Did Jesus Disobey His Own Teaching?

The scholars of the law did not approve of his ministry, today's online Catholic influencers would not either

Mar 27, 2025

In Matthew 5:17-19 Jesus says that he has not come to abolish the law and the prophets and that not one jot or tittle of the law will be taken away. However, isn’t this the same Jesus who heals on the sabbath which scholars of the law explain is breaking the law. How can Jesus go against the scholars of the law, while explaining that he is not dismissing one jot or tittle of it in the first place? Simple, the scholars had it wrong. This is something we have to look more at closely in Catholicism.

There are many people online who teach a Catholicism as the law of God who are completely wrong. They lead many people astray with their interpretation of the teachings of the Church. Notice something else, they can pontificate all they want to a camera because they have no reaction from the audience until their viewers make comments and write emails. This is something Jesus never had to deal with because everything was public and personal. When the Pharisees and scribes disagreed with Him, they told him immediately and publicly and vice versa.

Are they qualified?

One thing I encourage Catholics to do is ask the simple question: what are the qualifications of these Catholic influencers online? Some may respond that their qualifications are they have a series of theology degrees and are educated in the faith. Believe it or not, that does not mean anything in the long run. The only accurate qualification is they are appointed or approved by the bishop. There is no other. They can pontificate online and they can speak and interview people but if they do not have ecclesial approval, they are not qualified enough for you to take them as the word of God.

Others may be priests but the priest needs a letter of good standing anytime he is speaking in a diocese other than his own. We see priests and even bishops who preach a radical traditionalism which is not the ordinary teaching of the Church. Do they have a letter of good standing from their own bishop accepted by the diocese where they are giving a retreat or even recording their message. If not, they are not authorized to teach, preach or act there. If they are authorized, is the bishop of the diocese giving an ecclesial stamp of approval on their teaching?

If we had a functioning Catholic news media in the US, (which we do not), the reporters would ask these questions regularly. They would find out if the priests have the proper authority to preach as they do and if the bishop approves of the message.

You will hear priests and lay people quote saints galore and councils galore but our ability to understand Catholic teaching grows and deepens. What the Church taught in the twelfth century is not necessarily the same as what she teaches today. Some of it is and some of it is not.

Nature as an analogy

Nature and the natural world help us understand the nature of God. If we go through history, We will find the teaching consistently that the sun warms the Earth and in its absence the Earth gets cooler. How do we know that? We experience it every day. Even here in New England during a severe cold snap, we know that the Earth will get warmer during the day and colder at night. When we are worrying about pipes freezing in the dead of winter, we know that as much as we have to ensure our boiler is working during the day, we also have to ensure that it is working overnight. The pipe that will freeze at noon will freeze more quickly and solidly at midnight. Why? Because even in the coldest part of the year, the Earth is warmer during the day than at night. The Romans understood this. The Puritans understood this, and we understand this.

During and prior to the Copernican Revolution, the Church operated on the Ptolemaic solar system which is the Earth is at the center of the universe and the sun and moon orbited around the Earth. We know now that this is incorrect. The Council of Trent teaches that since disproved model.

By the words heaven and earth must be understood all things which heaven and earth contain; for, besides the heavens, which the Prophet called the work of his fingers, he also added the brilliancy of the sun, and the beauty of the moon, and the other stars; and, that they may be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, he so ordered the orbs of heaven in a certain and constant course, that nothing varies more than their continual revolution, yet nothing is more certain than that variety.

Catholic Church. (1852). The Catechism of the Council of Trent (T. A. Buckley, Trans.; p. 27). George Routledge and Co. Part I Chapter II Question XVI

Some priests and others even teach that Catholics must accept this understanding of the solar system even though it is scientifically incorrect.

That is because they teach there is no deepening of our understanding of our faith and our world. These same priests tend to lean towards an embrace of the extraordinary form of the Mass. They also will teach the faith as it is laid out in the Catechism of the Catholic Church from the Council of Trent. Those teachings are, of course, valid but we understand them from a deeper element of the teaching than Trent could comprehend at the time.

None other than both St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas understood that our comprehension of Church teaching deepens over the millennia. Some influencers do not accept this principle and they create great damage among those who read or watch them in places like YouTube, Reddit, X, and other venues.

Most Catholic media does not have ecclesial approval

Major Catholic radio and TV networks in the US boast they do not have to answer to any bishop which means they do not operate with ecclesial approval. Others take ecclesial approval seriously. My own work and the locally based CatholicTV are affiliated with the Archdiocese of Boston and have to answer to the archbishop here. CatholicTV is run by Boston auxiliary bishop Robert Reed so it has its own additional qualification as well.

If you find the Catholic online influencers are saying things you find disturbing, feel free to ignore them and if you take my advice, do not watch them at all. Many are not qualified, others give false teaching and others are rejecting current Catholic teaching approved by the Vatican, this is doubly true if the online influencer is an exorcist. The best exorcist is fully aware of the danger of drawing attention to himself and will not be found on YouTube.

The pharisees and scribes rejected Christ and His teaching but he embodied the law. They were wrong but they were the ancient ancestors of today's online Catholic influencers and acted similarly. We, therefore, should see them in the same light as Jesus’ disciples saw the pharisees.

Fr. Robert J Carr is pastor of St. Anthony Parish in Allston, MA

The parish podcast is at CatholicAudioMedia.com

Catholic Audio Media Newsletter from St. Anthony Allston, MA

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