The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 84: The Claim of Savior (2026)

Episode Date: March 25, 2026

Jesus' claim that he is the one true God and the world's savior was the stumbling block for many Jews. Fr. Mike explains why Jesus' invitation to the Jewish people to have faith in him was a challenging task. We learn that hardness of heart and unbelief led the Pharisees to a tragic misunderstanding of Jesus. We are also at risk of such error, and recognizing our hardness of heart can help us to grow in faith. Today's readings are Catechism paragraphs 587-594. This episode has been found to be in conformity with the Catechism by the Institute on the Catechism, under the Subcommittee on the Catechism, USCCB. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/ciy Please note: The Catechism of the Catholic Church contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

Hi, my name's Father Mike Schmitz, and you're listening to the Catechism in a Year podcast, where we encounter God's plan of sheer goodness for us, revealed in Scripture, and passed it down through the tradition of the Catholic faith. The Catechism in a Year is brought to you by Ascension. In 365 days, we'll read through the Catechism of the Catholic Church, discovering our identity in God's family as we journeyed together toward our heavenly home. This is Day 84. We're reading paragraphs 587 to 594. As always, I'm using the Ascension edition of the Catechism, which includes the foundations of faith approach, but you can follow along with any recent version of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Also, if you want to download your own Catechism in your

reading plan, you can visit ascensionpress.com slash C-I-Y. And lastly, you can click follow or subscribe in your podcast app for daily updates, daily notifications. As I said, I think it's day 84. We're reading about, man, this is incredible. Yesterday, Jesus in the temple, the day before, Jesus and the law, he fulfills both of them. Today, the big title, right, is Jesus and Israel's faith in the one God and Savior. This recognition, here are the people of Israel. They have been formed over centuries. They've come to know the one true God. They've come to be able to hear his voice, right, spoken through the prophets, spoken through the words and books of sacred scripture of the Old Testament. And Jesus then comes on the scene

and he invites faith in himself in the same way and to the same degree that the Lord God had invited faith and belief in himself in the old covenant. And so there is this scandalization that happens, right? There's a scandal that happens. In fact, it says paragraph 587, if the law and the Jerusalem temple could be occasions of opposition to Jesus, his role in the redemption of sins, the divine work par excellence,

was the true stumbling block for them. Jesus is teaching on the law, like I say to you, you know, you heard it was said, but I say to you, that's the stumbling block. Here's Jesus saying, you know, destroy the temple in three days, I'll rebuild it, raise it up again. That's a stumbling block. But Jesus claim to be the agent of redemption, the agent of salvation of the world.

Jesus has claimed to be able to forgive sins was the stumbling block, the primary, true stumbling block for them. But this is what Jesus claims, right? You know, there is an ancient teaching that goes all the way back to the middle of the last century, which is not very ancient. But C.S. Lewis highlights this. He says, essentially, you know, some people come along and they'll say, well, you know, I don't believe in Jesus, but I believe he was a good man. I don't believe in Jesus, but I believe he was a holy man or a prophet. Lewis points out, he says this is the one thing you can't say about Jesus because he didn't just claim to be a prophet. He did not just claim to be a holy person. He claimed to be God. And if he wasn't God, he was either lying because he knew he wasn't God and he tried to convince people or he claimed. He was disconnected from reality, right? He was crazy because he wasn't God and didn't know he wasn't God. The only third option is that he was God and he knew he was God. He actually truly is who he says he is.

And that's what we're left with. This big decision, we've talked about this so many times when it comes to faith. But today, in these short paragraphs, at the end of this little section before tomorrow, we dive into Jesus died, crucified. Today, we highlight the fact that there are many Jews who rejected Jesus. in the catechism basically even says no wonder because what he's asking of them was incredible amount of faith. What he's asking of them is not just accept me as one of the prophets. He's saying, accept me as the author of salvation. Accept me as the author of the universe. Accept me as the one

through whom and for whom all things are made. So in paragraph 589 it says Jesus gave scandal above all when he identified his merciful conduct toward sinners with God's own attitude toward them, claiming to forgive sins. In fact, you know what? He says, is, if you're not for me, you're against me. And that is a remarkable ask, right? That is a huge, huge ask on the part of Jesus, unless, unless he actually is God. Now, that's paragraphs 587 to 591. And then our last three paragraphs are our nuggets, right, our in brief, 592 to 594. Let's say a prayer. Let's get started today. Father in heaven, we give you praise and glory. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for your son.

Thank you for revealing his deepest identity to us as that second person of the Trinity. Thank you for revealing your son to us. Has God himself incarnate in the flesh? Thank you for giving your son to us and revealing that his mission par excellence was not only to fulfill the law, not only to fulfill the temple, but to redeem all humanity. Thank you so much. Thank you for the gift of faith. Help us. When we struggle with our faith, help us to say yes to you.

When we struggle with our faith, help us to submit ourselves to you in humble obedience and humble trust this day and every day. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. As I said, it's Day 84 reading paragraphs 587 to 594. Jesus and Israel's faith in the one God and Savior.

If the law and the Jerusalem temple could be occasions of opposition to Jesus by Israel's religious authorities, his role in the redemption of sins, the divine work par excellence. was the true stumbling block for them. Jesus scandalized the Pharisees by eating with tax collectors and sinners as familiarly as with themselves. Against those among them who trusted in themselves, that they were righteous and despised others, Jesus affirmed, I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. He went further by proclaiming before the Pharisees that, since sin is universal, those who pretend not to need salvation are blind to themselves. Jesus gave scandal a all, when he identified his merciful conduct towards sinners with God's own attitude toward them.

He went so far as to hint that, by sharing the table of sinners, he was admitting them to the messianic banquet. But it was most especially by forgiving sins that Jesus placed the religious authorities of Israel on the horns of a dilemma. Were they not entitled to demand in consternation who can forgive sins but God alone? By forgiving sins, Jesus either is blaspheming as a man who made himself God's equal, or he is speaking the truth, and his person really does make present and reveal God's name. Only the divine identity of Jesus' person can justify so absolute a claim as, He who is not with me, is against me, and is saying that there was in him something greater than Jonah, greater than Solomon, something greater than the temple, his reminder that David had called

the Messiah his Lord, and his affirmations before Abraham was, I am, and even I and the father are one. Jesus asked the religious authorities of Jerusalem to believe in him because of the father's works which he accomplished. But such an act of faith must go through a mysterious death to self for a new birth from above under the influence of divine grace. Such a demand for conversion in the face of so surprising a fulfillment of the promises allows one to understand that Sanhedron's tragic misunderstanding of Jesus, they judge that he deserved the death sentence as a blasphemer. The members of the synhedron were thus acting at the same time out of ignorance and the hardness of their unbelief. In brief, Jesus did not abolish the law of Sinai, but rather fulfilled it with such perfection

that he revealed its ultimate meaning and redeemed the transgressions against it. Jesus venerated the temple by going up to it for the Jewish feasts of pilgrimage, and with a jealous love he loved this dwelling of God among men. The temple prefigures his own mystery. When he announces its destruction, it is as a manifestation of his own execution and of the entry into a new age in the history of salvation when his body would be the definitive temple. Jesus performed acts, such as pardoning sins, that manifested him to be the Savior God himself. Certain Jews who did not recognize God made man, saw in him only a man who made himself God and judged him as a blasphemer. Okay, there we have it, paragraphs 587 to 594. This last

section of just recognizing here is Jesus and his relationship to the people of Israel. I mean, we haven't exhausted that obviously. But we recognize that Jesus is accepted by Christians. Why? Not because he is a wise person, not because he's a great prophet, but because he is God incarnate, because he is God himself. That is identity is in his divinity, right? And we recognize this because of the fact that Jesus demonstrates, he proves that he is who he says he is. I mean, if we were to get to this place, we already mentioned C.S. Lewis, right? And is what they called the trilemma. Jesus is either a liar.

He wasn't God and he knew he wasn't God. He is a lunatic. He wasn't God. But he didn't know he wasn't God. Or he is the Lord. Right? That's the trilemma. He's a liar, lunatic or Lord.

We look at the Gospels and you have the picture of a person who, like, wait a second, he doesn't seem like a liar. He doesn't match the characteristics. and tendencies of a liar. He also doesn't seem like he's disconnected from reality, right? He doesn't seem like a lunatic, which leaves us with the only real choice, which is Jesus is who he says he is. He actually is the Lord. Now, we can hear that and say, I don't know. I mean, I don't know if that's accurate. I mean, yes, maybe Jesus doesn't seem like a liar. Maybe he doesn't seem like he is disconnected from reality as a lunatic. But what else is there? And the answer is, well, his miracles.

That his, it points out here that Jesus not only claims to be able to forgive sense. I mean, think about this. In Mark chapter two, we have the story of the four friends. And they bring in their fifth friend on lying on a mat. He was paralyzed, right? And they have to, they can't get him through the door. So they go off the top of the roof and they start doing some remodeling and make a little skylight. And they lower this man down in front of Jesus. Jesus looks at the faith of the friends and he says to the man, your sins are forgiven. And everyone is asking, wait, who but God can forgive sins? And Jesus, in order to demonstrate that yes, he has authority on earth to forgive sins, he says, rise, pick up your mat, and walk.

Now, this is what Jesus' signs and wonders are pointing to. They're pointing to the fact that he is who he says he is. Who but God can forgive sins? Exactly. Jesus is demonstrating that he actually is the Lord himself, that he actually is God himself. Not only does he declare he can forgive sins, but then he proves it. He demonstrates it by also healing. That's part of why Jesus had his signs and his wonders.

That's ultimately when we get to the resurrection. Another incredible sign, another incredible sign that Jesus is who he says he is, is in the resurrection. Now, at the same time, we have to highlight paragraph 591 says something so, so powerful. It says, in the middle of the paragraph, it says, such a demand for conversion in the face of so surprising a fulfillment of the promises, right? So no one expected that God himself would become one of us. This is out of left field. This is the most bananas, incredible, grace-filled God ordained and just no one anticipated that God would fulfill his promises of redemption himself.

No one anticipated this. So he says here, so such a demand for conversion in the face of so surprising a fulfillment of the promises allows one to understand the Sanhedron's tragic misunderstanding of Jesus. Like we can say, I get it. Yes. You know, of those of us who've encountered him, we've seen 2,000 years. not only a brokenness in the church, we've seen 2,000 years of miracles, 2,000 years of lives changed, 2,000 years of evidence that Jesus is who he says he is. But imagine those people on the

ground saying, I never anticipated the God would fulfill his promises by becoming one of us. It makes sense, right? All right? All right says allows one to understand the Sanhedron's tragic misunderstanding of Jesus. We can get it and we can be patient and we can also say, God, please, help me not to misunderstand you. Because then it goes on to say, the members of the synhedron were thus acting at the same time out of ignorance, right? There's a piece I just didn't know. And the hardness of their unbelief.

There's that sense of, but God can give us the grace to know, that God can give us the grace to have faith. And so, yeah, I might be ignorant. And, man, ask God to be patient with me about that. But also, I can have a hardness of heart. I can have a hardness of my own unbelief of what God might be calling, how he might be revealing himself to me. And so I need to say, okay, God, I recognize that in so many areas I can be ignorant. Also in so many areas, I can have a hardness of heart, hardness of mind, a hardness of

unbelief. And so I ask you, by your grace, come and meet me in my ignorance. Come and meet me in my hardness of heart. Soften my heart. Open my mind so that I can know you and soften my heart so that I can truly accept you, receive you, and love you. Does that make sense? That's one of the reasons we pray for our Jewish brothers and sisters. Again, as I mentioned before, Pope Paul VI, spiritually we're all Semites. That we've been grafted onto the tree, the tree of Israel, as St. Paul writes, that we're not all genetically Jewish. But because of Jesus, being grafted onto that tree. And so in some unique, mysterious way, we're connected to our older brothers and sisters in Judaism.

and we're so grateful for them. We also pray for their conversion, just like we pray for the conversion of every person on this planet, but especially for God's chosen people. I pray today, through all of our Jewish friends, I have many Jewish friends, pray that they come to know Jesus Christ as he revealed himself,

which is a big ask. But also I ask that I pray that we all come to know Jesus, which is a big ask, because again, his demands on our lives are total. And we close this day with the words, once again of C.S. Lewis, where he said, Christianity, if false, is of no importance. And if true, of infinite importance, the only thing it cannot be is moderately important, which is true, right? Because Jesus either is who he says he is, or he is not. So Christianity, if false, of no importance,

if true, of infinite importance, the only thing it cannot be is moderately important. So I'm just praying, again, the God opens my minds and my ignorance and he softens my heart and my hardness of heart and comes to meet all of us with his grace. So I'm praying for you. Please pray for each other and please pray for me. My name's Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.