Memorial of Saint Gregory the Great, pope and doctor of the church

Then he said to them, "The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath."

Some biblical scholars, bringing a healthy dose of skepticism to their studies, have suggested that Jesus was a misunderstood reformer of Judaism. Persecuted by Jewish authorities and misrepresented by his hyper-excited disciples, they suggest the humble rabbi from Nazareth never intended to start a new religion. That aberration  arose after the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD and the consequent decision of Jewish elders to  “excommunicate” all deviant sects of Jews, including Essenes, Herodians and Christians. Only the Pharisees survived the purge as they did the purging, and modern Judaism has descended from them.

The same scholars credit Saint Paul with the survival of Christianity since his writings lay the foundation of a church based on faith, rather than observance of the Mosaic Law. Many Jewish scholars have welcomed this interpretation, blaming Paul rather than Jesus for the split.

Catholic scholars, delayed by reluctance to dialogue with (or even read) Protestant and Jewish scholarship until Pope Pius XII published his encyclical Divino Afflante Spiritu in 1943, played no part in generating that theory. When they finally entered the fray after World War II, they consistently rejected it. But the theory persists in popular notions of Jesus. (i.e. Jesus Christ Superstar.)

One of the assumptions of that thesis was the gospels appeared many years, even centuries, after Jesus’ death. They supposed it would take that long for a martyred folk hero to be divinized by his enthusiastic followers. (If the Emperors Julius and Augustus could be gods, why not Jesus?)

But Catholic scholars, working with their Protestant and Jewish colleagues, discovered ample evidence that the gospels appeared much sooner than “centuries later.” In fact, the first of them, Saint Mark’s gospel was written in the mid-60’s; Matthew and Luke, in the 70’s or 80's; and John, before or shortly after 100 AD.

Pope Benedict XVI, in his two-volume Jesus of Nazareth, presents the case for Jesus as the founder of an entirely new religion based upon his own divinity. Not only was he the Son of God, he knew it!

And thus he could say, "The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath." to his own disciples during his lifetime. He could also institute a new Pasch during his Last Supper the week before he died, although it may not have been exactly on the Jewish Passover, which fell the day after he died. Jesus used many of the traditions of the Passover to reveal his New Covenant, but his Seder meal would offer his own Body and Blood rather than a sacrificial lamb.

Another evidence of Jesus’ radical step was the Christian disinterest in the temple. Although his disciples attended Jewish prayers in the temple for a while, there is no grief in the New Testament when the Romans leveled both the temple and Jerusalem. They were already celebrating the breaking of bread on Sunday, as they read both Jewish scriptures and the writings of the apostles. They knew that Jesus is the New Temple and the New Jerusalem who, like the shekina in the Sinai Desert, goes wherever they go.

Christian freedom from the Law is still breath-taking. “For freedom Christ has set us free.” Saint Paul declared, “Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.”

As we move into this Third Millennium, we still enjoy his radical freedom; and we can still adapt our now-ancient tradition to the languages and customs of our time without compromise. But our freedom is not that which the world gives. It is the freedom to be holy as I am holy. For this we must continually listen to the voice of Jesus and the impulse of the Holy Spirit as we set out for the deep.