

Jesus claims the words of God as his own: "I desire mercy, and not sacrifice" (Hosea 6:6).

Reminds the Pharisees that Israel's history is one of continually going astray (sinning), followed by God's saving action to restore her to righteousness (living in accord with the will & law of God).Says that he is the Messiah: Jesus equates God's words to Israel in the book of Hosea ("I desire mercy, not sacrifice", Hos 6:6) with his own words ("For I came."), and identifies his personal mission with the promised saving mission of the Messiah.By saying that he "came not to call the righteous, but sinners", Jesus: He says that saving sinners is of primary importance. Jesus tells the Pharisees that they are misinterpreting the will of God. Essentially, the Pharisees are accusing Jesus of opposing Judaism, and therefore the will of God. The Pharisees challenge Jesus for willingly keeping company with "tax collectors and sinners", two despised groups. Apparently some Pharisees are with them, too. Matthew's house with the other disciples, and "many tax collectors and sinners". Matthew, where Jesus tells Matthew to "follow me" and become an Apostle. This scene immediately follows the calling of St. The scene itself is pretty straightforward. The first step is to understand the scene. Go and learn what this means, 'I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.' For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners." Our first passage is a scene from Matthew's Gospel:Īnd as he sat at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Jesus and his disciples.Īnd when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?"īut when he heard it, he said, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. These categories will help us develop a detailed portrait of Christ. One of the keys to this method is the idea of looking at one specific aspect of a passage at a time.

Repeat 3 & 4 until you're done, or you're out of time.Draw conclusions (briefly put in words some specific aspect of Christ's personality).Consider a specific aspect of the scene.
#CATHOLIC BIBLE STUDY GUIDE HOW TO#
My article about how to read the Bible describes a step-by-step method you can use to master the skills needed for reading Scripture. To be accurate, our portrait must be deeply based in Scripture.īut how do we read the Bible in a way that lets us learn about Jesus and form this portrait? Reading the Bible We have to know what he did, understand his personality, and know how he spoke. To follow him closely, to become more like Christ, we must know about him. We should start by saying just why this is so important.Īs Christians, we want to follow Christ closely. Walk through some important Scripture passages with you to meet Jesus and understand him more personally.Teach you some basic principles for knowing the Lord better by reading Scripture.Reading Scripture to learn about Jesus should be a primary goal for Catholic Christians.
