Building on Bedrock - The Second Passover - Response to Chapter 7

Christ, the New Moses, and the Second Passover

Mark’s account of the “Second Passover” in Christ’s ministry is rich with details from the Gospels, weaving together Christ’s healing of the paralytic at Bethesda, the calling of the Twelve, the sending of the Seventy, and the moral teaching of the Sermon on the Mount. But as is often the case with those who stand outside the visible Catholic Church, his narrative is colored by a strictly forensic, external view of “the Law,” a suspicion of the supernatural, and an aversion to the Catholic understanding of grace and fulfillment. This rebuttal will take up the themes of the Second Passover, examining how Christ, as the New Moses, transforms the Passover, the Law, and the entire plan of salvation - and why only Catholicism preserves this fullness, against every reductionist or legalist alternative.

I. The Setting: The Passover and the Fulfillment of Israel’s Hope

Mark rightly notes that John 5 situates Jesus in Jerusalem for a feast - “likely the Passover.” This is not a minor detail; the Passover is the hinge of Israel’s liturgical and spiritual life, the memorial of the Exodus and the covenant. To understand Christ’s actions in the light of Passover is to understand Him as the fulfillment of all that God did through Moses.

But what is the meaning of Passover in Christ? Here the Catholic Church, drawing from both Scripture and the Fathers, offers a vision at once deeply Jewish and radically new: Christ is the true Passover Lamb. The blood of the lamb on the doorposts in Egypt prefigured the blood of Christ, who takes away the sin of the world (cf. Jn 1:29). The Catholic Church has always seen the entire Paschal mystery - the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus - as the new and definitive Exodus, through which God leads His people from the slavery of sin to the freedom of grace (cf. St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica III, q.46-49; St. Augustine, Tractates on John).

Contrast this with Mark’s approach. In his telling, Christ is a reforming rabbi, an inspired prophet correcting abuses, but not fundamentally transforming the law or the meaning of Passover. Yet the Gospels do not allow for such a tame Jesus: He is not only the keeper of the Law but its fulfillment and perfection. At every Passover, Christ’s actions are filled with typological significance. When He heals on the Sabbath, when He proclaims the kingdom, when He multiplies the loaves (a sign that will lead to the Bread of Life discourse), He is already preparing for the ultimate Passover to come: the institution of the Eucharist and the sacrifice of Calvary.

II. The Healing at Bethesda: Law and Grace Intertwined

Mark presents Jesus’ healing of the man at the pool of Bethesda as a challenge to the “religious hypocrites” who objected to His healing on the Sabbath. He is correct that Jesus does not “break the Sabbath” according to the true intention of the Law. But let us probe more deeply, in a manner worthy of the Catholic tradition.

First, Christ’s miracles are never mere wonders or public corrections; they are signs (σημεῖα) of the Kingdom. The Fathers (see St. Augustine, Tractate 17 on John) teach that the healing of the man sick for 38 years points back to Israel’s wandering in the desert - 38 years spent in disobedience, longing for rest. Christ, the New Moses, brings not just physical healing but true spiritual rest - the rest of grace that only He can give.

This is not simply a matter of Jesus interpreting the Sabbath “correctly” but of Jesus revealing Himself as the Lord of the Sabbath (cf. Mt 12:8). In healing on the Sabbath, He demonstrates that the Sabbath was always meant to prefigure the true rest of union with God, something the Law alone could never provide, but grace in Christ now accomplishes.

Secondly, the charge of “lawbreaking” is often aimed at the Catholic Church by those of Mark’s persuasion: “You Catholics do not keep the Law; you have changed the day of worship; you add sacraments and traditions.” But in fact, the Church alone recognizes, as Christ did, that the Law is fulfilled - not abolished - in Him. The Sabbath gives way to the Lord’s Day, not as a “change” but as a fulfillment; the sacrifices of the Temple end, not by negation, but because the true Lamb has been offered once for all.

III. The New Moses: Twelve Apostles and Seventy Disciples

Mark makes much of the numbers - twelve apostles, seventy disciples - as parallels to the twelve tribes and the seventy elders of Israel. He is right to do so; but he fails to recognize what the Church has always proclaimed: Jesus is not simply restoring old Israel but establishing a new, universal Israel - the Catholic Church.

The Twelve are not simply assistants or symbolic figures; they are the foundation of the New Israel, with Peter as their head, given unique authority (Mt 16:18-19). The Seventy likewise prefigure the Church’s universal mission.

Here, Mark’s “restorationist” vision falls short. He supposes that Christ simply wanted to recreate the primitive order of Israel, as if Christianity were a purified rabbinic sect. In reality, Christ is founding His Church, a new people in which both Jew and Gentile are reconciled, and in which the fullness of truth and grace is entrusted to a visible, hierarchical body - the Catholic Church. This is why the Fathers, and the Church after them, always insisted: ubi Petrus, ibi ecclesia - where Peter is, there is the Church.

IV. The Sermon on the Mount: Not Law Alone, But the Law Fulfilled in Grace

Mark spends much of his chapter insisting that Jesus “never corrected Moses” and that the Sermon on the Mount is simply a comparison of true and false applications of the Law.

But the Sermon on the Mount is more than a new commentary on Torah. It is the proclamation of a law written not just on tablets, but on human hearts - a law that cannot be fulfilled without grace. When Jesus says, “You have heard it said... but I say to you,” He is not abrogating the Law but revealing its deepest intention - one which only He, by the gift of the Holy Spirit, can empower us to live.

Catholic teaching, following St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, has always seen in the Sermon on the Mount the new law - the law of charity, poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit (cf. Rom 5:5). It is not enough to avoid murder; we must be free from anger. Not enough to avoid adultery; we must be pure of heart. Who can do this by mere human effort? The Pelagian error is precisely the idea that we “pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps.” Grace is absolutely necessary, and it is dispensed above all through the sacraments of the Church - instituted by Christ Himself.

Thus, while Mark wants a Jesus who is simply the “perfect Torah-keeper,” the Gospel gives us the God-Man, the Lawgiver who alone can write His law within us. The Catholic Church alone proclaims and embodies this supernatural transformation - through baptism, confession, Eucharist, and all the means Christ gave.

V. The Paschal Mystery: The Old Passover Transformed

Most crucially, Mark fails to see how every Passover during Christ’s ministry points forward to the new Passover - the Paschal Mystery, Christ’s Passion, Death, and Resurrection, made present in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

Where the old Passover set Israel free from Egypt, the new Passover sets all humanity free from sin and death. This is why the Church calls the Eucharist the “source and summit” of Christian life (cf. Council of Trent, Catechism of the Council of Trent, St. Thomas Aquinas). Only in the Mass is the command of Christ, “Do this in memory of me,” fulfilled in all its richness, as the ancient types (the lamb, the manna, the bread and wine of Melchizedek) find their reality in the sacramental presence of Christ.

Outside the Church, Passover becomes only a memory; within the Church, it is a living reality - our weekly, daily participation in the redemption wrought by Christ. This is why all the ancient Christians - from the Apostles, through the Fathers, and down to the saints - saw the Eucharist as the heart of the New Covenant, the “Bread from Heaven” (Jn 6:32-58).

VI. Miracles as Signs of the New Creation

Mark lists the miracles of Christ’s “second year,” rightly seeing them as manifestations of divine power. But what is their purpose?

In the Catholic tradition, the healing of the sick, the raising of the dead, the forgiveness of sins - all point to the restoration of creation in Christ. This restoration is made present through the Church, especially in her sacraments. The anointing of the sick, the absolution of sins, the sanctification of marriage - all are real continuations of Christ’s miracles, as the Church lives out the Paschal Mystery in every generation.

For Mark, as for many anti-Catholics, these miracles are little more than illustrations of ethical teaching. But in the Catholic Faith, they are the very seeds of the world to come - the down payment on the “new heavens and the new earth.”

VII. The Catholic Church: The True Israel, the Only Fulfillment

Throughout this chapter, Mark repeatedly implies that the “faithful remnant” are those who keep the law as Jesus did, and that the “true church” is the one patterned most closely on a first-century Jewish congregation. But history, Scripture, and reason all stand against this narrow vision.

The Catholic Church is not an invention of later centuries, nor a corruption of original Christianity, but the living continuation of Christ’s own work. The apostles appointed successors; the Mass has always been the Church’s Passover; the sacraments are as old as the Gospel itself. Only by ignoring or rewriting the history of the early Church can one pretend otherwise.

And as the first Christians knew, the Church is both the “Israel of God” (Gal 6:16) and the “pillar and ground of truth” (1 Tim 3:15). The Church does not “add to the Gospel,” but preserves it in its fullness, through all ages, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

From Shadow to Reality

As St. Paul writes, “these are a shadow of things to come; the substance is Christ” (Col 2:17). The Second Passover in Christ’s ministry, as recounted in the Gospels and by Mark, is a true moment of revelation. But its deepest meaning can only be grasped within the heart of the Church, where Christ is not just Lawgiver, but Redeemer; not just Example, but Saviour; not just Rabbi, but Eucharistic Lord.

It is not enough to recall what Jesus did; we must enter into what He continues to do, in His Mystical Body, the Catholic Church. Only here do we find the fullness of grace, the law written on our hearts, and the living Passover that brings us to the Promised Land of eternal life.

Come, then, to the altar of the New Covenant, the Church Christ established, and experience not just the memory of Exodus, but the reality of salvation. For here alone is the Lamb who takes away the sins of the world - and gives us His own life.