Catholic Church History
Pagan Imperialism (49 B.C.-313 A.D.) I. Preparation for the Church
5. The Jewish Preparation: Religious Environment
I
Preparation for the Church
5. THE JEWISH PREPARATION: RELIGIOUS ENVIRONMENT
A. Introduction
(1) RELIGIOUS PREDOMINANCE
Transitional note. Within this Graeco-Roman secular civilization, but not of it, was
Judaism. Even before the Church encountered Greek philosophy and Roman politics, she had
been established on a Jewish social and religious structure. Especially during the first generation
of her existence the Christian Church lived in a predominantly Jewish environment. In truth, this
Jewish influence was primarily religious, but the Jews made their contribution not in virtue of any
intrinsic genius, but by reason of their choice by Providence as the vehicle for preserving the true
religion until Christ's coming. God's part in this religious preparation has already been treated.
Here, then, we are chiefly concerned with the instrumental role of the Jews themselves in
preparing for the Church, that is, with those human characteristics used by God in making known
His "good news" to men.
Religious characteristics. "A prior two circumstances characterize the situation: First,
Christianity did not come from Judaism from without, but sprang from its bosom; second, Judaism
like Christianity was a purely religious system. It was not a monarchy or oligarchy purely, but
rather a theocracy. God was the ruler of a chosen people, governing them through His law. For
this reason the problems of Church history in the Jewish world are expressly religious in nature.
The advantages which favored the rise of Christianity in the Jewish world as well as the
disadvantages which threatened its existence and retarded its growth have their source in the
strictly religious sphere."
(2) ESTIMATE OF JEWISH INFLUENCE
Advantages. "The main points of advantage are the following: (1) In Judaism religion
was not a mere official appendage to the political system as in other ancient states but the
mainspring of all political and popular activity. It was the end and purpose of every field and
department of life. . . . Christianity too has this same end and aim. . . . 2) The entire teaching of
Jesus centers in a claim that was intimately bound up with the whole history and religion of the
Jews. In Rome His claim to be the Messiah foretold by the prophets would have been simply
incomprehensible. . . . (3) In spite of every tendency toward monotheism among the non-Jewish
peoples in ancient times, the Jews alone professed a moral monotheism that was pure and free
from error, clearly expressed and free from vacillation. . . .
Disadvantage. "Judaism, especially Palestinian Judaism, proved an obstacle to
Christianity, because of its bigoted racial narrowness and its legalistic piety expressed through
external works. . . . Divergence between Christianity and Judaism was reduced to one question:
Is Christianity for all men or only for Jews with their works of the Law?"
B. Racial History
(1) HEBREW ORIGINS
Abraham was called by God into Palestine from Ur to become ancestor of the Hebrews,
themselves presumably named from Heber, Sem's grandson. Abraham's vocation, which
probably took place about 2000 B.C., was confirmed in Palestine where "God made a covenant
with Abram" (Gen. 15:18). His descendants, nomadic herders, went to Egypt to escape famine,
apparently during the domination of that land by their kindred, the Bedouin Hyksos (1800-1500).
The native Theban dynasty which began to regain Egyptian independence about 1580 Naturally
"knew not Joseph." Pharaoh Ikhanaton's unpopular solar monotheism may have owed something
to Hebrew religion, so that reaction against it might have embraced the Hebrews, presently
persecuted as
fifth columnists.
Moses received a divine commission to lead the Hebrews from Egypt. The pharaoh of
the Exodus was probably Rameses II (1301-1234), According to a more recent dating of it at
1300-1290. For forty years of nomad existence in Arabia, Moses initiated his people into an
augmented code and cult. But it was Josue bar Nun who finally led them into Canaan or
Palestine which, with divine assistance, the united nation conquered from petty city-states.
During several centuries the Hebrews lacked centralized government except that occasionally
supplied by the judges, tribal chieftains sent by God to free them from oppression by their
neighbors. Samuel, last of these judges, anointed Saul bar Cis as king. Then under three able
monarchs, Saul, David, and Solomon (c. 1020-926) the Hebrews enjoyed a prosperous
independence while their Egyptian and Babylonian neighbors were weak.
Tribal schism, however, wrested ten tribes from the Davidic dynasty about 926.
Thenceforth the Hebrews were divided among the rival principalities of Judea and Israel. Though
Providence repeatedly preserved them from enemies, frequent religious apostasy at length
delivered them into the hands of their foes. In 721 B.C., King Sargon of Assyria subdued Israel,
deported many of its inhabitants, and colonized the land with aliens. The resulting Samaritans,
mixed alike in blood and religion, were henceforth regarded by the Hebrews of Judea as
heretical. But the latter themselves fell before King Nabuchodonosor of Babylonia in 586.
Another deportation took place, but when the Persians in turn conquered Babylon in 539, they
permitted some of the captives to return. The homecoming Hebrews, thereafter known as Jews,
rebuilt their city and temple, and restored religious observances. To avoid future falls they rigidly
separated themselves from alien influence by insistence on circumcision, Sabbath repose, and
distinction of foods. Palestinian Jewry, therefore, became extremely nationalistic and exclusive.
Many Hebrews, however, never returned to Palestine from these repeated deportations, while
others were induced to migrate by over-population or commercial opportunities in the Hellenistic
world. They and their descendants constituted the diaspora, estimated at four to five millions by
the time of Christ. Though faithful to the essentials of Mosaic religion, these "dispersed" Jews
became socially Hellenized and tended to be more broad-minded than their Palestinian brethren.
(2) PALESTINIAN JEWRY
The Hellenistic regime, unlike tolerant Persian rule, menaced Jewish institutions. It is
true that the Egyptian Ptolemies, to whom Palestine was subject until 198, allowed autonomy
under high priests. But Hebrew became so incomprehensible to the majority of Jews that the
Septuagint version of the Bible was made into Greek at Alexandria, while Aramaic became the
vernacular tongue in the homeland. The Syrian rulers to whom Judea fell in 198 were ardent
Hellenizers. Antiochus IV Epiphanies (174-164) used traitors in the priesthood to introduce pagan
cult into the Temple itself.
Jewish home rule was declared by the Assideans, pious Jews, and their military leaders
of the Asmonean family. A revolt was begun by Mathathias in 167, and continued by his sons,
Judas Machabeus (166-161), Jonathan (161-143), and Simon (143-136). Judas rescued the
Temple; Jonathan restored the high-priesthood in his family, and Simon secured recognition as
autonomous prince-priest of Judea. He and his descendants gave Palestine a brief period of
prosperity.
Herodians. The last of these Asmoneans, John Hyrcanus II (77-40), survived only by
becoming Rome's client, He named the Idumean Antipater his prime minister, and the latter's son,
Herod the Great, supplanted the Asmoneans by shrewd diplomacy. Then at last did the " sceptre
pass from Juda" to a descendant of Esau, a sign that "He who was to be sent" was at hand.
Though Herod enlarged the Temple, he never gained his subjects' love. Ever in fear of plots, he
killed three of his sons and finally the Innocents of Bethlehem. Augustus confirmed Herod's will
dividing his dominions among three sons: Archelaus (4 B.C.-6 A.D.) in Judea-Samaria; Herod
Antipas in Galilee-Perea till 39; and Philip in Iturea until 34. With the last Christ did not come into
contact; Herod Antipas was the Baptist's murderer and would-be judge of Christ. Archelaus was
deposed by Augustus on Jewish complaints of despotism.
Roman rule then appeared undisguised in a series of procurators, lieutenant-governors
under the Syrian proconsuls. They reserved capital punishment to themselves, but delegated
jurisdiction over religious questions to the high priests. The office of the latter became political,
and Annas (6-15) even after his retirement dominated five sons and a son-in-law, Caiphas (26-
37), whom he placed in the high priesthood. Procurator Pontius Pilate (26-36) was a ruler of
good intentions, vacillating between bungling benevolence and hasty violence. Already fearful of
denunciation to the dread Tiberius for mismanagement, he yielded Christ to Jewish demands.
Another blunder in 36 led to his recall in disgrace; legend has him commit suicide in Vienne,
Gaul. It is likely that Stephen was stoned during the vacancy before his successor's arrival. A
grandson of Herod the Great, Herod Agrippa won the Jewish throne through Claudius's favor, but
after his brief reign (41-44) the procuratorial system was restored, though Agrippa's son of the
same name was conceded custody of the Temple.
Fall of Jerusalem. Rapacious Roman governors provoked the Jewish nationalists, the
"Zealots," until Roman intolerance and Pharasaic fanaticism clashed in a Great Revolt (66-70)
which ended in the destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple. Josephus attests the fulfillment of
Christ's prophecy, for the Temple was "so thoroughly laid even with the ground by those that dug
it up to the foundation, that there was left nothing to make those that came thither believe it had
ever been inhabited" (Wars, VII, 1). By 73 the last Palestinian stronghold had surrendered and
Titus could carry the seven-branch candlestick in triumph through Rome, where the scene
remains depicted on the Arch of Titus. Martial law imposed on Palestine provoked another futile
revolt (132-35) under BarKochba which provoked terrible reprisals. Jerusalem was converted
into the Roman colony of Aelia Capitolina, a temple to Jupiter erected on the site of the Temple,
and the Palestinian Jew, denied access to the Holy City, followed his brethren of the Diaspora as
a wanderer on the face of the earth.
C. Social-Religious Institutions
(1) PALESTINIAN CHARACTERISTICS
Palestinian Jewry numbered about a million adherents at the time of Christ.
The Sanhedrin was the supreme council which theoretically had jurisdiction over Jews
everywhere, but in practice ruled only in Palestine. Once composed of priests and elders, it later
included some doctors of the Law. Its total membership was seventy-one, including the high
priest who normally presided. Only the Roman procurators could override the decisions of the
Sanhedrin which ordinarily settled all legal and religious questions. It pronounced Christ's
condemnation, but had to obtain authorization from Roman authority for the desired capital
punishment.
The priests were numerous and took turns in serving the Temple. As sole ministers of
sacrifice, they continued to have influence and prestige.
The scribes, however, had come to share their position by undertaking the interpretation
of the Law. It was their function to expound the Mosaic Code and apply it to current conditions.
Either rigorists of the school of Schammai, or milder exegetes of Hillel's viewpoint, their casuistry
and formalism were notorious, stigmatized for all time by Christ's reproaches.
The Pharisees, though only a minority, had the greatest popular following. They were a
religious party, successors of the Assidean patriots. They prided themselves on knowing the Law
more exactly than anyone else both in its texts and traditions. The Pharisees were adamant in
preserving Judaism from any pagan stain. Hence they exaggerated rules of legal impurity and all
precepts setting the Jew apart from the Gentile. Though substantially orthodox, they tended to
become formalists and even hypocrites whenever their code of minute prescriptions could not be
observed. Provided religious liberty was safe, they professed indifference to politics. Those of
the party--increasingly numerous after Christ--who championed national independence were
known as the Zealots; the Pharisee himself was a pious idealist.
The Sadducees, on the contrary, were aristocratic "realists." These disciples of the High
Priest Sadoc comprised a majority of the priests, especially the high priests, but the scribes were
usually Pharisees. joined with the religious leaders were those wealthy classes who sought favor
with the foreigner for business or social reasons. The Sadducees were influenced by this
fraternization, for they at least minimized providence, denied the existence of angels and the
resurrection of the dead, and rejected the prophets. Though they scorned pharisaic exegesis, on
what they regarded as the essentials of the Law they could be severe. Those Sadducees who
frankly and actively co-operated with the Idumeans seem to have been called Herodians.
The Essenes, not mentioned in the New Testament, were a sort of religious order. These
"silent ones" retired from the world to the borders of the Dead Sea to practice rigid asceticism.
Their oath of secrecy still binders complete knowledge of their practices. They or a similar sect
have recently received posthumous notoriety as conservators of scriptural manuscripts contained
in the Dead Sea Scrolls.
(3) THE DIASPORA
Social condition. The four or five million Jews of the dispersion throughout the Roman
Empire maintained their connection with Jerusalem by pilgrimages and contributions. Though
they might enjoy special privileges, imperial authority still regarded them as aliens. Their
presence in most imperial cities, however, attracted some sincere seekers of religious truth. A
few of these became proselytes observing the whole Law, but more often "those who feared God"
confined themselves to the Jewish moral code. In any event, these links with the Gentile world
would be of immense service to the apostles when they sought to spread the Gospel beyond the
chosen people.
Synagogue organization. Deprived of ready access to the Temple, the Dispersed
resorted to synagogues, places of prayer. Here they assembled not only for prayer, but for
readings from the Bible and homilies pronounced by leaders of the synagogue or some
distinguished visiting scribe, like St. Paul. Scribes, if any were present, conducted the services.
Officers were the archisynagogus or leader, and the hyperetes or server. The synagogue
became the center of Jewish religious and social life, and St. Paul frequently made his opening
address there.
Foreign influences were naturally greater among the Dispersed, but throughout Judaism
there had been no essential change in the Mosaic religion. Whatever social or linguistic
concessions he might make to Hellenism, the Jew was still devoted to the Law. Only a few, like
Josephus and Philo, took liberties with the traditional cult. The latter tried to blend Platonism and
Stoicism with the Mosaic Law, or more exactly, to expound the Law for pagans in their
philosophical terms.
(3) MESSIANIC EXPECTATION
Belief in the coming of a Messiah was general throughout Jewish communities. But
though a minority expected a spiritual regeneration, the majority had colored the prophetic portrait
of the Messiah with worldly lineaments. His functions were represented in an apocalyptic or even
materialistic sense. He was to be the conqueror who would free Jewry and make the Gentiles
subject to a new Jewish kingdom. Few, if any, understood the expiatory role of the "Servant of
Yahweh." And so, for the most part, "He came unto His own, and His own received Him not"
(John 1:11).
Catholic Church History
Pagan Imperialism (49 B.C.-313 A.D.) II. Foundation of the Church (27-107)
6. King of the Church: Jesus Christ (27-30)
II
Foundation of the Church
6. KING OF THE CHURCH: JESUS CHRIST
A. Prologue: The King's Coming
Theme: "When the fullness of time came, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born
under the Law, that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the
adoption of sons" (Gal. 4:4).
Introduction: Divine Providence, then, chose for the Incarnation that fullness of time
when mankind had been sufficiently prepared to profit by the complete revelation through Christ.
In this case, as St. Thomas says, the imperfect preceded the perfect that men might be able to
appreciate the latter; it would not have been well, however, to postpone Christ's coming until the
end of the world, for if mankind were left entirely to itself, "the knowledge and reverence of God
and moral righteousness would have been effaced from the earth" (Summa theol., IIIa, q. 1, a. 6).
Therefore, "Jesus came in the fullness of time. The profound philosophical and historical
meaning of this sublime thought of St. Paul becomes evident only if we bear in mind that this
fullness had been attained in every field of culture."
The Nativity. "A decree went forth from Caesar Augustus that a census of the whole
world should be taken. This first census took place while Cyrinus was governor of Syria. And all
were going, each to his own town, to register. And Joseph also went from Galilee out of the town
of Nazareth into Judea to the town of David . . . to register, together with Mary his espoused wife,
who was with child. And it came to pass while they were there, that the days for her to be
delivered were fulfilled, and she brought forth her first born son, and wrapped him in swaddling
clothes, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn" (Luke 2:1-7).
Chronology. The date of this central event of history is assigned tentatively with La
Grange to December 25, 749 A.U.C., or 5 B.C. It is certain that Herod the Great died in 750
A.U.C.; Christ's birth, according to the Gospels, must have taken place previously. For the month
and day, there is almost no evidence save St. Augustine's vague allusion to an "ancient tradition"
in favor of the present liturgical date. As to the year, the census of Cyrinus-for which La Grange
proposed a legitimate alternate, "this census was made before that of Cyrinus, the governor of
Syria"-could have been between 8 and 4 B.C. But the years 5 or 6 B.C. best fit in with St. Luke's
information that Christ was "about thirty years old" when He began His public ministry. As the
"fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar" remains ambiguous-for it can be dated from coregency
or sole rule-this date also remains approximate. Most scholars assign the opening of the
public ministry to the autumn of 27 or 28, depending on their estimates of two or three years for
Christ's preaching. St. John's clue of 46 years of Temple construction (John 2:20), going back to
Herod's eighteenth year (20-18 B.C.) would suggest the earlier of these dates. Finally, as already
noted, we have adopted April 7, 30 A.D. as a tentative working date for the fulfillment of Christ's
sacerdotal sacrifice.
B. The King's Mission
(1) ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE KINGDOM
The Herald. "In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate
was procurator of Judea, and Herod tetrarch of Galilee, and Philip his brother tetrarch of the
district of Iturea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, during the high priesthood of
Annas and Caiphas, the word of God came to John, the son of Zachary, in the desert. . . . In
those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the desert of Judea, and saying: 'Repent, for the
Kingdom of Heaven is at band"' (Luke 3:1-3; Matt. 3:1-2).
The Savior. With this solemn announcement, Church history proper opens, for "Kingdom
of Heaven" will be Christ's term for His Church. Christ began by setting His followers an example
of baptism; not to sanctify Himself, but as St. Ignatius says (Ephesians, 18), to bless water that it
might be instrumental in cleansing sin. Then did God the Father attest Christ's royal commission:
"This is My beloved Son; bear ye Him." Then also did the New Adam retire to the desert to
challenge Satan, the "prince of this world," who had usurped rule over men since the first Adam's
fall. Victorious, Christ was hailed by John the Baptist: "Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away
the sin of the world" (John 1:29).
Pioneer disciples. Two of John's own disciples, Andrew bar Jona and John bar Zebedee,
left him to follow the Messias-it may be appropriate, then, that the Church begins her liturgical
year near the feast of St. Andrew, proto-disciple. But if first in time, he was not to be first in
dignity; the next day be brought his brother Simon to Christ. The Lord looked this ignorant
fisherman full in the face, and said with prophetic play on words: "Thou art Simon, the son of
John; thou shalt be called Cephas, which interpreted is Peter [Rock]" (John 1:42). The Church's
elements were at hand.
(2) PREACHING OF THE KINGDOM
Christ outlined His Kingdom in parables, lest premature plain speech might excite Jews
expecting a militant Messias to a perversion of His spiritual mission. These parables, now seen
to be profound in meaning, were even then intellectually stimulating. They afforded all men of
good will the incentive to further inquiry which would obtain from Jesus or His apostles the saving
knowledge of the Kingdom. At the same time they allowed the ill-disposed a pretext for rejection
and opposition, for it was never God's plan to force men's free will. in fact, in making known the
New Testament of charity God forsook the awesome height of Sinai for the gentle slopes of the
mount of the Beatitudes.
Christ's word is like a seed sown on different kinds of soil by Himself and His disciples.
The seed is free; its growth depends on human correspondence with God's grace. Some men
will be robbed of it by the devil; others will hear with joy but faint at the sacrifices required; some
will hear only to stop their ears again with the cares, riches, and pleasures of life; others, at
length, will both hear and bring forth fruit to eternal life: thirtyfold, sixtyfold, or a hundredfold
according to the mysteries of grace and free will (Matt. 13).
Christ's Church is like a seed cast into the earth and forgotten. Yet unsuspected by men,
this seed will germinate, for the King can make use even of bad or indifferent instruments to
spread it unwittingly. Not even the faithful disciple will fully comprehend the divine dynamite in
the Good News of the Kingdom: the sermon be thought a failure will touch some heart; the time in
the confessional he believed wasted will reclaim some soul. For it is not his seed, but the King's.
The Church is like a seed growing up among cockle sown by Antichrist: the devil and his
minions. Nor will this cockle be eradicated in this life: the Church will always exist in a world more
or less alien to her, one with which some of her weaker members will sympathize.
The Church is like a mustard seed, small in the beginning, but growing beyond men's
expectation: stretching out its branches in all walks of life, all provinces of knowledge, all lands of
the earth, so that rulers, philosophers, scientists, reformers will dwell under its shade.
The Church is like leaven put into dough. The yeast is not swallowed up by the heavy
mixture, but when allowed, raises it up above itself and pervades it with its efficacy, keeping alive
the image of God in man.
The Church is like a treasure hidden in the field of human lore. Men not given faith from
birth will find it, and appreciating its surpassing worth, will preserve it though they have to
sacrifice for it all they have of wealth, power, and reputation.
The Church is like a net, cast into the sea of human beings, catching alike good, bad, and
indifferent. She will do her best for them; bear with them, be calumniated on account of them,
until the day of final separation, the day of the King's second coming in judgment.
The Church is like a householder, then, bringing forth dogmas and morals, both new with
Christ's charity, and old according to the irrevocable moral code of Yahweh. (Matt., chap. 13;
Mark, chap. 4)
(3) DOCTRINAL SKETCH OF THE KINGDOM
Christ's Theology: Christ is God: "For from God I came forth and have come . . . before
Abraham came to be, I am" (John 8:42, 58). He is a member of a homogeneous Trinity,
commanding baptism "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit" (Matt.
28:19). He declared that I and the Father are one" (John 10:30); hence, "no one knows the Son
except the Father, nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and him to whom the Son
chooses to reveal Him" (Matt. 11:27). Equally intimate are Christ's relations with the Holy Spirit:
"When the Advocate has come, whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who
proceeds from the Father, He will bear witness concerning Me. . . . He will glorify Me, because He
will receive of what is mine and declare it to you" (John 15:26; 16:14). All three Persons,
however, constitute but one God, and this "God is spirit, and they who worship Him must worship
Him in spirit and in truth" (John 4:24).
Christ's Economy: Christ, Son of God, but also "Son of Man came to save what was lost .
. . not . . . to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many" (Matt. 18:11;
20:28). The great effect of redemption will be the prospect of eternal life for mankind: I am the
resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me, even if be die, shall live, and whoever lives and
believes in Me, shall never die" (John 11:25-26). The fruits of redemption are to be applied to
men through the sacraments: "Unless a man be born again of water and the Spirit, he cannot
enter into the Kingdom of God" (John 3:5); "except you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink
His blood, you shall not have life in you. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has life
everlasting and I will raise him up on the last day" (John 6:54-55). These sacraments are
administered by men endowed with Christ's powers: "Do this in remembrance of Me" (Luke
22:19). "Receive the Holy Spirit; whose sins you shall forgive they are forgiven them, and whose
sins you shall retain, they are retained" (John 20:23). In short, all human salvation requires an
infused supernatural principle of grace: "I am the vine; you are the branches. He who abides in
Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing" (John 15:5).
Christ's Law: "Do not think that I have come to destroy the Law or the Prophets; I have
not come to destroy, but to fulfill" (Matt. 5:17). Greater perfection, however, is now demanded: "A
new commandment I give you, that you love one another: that as I have loved you, you also love
one another. By this will all men know that you are My disciples if you have love for one another"
(John 13:34-35). But the test of this love is always obedience: "He who does the will of My Father
in heaven shall enter the Kingdom of Heaven" (Matt. 7:21). "In this manner therefore shall you
pray: 'Our Father, who art in heaven"' (Matt. 6:9). Christ's challenge is to humility and suffering:
"Take my yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am meek and humble of heart. . . . If anyone
wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me" (Matt. 11:29;
16:24).
Christian destiny: "The hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs shall hear the
voice of the Son of God. And they who have done good shall come forth unto resurrection of life;
but they who have done evil unto resurrection of judgment" (John 5:28-29). Finally, "heaven and
earth will pass, but My words will not pass away" (Mark 13:31).
(4) ORGANIZATION OF THE KINGDOM
Christ is King of the Church, the permanent, though later the invisible head of His mystic
body which is the Catholic Church. He is the vine and His followers are the branches; without
Him they can effect nothing. Though these members are spiritually inadequate of themselves, as
was repeatedly demonstrated during the public ministry and the Passion, Christ will infuse into
this embryo a soul, the Holy Spirit, who will teach them all things and lead them into all truth
(John, chap. 16).
Christ's Viceroy will be Peter. This Church will be built on Simon bar Jona, supernaturally
reconstituted as Peter, that Rock against which rains will come and floods surge, and winds blow,
and the very powers of hell will beat-but in vain, for this Rock is a man and an institution
strengthened by Christ (Matt., chap. 16; cf., chap. 7). Simon the man will yet give proof of
personal weakness, but "once converted" by Christ's grace, Peter the viceroy will "confirm his
brethren" with infallible teaching (Luke, chap. 22). Finally this Peter, having atoned for a threefold
denial by a threefold profession of loving allegiance to his King and Master, will be given the keys
of the Kingdom: be and his successors will be custodians of the sheepfold of the Good Shepherd
(John, chap. 21; cf., chap. 10).
Christ's legates a latere, His apostles, will be authentic teachers and rulers of the Church
under Peter. They will be the light shining in the darkness of error, the salt giving heavenly savor
against the putrefaction of vice (Matt., chap. 5). Under Peter, they, too, will bind and loose from
sin and censure, and if anyone will not hear them, he should be regarded as the Jews esteemed
the heathen and publican (Matt., chap. 18); yes, "be who hears you, hears Me, and he who
rejects you, rejects Me; and he who rejects Me, rejects Him who sent Me" (Luke 10:16).
The Church is one, despite these hierarchical distinctions, as God the Father and God
the Son are one, for "one is your Master, and you are all brothers." The Church will remain one
with Christ that the world may know that God has truly sent His divine Son; for of themselves men
will always disagree and separate, while God alone can bestow that unity and peace that the
world cannot give. The Church will so be one with Christ that He will accept her trials as His own:
"Saul, Saul, why dost thou persecute Me?" (Acts 9:4). The world, indeed, will hate the Church
because it hated Christ for opposing its selfish maxims, but let this Church, this relatively "little
flock," have confidence, for Christ has overcome the world; and, as Christ defeated sin and death,
so shall the Church (John, chap. 17).
(5) PROCLAMATI0N OF THE KINGDOM
Christ's divine legation. Throughout His public ministry, Christ spoke with increasing
clearness of His divine commission, reaching a climax in His last sermon on Tuesday before His
Passion: "I have not spoken on my own authority, but He who sent Me, the Father, has
commanded me what I should say and what I should declare . . ." (John 12:49). Finally it was
during His Passion that Christ published His claims to divinity with unmistakeable plainness and
authority: His was the unimpeachable sincerity of a "martyr," that is, a "witness" to the truth.
Declaration to the Jews. Caiphas, chief of Judaism, high priest of the old and dying
Covenant, interrogated Jesus Christ, high priest of the New and perfect Testament: "I adjure thee
by the living God, that thou tell us if thou art the Christ, the Son of God?" Jesus replied with
utmost clarity: "I am" (Matt. 26:63; Mark 14:62). This was received with the scandalized
comment, still the view of many Jews, "He has blasphemed."
Declaration to the Gentiles. Pilate, Roman governor, representative of imperial authority,
spokesman for paganism, in turn demanded of Christ, the coming Lord of the world,
acknowledgment of His claim: "Thou art a king then?" For men of all ages came the calm reply:
"Thou sayest it; I am a king. This was why I was born, and why I have come into the world, to
bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice." And this was greeted with
the cynical retort, still the opinion of many Gentiles, "What is truth?" (John 18:37-38).
For all men of good will, however, there remain historical facts which no "higher criticism"
can erase: testimony sealed in death, confirmed by resurrection from the tomb, banded down by
witnesses who wrote in blood, demonstrated by miracles, whether exceptions from physical laws,
or those superhuman "moral miracles" which cannot be denied in the aggregate without
repudiating history and all human testimony.
Redemptive Passion. Outside Jerusalem, at Golgotha, "place of the Skull"-of Adam
perhaps, of fallen mankind surely-the evangelists relate with stark simplicity: "They crucified Him
there. . . . From the sixth hour there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. . . . He
said: 'It is consummated' . . . and crying with a loud voice, said: 'Father, into Thy hands I
commend my spirit' . . . and bowing His head, He gave up His spirit. . . . And behold the curtain of
the Temple was rent in two from top to bottom . . . and the centurion said, 'Truly He was the Son
of God."' Then the Jewish leaders, "departing, made the sepulchre sure"-well termed by Bishop
Sheen the most ironical sentence written (cf. John, chap. 19; Luke, chap. 23; Matt., chap. 27).
(6) FOUNDATION OF THE KINGDOM
Victorious Resurrection. "Now when He had risen from the dead early on the first day of
the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene" (Mark 16:9). Christ Himself implanted
unshakable conviction in His apostles: "'Peace be to you! It is I, do not be afraid . . . for a spirit
does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have"' (Luke 24:36, 39). At length even doubting
Thomas shared the conviction of the apostles who would dare assert to the Jews and the
Sanhedrin itself: "But God raised Him on the third day and caused Him to be plainly seen . . . by
witnesses designated beforehand by God, that is, by us" (Acts 10:40-41). St. Paul could stake all
on Christ's resurrection: "If Christ has not risen, vain then is our preaching, vain too is your faith. .
. . But Christ has risen from the dead" (1 Cor. 15:14, 20). Impressed by such unimpeachable
testimony, St. Ignatius could argue on the eve of martyrdom; "If, then, as some atheists--infidels--
say, He suffered only in appearance . . . why am I bound? why do I long to be thrown to the
beasts? Do I die in vain? Have I testified falsely to the Lord?" (Smyrneans, 1-7.)
Final delegation. The risen Christ fulfilled the organizational plan already sketched. He
created His hierarchy in the Cenacle: "As the Father has sent me, I also send you. . . . Receive
the Holy Spirit; whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them . . ." (John 20:21-23). Within
forty days of the Resurrection, one morning after breakfast on the shore of the Galilean Lake,
Christ exacted of Peter his threefold pledge of love, rewarding Him with a triple commission to
care for His flock: lambs, little sheep, adult sheep-all without exception. At length, in the Galilean
region, "Jesus drew near and spoke to them saying, 'All power in heaven and on earth has been
given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them . . . teaching them
to observe all that I have commanded you; and behold, I am with you all days, even unto the
consummation of the world.' . . . And it came to pass as He blessed them, that He parted from
them and was carried up into heaven" (Matt. 28:18-20; Luke 24:51).
C. Epilogue: The King's Abiding
Christ's Mystic Body. "'Behold I am with you all days even unto the consummation of the
world.' If you ask the Catholic Church to tell us, according to her own notion of herself, what
constitutes her essential nature and what is the substance of her self-consciousness, she
answers us through the mouth of the greatest of her teachers, that the Church is the realization
on earth of the kingdom of God. 'The Church of today, of the present, is the kingdom of Christ
and the kingdom of heaven' such is the emphatic assertion of St. Augustine. The 'kingdom of
heaven' and 'kingdom of God' taken up from the prophecy of Daniel and proclaimed by Christ,
that kingdom which grows great like the mustard seed, and like leaven permeates the world, and
which like a field of corn shelters both wheat and cockle until the harvest, this 'kingdom of
heaven,' is, so the Church believes, implanted in her own being and there manifested. The
Church believes that she is the manifestation of that newness, that supernature, and that divinity
which come in with the kingdom of God, the manifestation of holiness. She is the new
supernatural reality brought by Christ into the world and arrayed in the garment of the transitory;
she is the divine attesting itself under earthly veils. . . Christ the Lord is the real self of the
Church."
Conclusion: When, accordingly, we leave this feeble and abbreviated recapitulation of
Christ's own mission-the thorough treatment of Karl Adam, Spirit of Catholicism, trans. Justin
McCann (New York: The Macmillan Co., 1929), pp. 14-30. which is the proper subject of
scriptural manuals-in order to pursue the history of the Catholic Church, it will merely be to leave
Christ for Christ. In His mystical body which is the Church Christ continues His mission in the
world, and here in all essentials, "Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, and today, yes, and
forever" (Heb. 13:8).