIVE WORK OF GOD!!

• But of course, the paramount, the preeminent work of redemption occurs in his Paschal Mystery

• In the Passion, Death and ultimately Resurrection of Jesus

• We have to continually utter this

• We have to continually proclaim this over and over again

• The Church remains faithful to the interpretation of all the Sacred Scriptures 

• We realize that all of the Old Testament truly does, IN SOME MYSTERIOUS WAY,  POINT TO THE LIFE, AND THE PASSION, THE DEATH AND ULTIMATELY RESURRECTION OF JESUS

• This helps us to understand what is it that happened

• Paragraph 573 says, “Faith can therefore try to examine the circumstances of Jesus’ death, faithfully handed on by the Gospels, and illuminated by other historical sources, the better to understand the meaning of the redemption.”

• Since the Paschal Mystery stands at the center of the Christian mystery and the mystery of our redemption, and since so much…

• All of scripture points to this

• All that the law and the prophets had foretold, JESUS FULFILLS

• Because of this, our faith can try to examine the circumstances of Jesus’ life and find out EVEN MORE DEPTH 

• EVEN MORE RICHNESS of what is truly happening in the meaning of our redemption.

• That’s kind of the “golf ball on the tee” (Sorry, Fr. Mike!! Not a golf fan at all 🤣🤣)

• Paragraph 574-576 talks about the relationship between Jesus and Israel

• Paragraph 574 says ,“From the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry, certain Pharisees and partisans of Herod, together with priests and scribes, agreed together to destroy him.”

• Now, this is limited

• This wasn’t everybody

• This wasn’t also “The Jews” in the sense of ALL JEWISH PEOPLE

• Remember how many THOUSANDS of Jews came out to hear Jesus’ teaching

• THOUSANDS came out to be fed by Him

• THOUSANDS came out to be healed by Him

• HUNDREDS were His disciples

• And we have the core, the Apostles

• ALL OF THEM WERE JEWISH!!

• And so to recognize that there were SOME who rejected

• Especially some of the elite, who rejected Jesus

• And there are some reasons why

• Paragraph 574 says, “...some ill-intentioned persons suspected Jesus of demonic possession.”

• BECAUSE HE’S DOING INCREDIBLE THINGS!!

• Paragraph 574 continues, “...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.”

• That gave rise to some people saying, “Well, he has to be…he has power so maybe that power must come from somewhere else.”

• This conclusion that some of the religious authorities came to

• Now, NOT ALL of the religious authorities came to this conclusion

• Paragraph 575 says, “Many of Jesus’ deeds and words constituted a ‘sign of contradiction.’”

• There were some religious authorities, Scribes and Pharisees, who rejected him

• BUT THERE WERE MANY WHO DID NOT!!

• Paragraph 575 continues, “Some Pharisees warned him of the danger he was courting, Jesus praises some of them…and dines several times at their homes. Jesus endorses some of the teachings imparted by this religious elite of God’s people…”

• And there’s something that’s VERY CORE

• JESUS IS A JEWISH RABBI!!

• KEEP THIS IN MIND!!

• Jesus, Divine person with a human and Divine nature, IS A JEWISH RABBI

• He is teaching in this line of teachers

• At the same time, He has UNIQUE AUTHORITY

• He has UNIQUE TEACHING

• THIS IS REMARKABLE!!

• Paragraph 576 says, “In the eyes of many in Israel, Jesus seems to be acting against essential institutions of the chosen people.”

• Fr. Mike wants to emphasize the words, “SEEMS TO BE” because of these next three things

• Paragraph 576 continues, “Submission to the whole of the Law and its written commandments and, for the Pharisees, interpretation of the oral tradition”

• Remember the Pharisees did not just try to follow all the commandments written down in the Bible, but also the oral traditions as well

• Paragraph 576 continues, “...the centrality of the Temple of 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.”

• So, keep this in mind

• Jesus would uphold virtually ALL OF THOSE

• Yes, there are some times when Jesus is saying, “You have rejected the tradition or the teaching of the Lord for the traditions of men.”

• That would be some of those oral traditions.

• But by and large, Jesus was not rejecting the whole of the law

• He’s not rejecting the law

• He even says, “Not a speck of the law will be done away with.”

• Anyone who rejects the law and teaches others to reject it

• THATS A BAD DEAL!!

• So Jesus upheld the law in a UNIQUE WAY

• BUT… 

• Also according to what he knew as truth

• BECAUSE HE IS THE TRUTH!!

• Secondly, the centrality of the Temple of Jerusalem

• Jesus recognized that God’s presence dwelt in the Temple IN A UNIQUE WAY

• BUT… 

• Also He realized and He taught that HE was greater than the Temple

• WHICH IS NOT WRONG!!

• AND YET…

• He did not reject the centrality of the Temple

• He just knew there was something greater than the Temple

• Faith in the one God whose glory no man can share

• Absolutely right

• Jesus is FULLY MAN

• BUT…

• Jesus is ALSO FULLY GOD

• There’s a lot that hangs on that word “Seems” 

• Jesus SEEMS to be acting against the essential institutions of the chosen people

• IS HE?

• Well, Fr. Mike doesn’t  think so

• But He SEEMS to be

• Because of this, there’s this REJECTION

• Because of this, there is this HOSTILITY

• And ultimately, because of this, there’s a handing him over to the Gentiles

• What is our perspective on Jesus’ origins?

• HIS HUMAN ORIGINS?

• What is our perspective on the Jewish people?

• And our perspective, we’ll talk about this more as we go further,

• Our perspective is of GRATITUDE

• Our perspective is that WE WOULD NOT HAVE JESUS WITHOUT THE JEWISH PEOPLE

• Pope Pius VI said, “Spiritually, we are all Semites.”

• Spiritually, we’re all Jewish

• And that’s not meant to be claiming something that doesn’t belong to us

• That’s not meant to be diminishing someone else

• What it’s meant to be is the fact that WE OWE THE JEWISH PEOPLE 

• And what God has done in the Jewish people, the life of history of Israel

• WE OWE THEM MORE THAN WE CAN EVER REPAY

• And so we constantly pray for the Jewish people

• We constantly pray gratitude to the Lord for the Jewish people

• And we also pray that Jesus, who was Jewish, the Apostles who were Jewish, we pray that our brothers and sisters now, who are Jewish

• Not brothers and sisters in Baptism yet, but our brothers and sisters in humanity who are Jewish

• We pray that they come to know the TRUTH OF WHO JESUS IS as well

• That they come to that place of being able to say YES to Jesus with their WHOLE HEART, MIND, SOUL, AND STRENGTH

• Because Jesus IS the fulfillment of EVERYTHING in the Old Testament

• And so we pray for our friends, our older brothers and sisters, the children of Abraham

• We pray for them and ask the Lord to enlighten their minds, enlighten their eyes so they can see the Lord

• They can know him and they can love him with their whole heart

• Just like we ask God to open our eyes so we can see him

• Our minds so we can know him

• And our hearts so we can love him even better

• Let’s pray for them, Our friends

• Let’s pray for those people who are among us, who God loves so much and wants to embrace them and adopt them as his own through Baptism as well

• Let’s pray for each other as well!!

• Fr. Mike is praying FOR YOU!!

• Please pray for Fr. Mike and for each other!!

• I cannot WAIT to see you tomorrow!!