Copyright © 2006 By Doug Lawrence. All Rights Reserved.
Catechism Of The Catholic Church Reprinted With Permission.
- 36 -
God’s Truth From
The Catechism Of The Catholic Church
ARTICLE 4
"JESUS CHRIST SUFFERED UNDER PONTIUS PILATE, WAS CRUCIFIED, DIED, AND WAS
BURIED"
Paragraph 2. Jesus Died Crucified
I. THE TRIAL OF JESUS
Divisions among the Jewish authorities concerning Jesus
595 Among the religious authorities of Jerusalem, not only were the Pharisee Nicodemus
and the prominent Joseph of Arimathea both secret disciples of Jesus, but there was also
long-standing dissension about him, so much so that St. John says of these authorities on
the very eve of Christ's Passion, "many.. . believed in him", though very imperfectly.
378
This is not surprising, if one recalls that on the day after Pentecost "a great many of the
priests were obedient to the faith" and "some believers. . . belonged to the party of the
Pharisees", to the point that St. James could tell St. Paul, "How many thousands there are
among the Jews of those who have believed; and they are all zealous for the Law."
379
596 The religious authorities in Jerusalem were not unanimous about what stance to take
towards Jesus.
380
The Pharisees threatened to excommunicate his followers.
381
To those
who feared that "everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and destroy both
our holy place and our nation", the high priest Caiaphas replied by prophesying: "It is
expedient for you that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation
should not perish."
382
The Sanhedrin, having declared Jesus deserving of death as a
blasphemer but having lost the right to put anyone to death, hands him over to the
Romans, accusing him of political revolt, a charge that puts him in the same category as
Barabbas who had been accused of sedition.
383
The chief priests also threatened Pilate
politically so that he would condemn Jesus to death.
384
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.
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.
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.
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.
388
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."
389
 |
 |
 |