GESÙ CRISTO - Enciclopedia Cattolica, Vol. VI, p. 154

Machine translation of the 1948–1954 Italian original. The original text is authoritative.

JESUS CHRIST. – The Second Person of the Holy Trinity, that is, the Son of God made man.

I. THE LIFE OF JESUS CHRIST ACCORDING TO HOLY SCRIPTURE

SUMMARY:

I. Introduction

II. The life.

I. INTRODUCTION

1. The name

The Greek Ἰησοῦς (Lat. Iesus) renders the Hebrew יְהוֹשֻׁעַ, a shortened form of the name יְהוֹשֻׁעַ (Joshua). This word is composed of the divine name יְהוָה in its short form יְהוֹשֻׁעַ and from the root יָשַׁע, a vestige of the verb יָשַׁע (“to be safe, unharmed”), in the hiphil form (from the similar verb יָשַׁע “to save, deliver”). The name of Jesus thus means: “Yahweh is salvation.”

Fundamentally, it is the same name announced by Is. (7:14): ALZON, EMMANUEL D' (v.), “God with us”; (Mt. 1:23) sees in the fact of the imposition of the name of Jesus commanded to St. Joseph the fulfillment of the prophecy of the name “Emmanuel.” Jesus is “God with us”; God is as a man to save him, according to the force of the expression “God with man” in the Old Testament (cf. U. Holzmeister, in Verbum Domini, 8 [1928], pp. 363-369). The title “Christ” or “Messiah” integrates, in the usage established since apostolic times, the name of Jesus.

2. Genealogy

To be with man in the most concrete way possible, “God who saves” has taken in Jesus a stable dwelling among men: the Word became flesh and dwelt (as in a tent) among men (Jn. 1:14). “Flesh” is humanity with its fragility. Already in the genealogies that list the ancestors of Jesus, it appears that He inserted Himself into human history by descending from the family of David and Abraham, in which weaknesses are not lacking: the sinful Tamar, Rahab, and “her of Uriah.” There are two genealogies, contained in Mt. 1:1-16 and Lk. 3:23-38, and they seem to report conflicting data. To reconcile them, it has been supposed: that Luke gives the natural genealogy (of Mary), Matthew that of the legal (of Joseph); but this hypothesis ignores that the genealogies intended to prove not natural origin, but succession and legal origin (M.-J. Lagrange, St. Luc, Paris 1921, p. 123). Both evangelists therefore wished to give the genealogy of St. Joseph. There is no difficulty on the part of the divine origin of Jesus: this is proven and asserted even if Jesus descended from David only by legal means. The obvious sense of Lk. 3:23 says that Luke too recounts the genealogy of St. Joseph. According to many ancient and modern authors, Joseph is said by Matthew to be the son of Jacob, by Luke the son of Heli, because Jacob and Heli were sons of the same mother (Estha) and of different fathers (the first of Matthat, descendant of David through Solomon; the second of Matthat, descendant of David through Nathan), and Heli having died without children, his brother Jacob, according to the law of levirate marriage (Deut. 25:5-6), married the widow of Heli and had by her Joseph, who was thus the natural son of Jacob and the legal son of Heli. Matthew gives the genealogy of the natural father, Jacob; Luke that of the legal father, Heli. This second explanation runs into the difficulty that the law of levirate marriage applied only to brothers at least of the same father, if not also to brothers, sons of the same father and the same mother (cf. U. Holzmeister, Quaestiones biblicae de sancto Ioseph, Rome 1945, p. 11).

A third hypothesis resorts to adoption: Joseph is the son of Jacob, but was adopted into the family of Heli. It does not seem that the Jews had the custom of adoption, except in the case where a father-in-law adopted as a son his son-in-law, the husband of his daughter: the son-in-law then entered into all the rights of a son. This occurred in particular when the daughter was an heiress, the father having no male children. In the present case, Joseph, son of Jacob (genealogy of Matthew), marries Mary, daughter of Heli; the latter adopts as a son his son-in-law Joseph. Thus Luke gives the genealogy of Joseph (because he was adopted by Heli) and at the same time the progenitors of Mary. This solution seems the most probable, even if it cannot be proven with certainty that Mary was an heiress daughter. Such adoption was in use among the Jews (Ezr. 2:61; 1 Chron. 2:34-35). The effort to reconcile the two genealogies is laborious, as one sees; more useful is to understand the meaning. Matthew wished to show in Jesus the heir of the promises to Abraham and of the throne of David; Luke, going back to Adam, wished to show that He is the Savior of all humanity (M.-J. Lagrange, St. Luc, p. 126).

BIBL.: F. Prat, Gênalogie de Jésus-Christ, in DB, III (1903), pp. 166-71; id., Jésus-Christ, 16th ed., I, Paris 1947, p. 511; cf.: U. Holzmeister, Genealogia s. Lucca, in Verbum Domini, 23 (1943), pp. 9-18.

3. The divine Word

Jn. 1:14 marks the identification of the man Jesus with the Word of God. The Johannine prologue, with the expressions on the life of the Logos with the Father, affirms that Jesus

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It is an action prior to coming into the world. In him was life (Jn 1:4). He pre-exists: in the beginning (before creatures were) was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (ibid. 1:1). This life unfolds in the presence of the Father. The mystery of G.’s life in the presence of the Father will be related by G. himself to his work: what G. is for humanity has its origin in what he is before dwelling among men. The love that he receives from the Father before the creation of the world will be communicated to them (Jn 17:26). Indeed, the most hidden mystery of the life of God, that the Father is in the Son, is the cause of G.’s life in the faithful: “I in them, and you in me” (ibid. 17:23).

If men know the Father, whom no one has ever seen, it is because the only-begotten God, who is in the bosom of the Father, has revealed him. The intimacy with the Father (being in the bosom of the Father) is the reason for the revelation of the Father. G. is the light that enlightens every man, because in the bosom of the Father he is the image of the Father, the invisible God (Col 1:15), and as the only-begotten Son of the Father he possesses the “glory,” the manifestation of divinity (Jn 1:14; correspondence between 1:14 and 1:18: to behold with the eyes of the body the glory of the Father in G. is to receive his light, to accept the revelation of the Father, to see the Father in him: “Whoever sees me sees the Father” [Jn 14:9]). All this is summarized in the word Logos. Everything that G. is for humanity he is because he is the Logos of the Father.

G. manifests in himself the glory of the Father and thus declares and explains the Father, because he is the Logos, the personal Revealer of the Father. This concept of G. as Revealer of the Father is what St. John especially wished to express with this term, which is closely akin to the concept of Wisdom (σοφία), with which St. Paul had identified Jesus as the Wisdom of the Old Testament, who proceeds from God, reveals him, and dwells among men. The word Logos was also fitting because in the language of early catechesis it had come to signify the Christian message and its content, the Person of Christ himself (cf. Col 1:25–28); he is the Word of God to humanity, a word productive of salvation for men, as supremely and more than the words that God had spoken through his messengers in the Old Testament. God therefore sent his Son as his supreme word of salvation to man. If G. is Savior, he is such because he is the Logos of the Father (cf. R. Kittel, Theol. Wörterbuch zum Neuen Test., IV, pp. 100–40). In G. takes place the supreme revelation of God’s salvation: a concrete revelation in the bestowal of salvation.

8. — ENCYCLOPEDIA CATHOLICA. — VI.

II. HIS LIFE

4. Preparation: early manifestations of the human and divine life of G

a) Before birth. — α) To Mary. — Every human life must be prepared within the family. “God with man” had a family, composed of Joseph, of the house of David, and of his spouse Mary. The angel announces to Mary that the child will be Son of the Most High, heir to the throne of David, eternal king, holy, Son of God (Lk 1:32–35; V. ANNUNCIATION). The future Mother of God was prepared with an adornment of grace and with a special presence of God with her: “The Lord is with you” (the phrase signifies the very special help that God will give her so that she may accomplish the difficult mission entrusted to her at that moment). The incarnation of the Divine Word will come about through a descent from on high of the Holy Spirit (the creative power of God) and through the presence of divine omnipotence, in the manner in which the cloud covered the ark and was a sign of the presence of God in the midst of the people: “For nothing will be impossible with God” (Lk 1:37). β) At ‘Ajn Kārim. — The first to whom the mystery of the presence of God in the flesh of man was revealed was Elizabeth, who, “filled with the Holy Spirit” (Lk 1:41), recognizes in Mary the mother of her Lord, and in him whom she bears in her womb the Blessed One, enriched by God with great benefits. The divine-messianic character of G. is manifested in Mary’s canticle (v. MAGNIFICAT): God is Savior, great, holy, merciful. These attributes of God are manifested in the distribution of the goods brought by G.; his salvation will consist in the exaltation of the humble and in filling the hungry with good things.

The canticle of Zechariah, pronounced shortly afterward in the same house, will insist on describing the goods of salvation brought by the Messiah, of whose human life now beginning in that family there was already knowledge. It will be a redemption, a liberation from enemies, which will be followed by a service of God in holiness and justice; a remission of sins, an illumination of those sitting in darkness, a directing of the steps of men in the way of happiness, a visit of the Sun that rises and comes from heaven (cf. Is 60:3).

γ) To Joseph. — The just Joseph, to whom probably goes back the “Gospel of Infancy” of Matthew (cf. J. Lebreton, in DBS, IV [1950], p. 976, whereas that of Luke goes back to Mary), ignorant of the mystery accomplished in Mary, thinks of sending her away so that her honor, of which he has no doubt, may not be compromised; but he is instructed by an angel. The child to be born will save his people (Israel, to whom Matthew directs his Gospel); the liberation will be spiritual: from the hostile power of sin. Joseph will have rights and the function of a father, imposing the name that will indicate the mission: JESUS. And Joseph takes Mary into his home, to act as father to the Savior.

b) The visible manifestation: Bethlehem. — At the time of the birth of G., Palestine was subject to Rome (since 63 B.C., annexed to the province of Syria); King Herod had obtained power from Antony in 40 B.C. He was master of all Palestine, but with limited authority. He was not strictly speaking a king but, rather, an ally (socius); which makes an enrollment during his reign still more possible. The enrollment (not necessarily unique and simultaneous throughout the Empire) was made by Quirinius: whether he was twice prefect of Syria, or carried out the first enrollment as assistant, in the capacity of procurator, to the prefect of Syria, or whether Luke’s phrase is to be understood as “this enrollment was made before that which took place under Quirinius, prefect of Syria” (cf. U. Holzmeister, Historia aetatis Novi Testamenti, 2nd ed., Rome 1938, pp. 38–43; and for the latest interpretation: M.-J. Lagrange, St Luc, p. 67), Luke’s note is worthy of credence and places the event firmly in historical context. Joseph goes to Bethlehem, from which his family originated; Mary accompanies him (it is obvious that, being in such a state, Joseph would not have wished her to remain alone in Nazareth). Thus is fulfilled the prophecy of Micah. The year of the birth of G. can be fixed in 748 A.U.C. (corresponding to the 6th year of the Christian era), about two years before the birth of Herod (March of 750 A.U.C.).

Article illustration — Jesus Christ — G. C. and the Samaritan Woman. Fresco from the Catacomb of Callistus
(late 2nd century) — Rome.

The event, in its external circumstances and in the meaning that God and the first witnesses gave it, was transmitted by Luke (ch. 2): a Marian source, as he seems discreetly to intimate (ibid. 2, 19). The place that received God in His supreme manifestation and self-giving was Bethlehem (Lk. 2, 6); more precisely, a region where there were shepherds tending their flock (ibid. 2, 8); and in this region a *magnatonia* (ibid. 2, 7), thus a stable. Even if Luke’s account had not yet been written, St. Paul (2 Cor. 8, 9) provides its commentary: “You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich.” The Corinthians knew: in apostolic teaching, the life of Jesus held a prominent place; even if not all details were known, the first Christians must have heard of their Master’s humble origins. They were also fortunate to deepen their understanding of the Incarnation through the preaching and letters of the Apostles. St. Paul would emphasize this to the community at Philippi: “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself” (Phil. 2, 5–8).

c) Other manifestations of humility in the early days. Eight days after His birth, the Newborn was incorporated into the people of Israel, becoming subject to the Law (Gal. 4:4) and receiving the name that indicated His nature and mission (see above). His subjection to the Law was demonstrated forty days after birth by fulfilling the command to redeem the firstborn (Num. 18:15–16) after consecrating them to the Lord (Ex. 13:2). He assumed the character of a victim offered to the Father (cf. the sacrificial sense of the word παράστιξαάαεαιαηαεαιαηαεαιαηαεαιαηαεαιαηαεαιαηαεαιαηαεαιαηαεαιαηαεαιαη).

d) The parables of the sower (Mt. 13; Lk. 8:4–18: the sower, the tares; Mk. 4:26–29: the seed that grows of itself; and others, though not all spoken on the same day). After the discourse of the parables, He crossed to the other side of the lake (Lk. 8:22–39): calming the storm, freeing the demoniac. On His return, He raised the daughter of Jairus and healed the woman with the hemorrhage (Lk. 8:40–56). Thus ended the first year of His public life: from January 27 to January 28. The events narrated in Lk. 9:1–17 can be more precisely dated: the mission of the Apostles must have taken place in February 28; upon their return, Jesus multiplied the loaves for the first time, and the feast of Passover was near: cf. Lk. 9:10 with Jn. 6:4. His journey to Jerusalem for the Passover or Pentecost of 28, in which He resolved to die, the raising of Lazarus, after which, to escape the snares of the Jews, He withdrew to Ephraim, remaining there a few days (Jn. 11:54–55).

2) The Last Journey to Jerusalem and the Final Week (Lk 18:30–21:38 and parallels; Jn 12). — Leaving Ephrem, G. sets out for Jerusalem, not directly but by way of Jericho, where He heals the two blind men and lodges with Zacchaeus, and then goes on to Bethany, where He is invited to dinner and Mary, the sister of Lazarus, anoints His feet: six days before the Passover (Jn 12:1), that is, on Saturday. The following day (ibid. 12), G. enters Jerusalem in triumph, and in the evening returns to Bethany (Mk 11:11). On Monday, returning to Jerusalem, He curses the fig tree, drives the sellers from the Temple, and in the evening again leaves the city (Mk 11:12–19). On Tuesday He is again in Jerusalem, in the Temple (ibid. 11:27), where He disputes with the chief priests, scribes, and elders. As He leaves the Temple, He begins the eschatological discourse to His disciples (ibid. 13:1). It seems that on Wednesday G. did not go to Jerusalem but spent the whole day in Bethany with the Apostles (F. Prat, II, p. 261); it was on this day that the second meeting of the Sanhedrin was held (after that of Jn 11:46–53), of which Mt 26:2–3; Mk 14:1; Lk 22:1–2. With this, the account of the Passion begins, which is treated below.

The second part of the Galilean ministry extends from the summer of 28 until the Feast of Tabernacles (Oct. 28: Mk 7:1–9:50; Lk 9:18–50; 9:51–18:30).

After the healing of the paralytic in Jerusalem and the consequent discussion, G. returns to Galilee (Jn 7:1). The principal events of the second Galilean ministry are the journey into Phoenicia and the Decapolis; the miracles of the Canaanite woman’s daughter, the deaf-mute, the second multiplication of the loaves, the blind man of Bethsaida, Peter’s confession, the Transfiguration with the healing of the demoniac, and two announcements of the Passion. Here Luke inserts the section called “the journey” (Lk 9:51–18:30), whose events must have occurred, at least in part, during G.’s journey to Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles (Jn 7:2), during His stay in Perea before and after the Feast of Dedication (Jn 10:40; παλαιὰ), which belongs to the final period of the public life (cf. further below). But certainly Luke has here gathered together events and sayings of G. that belong to different times, even from the Galilean ministry.

3) From the Feast of Tabernacles, Oct. 28, to the Last Passover, March 29 (Apr. 30). — G. goes to Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles (Jn 7:2, 7); on the journey He sends out the seventy-two disciples, is received at Bethany by Martha and Mary (Lk 10:1–42), and teaches the Our Father (ibid. 11:1–13); on His arrival in Jerusalem He teaches in the Temple and solemnly manifests Himself on the last day of the feast (Jn 7:2–53), and He frees the woman taken in adultery (ibid. 8:1–11). The events that follow in John fit well between the Feast of Tabernacles and the Feast of Dedication, and include the dispute in the Temple (Jn 8:12–59), the healing of the man born blind (ibid. 9:1–41), and the parable of the Good Shepherd (ibid. 10:1–21). Between the October Feast of Tabernacles and the December Feast of Dedication (ibid. 10:22) there was a stay of G. in Perea (cf. ibid. 10:40); in December G. attends the Feast of Dedication (ibid. 10:22–39), and again retires to Perea (ibid. 10:40–42). In the first and second ministry in Perea many events must have occurred that Luke narrates in the “journey” section, which are difficult to fit into a more precise chronological order. The principal events are (after those from Lk 9:51 to 11:13) the banquet at the house of the Pharisee (ibid. 14:1–6), the ten lepers (ibid. 17:11–19); most of these chapters are occupied by teachings (parables of mercy, of the good use of riches, warnings against the Pharisaic spirit, etc.). At a certain point, between the Feast of Dedication and Passover, at a less precisely dated time but certainly close to the latter (Jn 11:55), G. goes to Bethany and there performs the miracle that will

4) Principal Aspects of the Public Life. — a) The Formation of the Apostles. — The revelation that G. makes of Himself and of the Father requires testimony: St. John describes under this aspect the work of the Baptist: Jn 1:6–8, 15, 19, 32–34. Presented as the Lamb of God, as He who baptizes in the Holy Spirit, G. seeks others who, having been with Him from the beginning, may bear witness to Him (Jn 16:27; Acts 1:21–22). The principal work of G. during His public life, besides preaching to the multitudes, was the formation of the Apostles. To them He reserves the explanation of the parables, because it has been granted to them to know the mystery of the Kingdom of God (Mk 4:10–11). He patiently bears with their slowness, their little faith, their prejudices about the nature of the Kingdom (cf. Mk 4:40); He corrects them and by wise progression introduces them into the mystery of His life and mission, accustoming them to the thought of the Passion (Mt 16:21–23); He warns them against the spirit of Pharisaism (ibid. 16:6–12); He aims to form them in goodness (Lk 9:52–56), in detachment (Mt 10:9–10). He prepares them for persecutions (Mt 10:16–25) (against all the disciples of G.); but at the same time He infuses them with courage and the consciousness of their dignity: it is He who sends them (ibid. 16a); in them comes G., and because G. is sent by the Father, in them the Father Himself comes to men (Mt 10:40). G. reserves for the Apostles the last hours with the supreme manifestations and gifts. But what most formed the Apostles for their office of witnesses was the concrete revelation that G. made of His nature before them for about two and a half years: what they call contemplating His glory (Jn 1:14), the manifestation of the life that was with the Father and now has appeared to them and which they announce (Jn 1:1–3).

In G. the Apostles progressively discovered God. In their souls, as Jews accustomed to synagogue reading, were impressed the great biblical theophanies, not abstract but concrete in the very history of their people. God was for them a holy God, who by His holiness kept the people from the contamination of idolatry, and when they abandoned it punished them with the severity of a judge, and forgave with mercy when they repented. He was the one God, jealous of the love of the people whom He called His “spouse”; He was their Shepherd and Father; He spoke through the prophets and through the leaders, and gave His laws; the king represented Him and was like the tangible sign that God was always present in the midst of the people. The Tabernacle first, and then the Temple, were the place of God’s glory, where He manifested Himself in the cloud, from which He heard prayer and communicated His will.

G. revealed to the Apostles and to all the people that the God of the Fathers had come in Him in a solemn, definitive manner. From the very beginning He shows Himself master of nature and thereby manifests His glory for the first time (Jn 2:11); He has authority over the Temple of Jahweh and is Himself the Temple, in which God dwells (ibid. 13–22); He is conscious that in Him the prophecies are fulfilled and announces it from the very beginning of His preaching in Galilee: “the time is fulfilled” (Mk 1:15); in Him the Kingdom of God has drawn near, is already come. From the very beginning He demands full adherence to His message, with the total unity of God, which leads to God, which leads to God, which leads to God, which leads to God, which leads to

Jesus manifested to the Apostles and to all the people that the God of the Fathers had come to him in a solemn, definitive manner. From the very beginning he showed himself master of nature and thereby manifested his glory for the first time (Jn 2:11); he had authority over the temple of Jahweh, and he himself was the temple in which God dwells (ibid. 13–22); he was conscious that in him the prophecies were being fulfilled and he announced this from the very beginning of his preaching in Galilee: “the temple is completed” (Mk 1:15); in him the Kingdom of God had drawn near and was already present. From the very beginning he demanded full adherence to his message, with the total unity of God that leads to God.

Jesus Christ – Sarcophagus with depictions of the Passion of Jesus Christ. At the center is the Constantinian monogram and the Cross, which symbolize the Resurrection. On the sides: Simon of Cyrene carries the Cross, Jesus crowned, and Jesus before Pilate (4th century). Rome, Lateran Museum.

This symbolism is expressly noted in the Fourth Gospel: the healing of the paralytic at the pool foreshadows Jesus’ power to give life (Jn 5:19–30); the raising of Lazarus symbolizes that Jesus is the resurrection and the life for those who believe in him (ibid. 11:25); the healing of the man born blind shows that Jesus is the light of the world (ibid. 9:4–5). Even when not explicitly noted, there is in all the miracles a sense of announcements of the Kingdom, signs that the salvation of man is being accomplished, in soul and body: Jesus saves the whole man (cf. Mk 2:1–12; Jn 5:1–14).

The liberation and gathering of the new People of God, which Jesus accomplished, reached its climax in the outpouring of his blood, already necessary in the Old Testament for establishing the covenant between God and man (cf. Ex 9:8; Heb 9:15–22). But already during his public life Jesus began to form the new People with new laws and a new spirit (the Sermon on the Mount) and established in his teaching the conditions for participating in the salvation offered and entering into the new People. He communicates salvation only to those who are reborn from above by water and the Holy Spirit (Jn 3:3–5), to those who eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood (ibid. 6:53). But beyond a sacramental life (the idea of life in Jn 3–6 is connected with sacramental rhythms), Jesus also requires moral dispositions closely linked to II. The first is to enter into God’s plan through faith. Jesus demands, as an absolute condition for salvation, faith in him and in the Father (Jn 5:24; 6:29). The faith that he demands is not merely an adherence of the intellect, but of the whole person (Jesus most often used the expression πιστεύω ἐν, stronger than πιστεύω εἰς: one believes in a man, but one believes in God alone [cf. J. Huby, De la connaissance de foi dans st Jean, in Recherches de sciences rel., 21 (1931), p. 408, note 439]), by which man entrusts his salvation to God’s hands and accepts God’s ways, abandoning his own. The Kingdom is received with the humility and faith of a child (cf. Mk 10:15).

The other moral condition required (connected with faith) is to follow Jesus: this is necessary in order to be his disciples and not to lose oneself (Mt 10:38–39; Mk 8:34–35). Salvation depends on one’s attitude toward him. He knew that he was the sole mediator of salvation between God and man (cf. Mt 11:27; Jn 14:6); no one goes to the Father except through him, who alone can reveal the Father (ibid.). Therefore he knew that all have need of him; to reject him is to reject the Father (Mt 10:32–40; Lk 10:16).

One must lose oneself for him, leave everything, and imitate him (for an ancient Oriental, to be a disciple of someone meant becoming accustomed to do everything like the master, and therefore to follow him in all states and conditions of life).

γ) The Conflict with the Jews. – The conflict between Jesus and the religious-political environment of Judaism was inevitable; the manner in which he accomplished and offered the salvation of man was in direct opposition to the material interests of the Pharisees and the entire official Judaism, and it provoked the conflict that was to lead to Jesus’ death. The causes of this conflict have been extensively studied (A. Charue, L’incrédulité des Juifs dans le Nouveau Testament, Gembloux 1929; cf. J.-B. Frey, Le conflit entre le messianisme de Jésus et le messianisme des Juifs de son temps, in Biblica, 14 [1933], pp. 133–149, 269–93) and can be summarized as follows. The fundamental cause is that whenever God intervenes in the history of man, he places man before a supreme and definitive decision: either for him or against him. No one can remain indifferent in the face of God’s intervention. Yet, in order to be on God’s side, one must renounce everything that is not God. Now the definitive and ultimate decision before which God placed the people in his supreme manifestation and self-giving in Jesus implied the renunciation on the part of the people and its leaders of their interpretation of the Sacred Scriptures: Jesus gave the Old Testament a meaning too different from Pharisaism not to provoke a reaction. For him the Old Testament contains the history and destiny not of one people alone, but of all humanity, of which it announced the salvation: the serpent represents the salvation of all believers (Jn 3:14–15); the patriarchs will welcome the pagans in their bosom (Mt 8:11). Even Zacchaeus is a son of Abraham (Lk 19:9). The salvation that Jesus offers is for all (J.-B. Frey, op. cit., p. 273). Beyond the nationalistic spirit of Pharisaism, Jesus combats the Jewish interpretation of the figure of the Messiah. Jesus did not wish to be the magnificent, dominating king who would free them from foreign yoke, as many Jews expected. What in the minds of the prophets had been conditioned upon the fidelity of the people, or was a symbolic element of the spiritual goods of the future messianic kingdom, was being interpreted as the principal and necessary element: in the Gospel appear the signs of the mentality of the Jews, and Jesus combats it (J.-B. Frey, op. cit., pp. 260–73). Jesus speaks of the Messiah as humble and patient, who frees from sin and has an entirely spiritual mission (Lk 4:18–19); he does not wish to become king (Jn 6:15); he refuses the prodigious signs that the crowd expects (Lk 11:29).

Besides having to renounce their interpretation of Scripture, the Pharisees realized they also had to renounce their spiritual predominance over the people and their role as guides. Indeed, they were alarmed from the very beginning when Jesus entered the Temple, which was their domain, as master (Jn 2:18); they did not accept the new interpretation of the law of the Sabbath because it was not theirs (Mk 2:24; 3:4); to follow the new master was seduction (Jn 7:47). When they saw that many others were following him, they sought to seize him (ibid. 32); and they decided to remove

The most difficult renunciation that G. demanded through his doctrine and even through his very presence was the renunciation of their own justice. Pharisaic legalism is in contrast with the interior spirit that G. requires of his disciples (cf. the Sermon on the Mount, and also Mk. 7:1-23 and parallels). The burden of precepts that they impose is in contrast with the yoke of G. (Mt. 11:28-30); they crush souls with their religion of external works alone, arrogating to themselves the monopoly of salvation and making it a necessary condition. G., instead, overturns this justice of observance and accuses the Pharisees of hypocrisy (Mt. 23). They, who consider themselves good and holy, cannot tolerate this prophet making them feel that they are far from true salvation and that to find it they need him. This is the blindness or hardening of which G. (Jn. 9:39-41) and his Evangelist speak (ibid. 12:37-43): the failure to recognize that they need him. Thus the mission of G., which aims to enlighten, has the effect—due to their bad disposition—of blinding and hardening them even more. But the epilogue of the drama that leads G. to death will still be a victory for God, as it was in the ancient infidelities of Israel. God always has the last word in history, and it is a word of salvation.

c) The Passion, supreme manifestation and self-giving. The 3rd Passover: at Jerusalem, A.D. 29. — a) General considerations. — The Passion of G. was interpreted by G. himself as the necessary death of the grain of wheat, which, falling into the earth, bears much fruit (Jn. 12:24); as his supreme glorification (together with the Resurrection) by the Father (ibid. 13:31-32; 17:5; cf. 7:39); as the hour of the enemy and the power of darkness (Lk. 22:53); as giving his life as a ransom for many (Mt. 20:28); as the fulfillment of prophecies, necessary so that G. C. might enter into his glory (Lk. 24:25-27). The first apostolic preaching also saw in the Passion an event that happened because and as God had foreseen and decreed it (Acts 2:23), a rejection by the Jews of the stone that became the cornerstone (Acts 4:11); a coming together of Herod and Pilate, of Gentiles and Israelites against the holy servant of God, G., anointed by God to do all that the hand and counsel of God had already predetermined (ibid. 4:26-27: in the mouth of the disciples, already well instructed about the meaning of G.’s Passion).

Later theological reflection would further highlight the sanctifying justice of the Father in the Blood of C. (Rom. 3:25-26); the Father who did not spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us all (ibid. 8:32); perfects, through his sufferings, the head and guide of our salvation (Heb. 2:10), making him in all things like his brothers, tempted and tried as they are, and thus merciful, able to sympathize with our weaknesses (ibid. 2:17-18; 4:15): he learned through his sufferings what obedience is, offered up in the days of his life prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears, and was heard for his godly fear, and, being made perfect, became for all who obey him the source of eternal salvation, God having declared him high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek (ibid. 5:7-10). He offered himself (freely) to God as a sacrifice without blemish (ibid. 9:14).

The theological themes that explain and coordinate the events of the Passion are thus: the power of darkness, the free self-giving of G., the command of the Father and the obedience of G., the priestly character of his sufferings, the passage of G. through all the trials of men, in order to perfect his priestly office, filial prayer, the fruit of the seed that falls into the earth, the redemption that is accomplished.

b) The power of darkness goes into action. — The drama that was the whole of G.’s public life, in the struggle between the unbelief of the Jews and his preaching, reaches its climax in the decision of the Sanhedrin to put G. to death, taken after the raising of Lazarus (Jn. 11:46-53). A second meeting of the Sanhedrin a few days before the Passover deliberates on the manner of seizing G. (Mt. 26:3-5). On the same day or at the same time Judas offers to betray G.; it is Satan who has entered into him (Lk. 22:3; Jn. 13:2). The price is thirty pieces of silver, equivalent to about 116 gold lire, a price less than that of a slave.

c) The gifts of the 13th of Nisan. — The Passover meal, which G. anticipated on the 13th of Nisan with other Jews (this solution is considered the most probable by scholars; it thus reconciles the apparent divergences between the Synoptics and John), is marked by his gifts and by his obedience to the Father. Jn. 13:1 sees in the events of the Upper Room the supreme proof of G.’s love (not excluding the rest of the Passion). The supreme testimonies of love are due to the fact that G. knows that his hour has come to pass to the Father. G., who throughout his public life and now in a particular way is as one who serves (Lk. 22:27), teaches humility first by words (ibid. 22:24-30), then by example (Jn. 13:1-17), washing the feet of the Twelve. He then shows his disciples that he is going to his death neither by constraint nor unknowingly; therefore he reveals the betrayer, who immediately after, possessed by Satan, the prince of darkness, goes out from the Upper Room by night (Jn. 13:18-30). Once the betrayer has gone out, G. gives to the Apostles his Body and his Blood, and thus leaves them the Sacrifice of the New Covenant. Just as the covenant that God made with the people was ratified with the blood of victims, so the covenant that God renews through G. with all humanity must be ratified with G.’s own Blood. The Blood will be poured out for all for the remission of sins, the Body will soon be given in sacrifice. The Supper, renewed through the centuries by G.’s command, will be the memorial and apply the fruits of the sacrifice of the Cross, of which the first Supper already has value.

Having instituted the Sacrifice, G. turns to the Apostles and their successors with the gift of his last words of consolation and warning. The main lines of the discourse (which certainly bears the mark of John’s editorial work) are as follows: G. assures the disciples of his imminent glorification, which brings with it the glory of the Father (Jn. 13:31-32; 17:5; cf. 7:39); he commands them to love one another as a new (ibid. 13:34), distinctive mark of his disciples (ibid. 13:35) on the norm of his love, cf. ibid. 13:34 and 15:12-13; he exhorts them to faith with abandonment to God and to him (ibid. 14:1). The reasons he gives are: 1) the work of the Father and the Son for their salvation: the Father has prepared a place in heaven for each of them; the Son begins a journey whose final stage will be the common life with the Father (ibid. 14:2-5); 2) G. is the way, the truth, the life, the only way to go to the Father; whoever knows him knows the Father, through the communion of essence and life between G. and the Father, manifested in his words and works (Jn. 14:6-11); 3) the usefulness of G.’s departure: the efficacy of prayer in his name (ibid. 14:12-14); 4) G. promises the Holy Spirit and describes his action: he will be an advocate, he will remain with them forever, as the Spirit of truth (ibid. 14:15-17); 5) G. will return at his Resurrection and will be a life-giving spirit: the communion of life that exists between G. and the Father will be shared with them (ibid. 14:18-20); 6) the Most Holy Trinity dwells in whoever keeps the commandments (ibid. 14:21-24); 7) the final motives for joy are once again the illuminating action of the Holy Spirit, the gift of peace, his going to the Father, the victory over the prince of this world (ibid. 14:25-31).

The continuation of the discourse (Jn 15–16) is a collection of sayings of G[esus], perhaps uttered on various occasions (M.-J. Lagrange, *St Jean*, pp. 398–400). Here G[esus] reveals first the mystery of our union with Him (ibid. 15, 1–17): G[esus] sees that it perfectly realizes (ἀληθῶς) elements of organic unity and vital influence with the branches; a union that is necessary, which brings the efficacy of prayer and the glory of the Father; its condition is the observance of the commandments, especially of charity, of which the love of the Lord is the exemplar. G[esus] then foretells to the Apostles the hatred of the world, the persecutions, promises the Holy Spirit as witness to Him, as accuser of the world, and illuminator of the Church (ibid. 15, 26; 16, 8; 16, 13–15). In conclusion, G[esus] still comforts His disciples, speaking of His return (ibid. 16, 16–22), of the Father’s love for the disciples (ibid. 16, 27), of His union with the Father and of victory over the world (ibid. 16, 28–33).

The third part of the efficacy of the Heart of C[hrist] in the Upper Room is the priestly prayer, in which He asks for Himself (1–5) glorification; for the Apostles (6–19) preservation in the faith in what has been revealed by the Father through G[esus] and in G[esus] (ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι σου), that they may be one, that they may be sanctified, they for whom G[esus] offers Himself as a victim (sense of ἀγαθός, “I sanctify”); finally for future disciples (Jn 17, 20–26), that they may be one, and may be where G[esus] is.

The discourses of G[esus] after the Supper, with His prayer, are among the richest pages of the Gospel for the manifestations that G[esus] has made there concerning the mystery of His Person and of His life: the life in the bosom of the Father and in communion with the Spirit of the Father, His union with the disciples. For further study, see J.-M. Vosté, *Studia Ioannea*, Rome 1930, pp. 251–301; A. Durand, *Le Discours de la Cène* (in *Rech. sc. rel.*, 1 [1910], pp. 97–131, 513–591; 2 [1911], pp. 321–49, 521–49); J. Huby, *Le discours de Jésus après la Cène* (*Verbum Salutis*), Paris 1932). For texts on the Holy Spirit: J. Musger, *Dicta Christi de Paracleto* (Rome 1938).

8) The Agony in the Garden. — After singing the hymn, G[esus] goes out from the Upper Room and proceeds to the garden of olives. The sentiments that G[esus] allows to arise in His heart are sorrow (λυπηθῆναι: Mt 26, 37) at an evil present, weariness (ἀδημονῆσαι), horror and amazement (ἐκθαμβεῖσθαι). Sentiments through which men pass and which G[esus] had to share (Heb 2, 17–18). The sorrow impels G[esus] to ask the Father that the cup (in the sense of the destiny allotted to Him) might pass, and at the same time He conforms Himself to the will of the Father (cf. Phil 2, 8: “obedient even unto death, and death on a cross”). G[esus], fearing death, is so anguished that He sweats blood (the phenomenon does not seem foreign to natural causes [cf. U. Holzmeister, *Exempla sudoris sanguinei*, in *Verbum Domini*, 23 (1943), pp. 71–76]).

e) The Religious Trial. — The order of events seems to be as follows: G[esus] is privately examined by the cunning Annas, who would more easily have found grounds for a condemnation (Jn 18, 13–24); then He is brought before Caiaphas, the high priest, and the Sanhedrin, assembled in his house (Mt 26, 57–66), where He is asked whether He is the C[hrist], and the Son of God. The two interrogations are quite distinct, and the sense that Caiaphas gives to the second is whether He is the natural Son of God, in the sense understood from the Psalms (2, 7) and from G[esus] Himself (Jn 5, 18). With the expression “You shall see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming upon the clouds of heaven” (Mt 26, 64), G[esus] answers affirmatively to both questions: the allusion to Dan 7, 13–14 proves His messiahship; “seated at the right hand of God” is equivalent to having divine honors and therefore divine nature (cf. A. Médébielle in *La Ste Bible*, ed. L. Pirot, XII, Paris 1938, pp. 293–94). The condemnation of G[esus], pronounced by Caiaphas and ratified by the Sanhedrin, was therefore inflicted because He declared Himself Son of God (cf. Jn 19, 7). To make oneself like God was considered blasphemy (cf. Mk 2, 7 and Jn 10, 33) and therefore punishable by death (Lev 24, 16). The Sanhedrin therefore pronounced the sentence of death, because the right to do so had been left to them, but being unable to execute the sentence, it was necessary to refer the case and have the sentence ratified by the Roman magistrate (Jn 18, 31; cf. U. Holzmeister, *Historia aetatis Novi Testamenti*, 2nd ed., Rome 1938, pp. 99–100).

With the condemnation of G[esus] to death, the religious trial ends, conducted, according to competent scholars, contrary to Jewish procedural practice and therefore irregular (H. L. Strack–P. Billerbeck, *Kommentar zum N. T. aus Talmud und Midrasch*, I, *Das Evangelium nach Mat.*, Munich 1922, p. 1024). Even apart from procedural irregularities, the sentence was unjust, since the judges should have known from the preparation of the Old Testament and from the proofs adduced by G[esus] that in declaring Himself Son of God He did not detract from the holiness of the one God. The unjust condemnation, preceded by the blow with a rod to the face (ἀνθραπισμός Jn 18, 22), by Peter’s triple denial (on the agreement of the accounts cf. F. Prat, II, pp. 355–56), and followed by the insults of the Sanhedrin and the servants (Mt 26, 67–68) and by the second condemnation in the morning (Lk 22, 66–70), was the power of darkness in action; and at the same time the progressive annihilation of C[hrist] to the extreme of pain and humiliation. On the entire religious trial cf. Giacinto del S.mo Crocifisso, *La Redenzione. Conferenze bibliche tenute al P. Istituto Biblico nel 1933* (Rome 1934, pp. 55–58).

c) The Civil Trial. — In bringing G[esus] before Pilate, the Jews accuse Him of political crimes, the only ones that could wrest from the Roman Procurator a sentence of death. They accuse Him first generally as an evildoer (Jn 18, 30), then specifically as a political agitator who has made Himself a king and has forbidden the payment of tribute (Lk 23, 2, 5). Pilate recognizes G[esus’] innocence on six occasions:

the first after the interrogation on kingship (Jn 18, 38): Pilate sees that it is not a dangerous kingship;
the second after the referral to Herod (Lk 23, 14): Pilate has seen that even Herod has not condemned Him;
the third after the failed proposal to substitute Barabbas for G[esus] and after the message of his wife, whose words impress Pilate: “Have nothing to do with that just man” (Mt 27, 19; cf. Lk 23, 22 for the third time);
the fourth after the scourging and the crowning with thorns (Jn 19, 4): Pilate intends to say that he has imposed the scourging to satisfy the Jews, but with the intention, however, of going no further;
the fifth immediately afterward, when he has said “Behold the man,” and the Jews demand crucifixion (Jn 19, 6);
the sixth, after the final struggle with the Jews: Pilate, yielding to the fear of being accused before Caesar (Tiberius) for having absolved one guilty of lèse-majesté, washes his hands before the people (Mt 27, 24).

There then came to pass the words of Ps 2, 1–2 of the conspiracy of princes and kings against the C[hrist], as the early Christians recalled (Acts 4, 25–28). G[esus] suffered there the sufferings already foretold by Is 50, 6; 52, 13–53, 12. G[esus] is the “Servant of Jahweh” who does not turn His face from ignominies and spittings, Who offers His back to those who strike Him and His cheeks to those who pluck out His beard; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, maltreated, He is submissive, and does not open His mouth, like a lamb that is led to the slaughter.

G[esus] shows throughout the Passion the special protection that God grants Him (Is 50, 7); He reveals Himself in His answers as a king of a spiritual kingdom; He reaffirms His mission and His supernatural origin (Jn 18, 36–37); He affirms that He is in Pilate’s hands by the will of the Father (ibid. 19, 11). The fulfillment of the prophecies and the manifestations of His nature, as the struggle of the power of darkness against the light reaches its climax, prepare the supreme glorification of G[esus] C[hrist] and of the Father in His Death and Resurrection.

(Jo. 18, 36-37)

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