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LIFE IN CHRIST—
PART ONE
THE FOUNDATIONS OF THE CHRISTIAN MORAL LIFE
—CCC, NOS. 1691-2082
JESUS THE TEACHER
Jesus was frequently called a teacher (in Hebrew,
Rabbi
). Jesus taught
about God as his Father and the Father of all human beings. He taught
about his Father’s mercy and forgiveness of sin. He taught about the
Kingdom that his Father was establishing, a Kingdom where justice and
love conquer injustice and hatred. He taught about himself as the Servant
of God, sent by the Father to bring about conversion, even by the sacrifice
of his own life.
Jesus also taught his disciples how they were to live in order to achieve
the fullness of life and happiness that is God’s will for all people. He did this
by his own way of life and by his words. His teaching flowed from the tradi-
tion of ancient Israel but he also deepened that teaching and perfected
it. A good illustration of this is his dialogue with a young man narrated in
the Gospel of St. Matthew.
Now someone approached him and said, “Teacher, what good
must I do to gain eternal life?” He answered him, “Why do you
ask me about the good? There is only One who is good. If you
wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.” He asked him,
“Which ones?” And Jesus replied, “‘You shall not kill; you shall not
commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false wit-
ness; honor your father and your mother’; and ‘you shall love your
neighbor as yourself.’” The young man said to him, “All of these I
have observed. What do I still lack?” Jesus said to him, “If you wish
to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to [the] poor, and