Jesus perfected the Old Testament law which was only binding to the Jews (Israelites) by teaching humanity to love God and thy neighbor.

"The Law has not been abolished, but rather man is invited to rediscover it in the person of his Master who is its perfect fulfillment

I came across with this question on Google which needs clarification for continued awareness and at the same time to shed light.  The query goes this mode:  

“My Catholic friends don't practice Baptist traditions. We Baptists celebrate an anniversary for almost anything under the sun - seriously.)  Also, I have always seen myself as a non-denominational person who has Baptist roots.  Can you please elaborate more on why Catholics don't follow the Mosaic Law at all? I used to know - a long, long time ago what the Catechism is and the role it plays in Catholic Church.  Would you run through that for me?  Hope these questions aren't offensive.”

While the Baptist offers two worship services on each of the four Sundays, the Catholic Church (aside from its Catechism for the children, Parish Renewal Experience (PREX), Catholic Life in the Spirit Seminars and different organizations which empower men and women in terms of Spirituality, community building, evangelization) preaches the Gospel everyday (at least two masses in the morning and 1 in the afternoon on weekdays while up to seven masses on Sundays.

With respect to Mosaic Law, Christians are indebted to obey the Ten Commandments which are repeatedly quoted as examples of the natural law not because they are part of the Old Testament law, but because they are part majority of the natural law. The natural law[1] is embedded in the human heart and therefore universal and is in itself uniform for all the entire human race, except for infants and insane persons who have not the actual use of their reason. Every human is bound, if he/she matches up the universal order willed by the Creator, to live anchored to her/his own rational nature, and to be guided by reason. The natural law commands and forbids in the same tenor everywhere and forever. 

Old Testament law never has been binding on Christians.[2]  It was only ever binding on those to whom it was delivered—the Jews (Israelites). That said, some of that law contains elements of a law that is binding on all people of every place and time. Jesus and Paul provide proof of this in the New Testament.

Matthew’s Gospel makes it clear about Jesus’ teaching regarding Old Testament law:

Matthew 22:34-40 When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them [a scholar of the law]  tested him by asking, "Teacher,  which commandment in the law is the greatest?" He said to him,  "You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it:  You shall love your neighbor as yourself.  The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments."

In saying this, Jesus affirms the breadth of the new law of his new covenant bringing the old law into its perfection. He put in plain words to His disciples: 

Matthew 5:17-19 "Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law, until all things have taken place. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do so will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments will be called greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

"The Law has not been abolished, but rather man is invited to rediscover it in the person of his Master who is its perfect fulfillment" (Catechism of the Catholic Church CCC 2053) 

The advent of Jesus' Birth  and His clear intention of inaugurating a new religious movement   make it essential for Him to put in plain words His perspective concerning the Old Testament law. He has not come to repeal but to bring it to perfection, to reveal the full intention of the divine legislator, that is. The old moral order is to resurrect to a new life, infused with a new spirit.

Jesus reaches the summit of the Old Testament Law.

Old Testament law contains several dietary commandments which were instituted as a preparation for His teaching on the moral law. Jesus talked about these laws:

(Mark 7:14-19)  He summoned the crowd again and said to them, "Hear me, all of you, and understand. Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person; but the things that come out from within are what defile." When he got home away from the crowd his disciples questioned him about the parable. He said to them, "Are even you likewise without understanding? Do you not realize that everything that goes into a person from outside cannot defile, since it enters not the heart but the stomach and passes out into the latrine?" (Thus he declared all foods clean.

The Catechism makes it clear, "Jesus perfects the dietary law, so important in Jewish daily life, by revealing its pedagogical meaning through a divine interpretation . . . What comes out of a man is what defiles a man. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts . . ." (CCC 582).[3] Paul edifies similarly in the same way regarding other other Old Testament law:

Let no one, then, pass judgment on you in matters of food and drink or with regard to a festival or new moon or sabbath. These are shadows of things to come; the reality belongs to Christ.

Colossians 2:16-17; 20-23 If you died with Christ to the elemental powers of the world, why do you submit to regulations as if you were still living in the world? "Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!" These are all things destined to perish with use; they accord with human precepts and teachings. While they have a semblance of wisdom in rigor of devotion and self-abasement (and) severity to the body, they are of no value against gratification of the flesh.

In this passage, Paul recognized that much of the Old Testament law was instituted to set the stage for the new law that Jesus would establish. Much of the old law’s could be taken into account in this value.

Jesus’ teaching about the Sabbath indicates similar value in part of the Old Testament regulation of the Sabbath:

Matthew 12:1-8 At that time Jesus was going through a field of grain on the sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick the heads 2 of grain and eat them. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, "See, your disciples are doing what is unlawful to do on the sabbath." He said to them, 3 "Have you not read what David did when he and his companions were hungry, how he went into the house of God and ate the bread of offering, which neither he nor his companions but only the priests could lawfully eat?  Or have you not read in the law that on the sabbath the priests serving in the temple violate the sabbath and are innocent? I say to you, something greater than the temple is here.  If you knew what this meant, 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned these innocent men.  For the Son of Man is Lord of the sabbath."

Undoubtedly, Jesus pointed out that not the Old Testament but He had authority over the Sabbath, and its regulation was not as severe as the Pharisees deemed. As a matter of fact, once Jesus would give the hierarchy of His Church with his own authority (Matthew 16:19), regulation of worship would develop into the church’s domain.

Romans 2:14-15a In here, the obligation to worship is something all humans of every place and time can discern simply by the use of reason. It is knowledge engraved into the human conscience -natural law. Paul makes mentions of such law when talking about those of his own time who were never bound by Old Testament law: For when the Gentiles who do not have the law by nature observe the prescriptions of the law, they are a law for themselves even though they do not have the law. They show that the demands of the law are written in their hearts.

Christians are indebted to obey the Ten Commandments which are repeatedly quoted as examples of the natural law because they are cited in here (part of the Old Testament law) but because they are part majority of the natural law.

Indeed, humans can discern by reason alone that specific actions are immoral – say killing of the innocent, taking other’s possession, cheating on spouses, among the few.

Likewise, humans can discern by reason alone of her/his obligation to worship the Creator. But since Sabbath commandment is not part of the natural law at all but was simply a law imposed upon the Jews for the discipline  of their nation, so it can be discerned in the same manner that such worship should happen weekly on Saturday.  Individual races had the authority to choose for themselves the time preferred for worship. For Christians now, it makes sense taking this on Sunday.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church makes it clearly: The celebration of Sunday observes the moral commandment inscribed by nature in the human heart to render to God an outward, visible, public, and regular worship as a sign of his universal beneficence to all. Sunday worship fulfills the moral command of the Old Covenant, taking up its rhythm and spirit in the weekly celebration of the Creator and Redeemer of his people. (Catechism of the Catholic Church CCC 2176)

Old Testament law required, as a discipline, that the Jews worship on Saturday. In the same way, the Church requires Catholics of a Sunday worship which is the day of the Lord’s Resurrection. (NOTE: discipline is man-made and can be modified as frequent as the Church desires. This does not mean that the authority to enact discipline is man-made, which is clarified in the Scripture: Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven" (Matthew 18:18). This power to bind and loose extend beyond discipline, but it certainly includes the authority to enact discipline as well. Conversely, doctrine is the teaching on matters of faith and morals, handed down to the Church by Jesus and the apostles before the death of the last apostle. It is "the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints"[4] (Jude 1:3). As mentioned before, doctrine can develop over time as the Church comes to discern it better but cannot be altered, not even the pope has the authority to change doctrine.)

Like the majority of the law in the Ten Commandments, the Church’s teaching on the immorality of homosexuality is part of the natural law, which can be discerned by people of every time and place through reason alone and are bound by it even without unequivocal teaching on it. Definitely, it was neither necessary for God to include such teaching both in the Old Testament law the New Testament. Despite that, the New Testament contains abundant teaching concerning this.

Hence, Christians are bound to the law of Christ which, of course, includes the natural law. Old Testament law contains elements of natural law, like the condemnation of homosexual activity (not the homosexuals per se), marital infidelity, stealing etc. to which Christians are bound for that reason, not because of their inclusion in the Old Testament. Christians do not have liberty on these issues. Similarly, Christians are not and have never been bound by Old Testament law for its own sake, and those elements of Old Testament law which are not part of the natural law, like the obligation to worship on Saturday which was only binding on the Jews. Christians do have liberty on the latter.

---

References:

[1] Natural Law, http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09076a.htm)  

[2] Jessica Sifuentes, https://plus.google.com/u/0/118170156287426550951

[2] Jim Blackburn, Why We Are Not Bound by Everything in the Old Law, http://www.catholic.com/magazine/articles/why-we-are-not-bound-by-everything-in-the-old-law

[3] Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition, CCC582, http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/para/582.htm

[4] Jim Blackburn, Is It a Doctrine or a Discipline?, http://www.catholic.com/magazine/articles/is-it-a-doctrine-or-a-discipline

Jesus’ Resurrection Appearances

Every celebration of Easter Season is concoction of a fortunate and unfortunate event because while the Catholic Church are joyful of the Resurrection, there’s constantly a need to educate the non-Catholics’ skepticism about memorializing of the Resurrection (whose permanent question about it is “How many times does your Christ resurrects?”) that Jesus’ resurrection is the final testimony that the Lord indeed is triumphant in His mission to save humanity, that He undeniably rose from the grave after death and ascends into Heaven.  

While the Catholics are fortunate and in utter bliss in praising and worshipping for this gift, it’s unfortunate that along with non-Catholics, atheists bitterly yell that there’s no such thing as Resurrection, despite the relentless awareness raised in all platforms (pulpit, TV, radio, social media, broadsheet, books, literatures, word of mouth etc.) which is treated by them as a mere fabrication, a drama by the Church, and nothing but a Liturgical hallucination.

Are there contradictions in the Gospel accounts for them to be unbelievers of the Resurrection?  Let’s find out, for the benefit of the doubt?

After the Sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an Angel of the Lord descended from heaven, approached, rolled back the stone, and sat upon it. His appearance was like lightning and his clothing was white as snow. The guards were shaken with fear of him and became like dead men. Then the angel said to the women in reply, "Do not be afraid! I know that you are seeking Jesus the crucified. He is not here, for He has been raised just as He said. Come and see the place where He lay. Then go quickly and tell His disciples, 'He has been raised from the dead, and He is going before you to Galilee; there you will see Him.' Behold, I have told you." Then they went away quickly from the tomb, fearful yet overjoyed, and ran to announce this to His disciples.  And behold, Jesus met them on their way and greeted them. They approached, embraced His feet, and did Him homage. Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid. Go tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me."

Mary and the women come to the tomb. As they are on their way, there is an earthquake, the stone is rolled back and an angel sits upon it (the guards apparently pass out). He sends them away to tell the disciples that Christ is risen. On the way back, they encounter the risen Christ, clasp His feet and worship Him. He reiterates the angels command and tells them to go back to tell the disciples.

When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary, the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go and anoint Him. Very early when the sun had risen, on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb. They were saying to one another, "Who will roll back the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?" When they looked up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back; it was very large. On entering the tomb they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a white robe, and they were utterly amazed. He said to them, "Do not be amazed! You seek Jesus of Nazareth, the crucified. He has been raised; He is not here. Behold the place where they laid Him. But go and tell His disciples and Peter, 'He is going before you to Galilee; there you will see Him, as He told you.'" Then they went out and fled from the tomb, seized with trembling and bewilderment. They said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid. When He had risen, early on the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had driven seven demons. She went and told His companions who were mourning and weeping. When they heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, they did not believe.

Mary and the women come to the tomb. When they get there, the stone is already rolled away. They find an angel sitting inside the tomb on the right side who sends them away to tell the disciples of the Resurrection. They go. No encounter with Christ is recorded. 

But at daybreak on the first day of the week they took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb; but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were puzzling over this, behold, two men in dazzling garments appeared to them. They were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground. They said to them, "Why do you seek the living one among the dead? He is not here, but He has been raised. Remember what He said to you while He was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners and be crucified, and rise on the third day." And they remembered His words. Then they returned from the tomb and announced all these things to the eleven and to all the others. The women were Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary the mother of James; the others who accompanied them also told this to the apostles, but their story seemed like nonsense and they did not believe them. But Peter got up and ran to the tomb, bent down, and saw the burial cloths alone; then He went home amazed at what had happened.

Mary and the women come to the tomb. They find the stone already rolled away. While they are examining the scene, two angels in dazzling apparel appear. They tell them to leave and go tell the disciples. They do, and Peter runs back to the tomb to verify the story. 

Mary Magdalene, apparently alone, goes to the tomb, sees the stone turned away and the tomb empty and runs to tell the disciples. Peter and John run to the tomb together and both look into the tomb. Mary lingers outside, sees two angels, then sees Jesus, whom she at first does not recognize. Jesus and is warned by Him not to touch her. He sends her back to tell the disciples that He is truly risen.

None of these accounts seem to line up with each other. In two accounts there’s one angel mentioned, and in two accounts two angels. In Matthew the angel sits on the rock while in Mark he is in the tomb. In Luke the two angels are simply standing before the women. In Matthew, it says plainly that the women grasped Jesus' feet and worshiped Him. In John, Jesus ordered Mary not to touch Him. In Matthew, the stone is miraculously rolled away by an angel, accompanied by an earthquake. In all of the other Gospels, the stone is presented as already having been rolled away when the women arrived. Many claim that these are true contradictions.

Let’s find out if their claims are true.  First, there’s a need to understand a particular Scriptural principle through Principle of Non-Exclusion. This means that when the Scriptures mention a particular event as occurring, other possible events not mentioned in the text are not thereby eliminated, unless they are directly contradictory to what is written. For example, the Gospel of John appears like Mary Magdalene went to the tomb alone: "Now on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark." Nothing is stated of anybody else. Nevertheless, the fact that only Mary is indicated does not discard the possibility that others were with her, and it’s known from the other Gospels that she was in fact not alone: Luke mentions "Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women" as being there, as well (Luke 24:10). So, the fact that Mary alone is pointed out by John does not conflict with the account of Luke for one simple reason: though Mary alone is hinted at by John, John nowhere affirms that Mary ONLY was at the tomb. This is the flip-side of the Principle of Non-Exclusion: while nothing is discarded that does not disagree with the narrative, anything that would oppose it must be discarded.

Let’s apply this to the Resurrection accounts, by looking not at what the accounts don't say but what they do say, then, fill in the gaps.

To begin with, let's establish the issue of the stone.

Matthew says that the stone was rolled away miraculously by an earthquake and an accompanying angel. Therefore, since the Scriptures specifically assert an earthquake, one must take into account that the movement of the stone was caused by an earthquake. When the accounts are checked, none of the other three Gospels indicate how the stone was moved, they only say that the women found it and turned away when they got there. Thus, this leaves conclusion, to make the obvious connection that the stone was rolled away by the earthquake stated in Matthew.  Asserting otherwise would be to accuse Sacred Scripture of being untrustworthy.

The time the stone was rolled away is also in question. Matthew’s narration looks as if the stone was rolled away before the eyes of the women: On the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat upon it (Matthew 28:1-2).

Nevertheless, by examining the text closely, it could be established that it does not imply that these two events (the women coming to the tomb and the earthquake) were simultaneous. There’s only an assumption that it is so because of the order in which Scripture relates these events, but sentence order does not necessarily imply anything chronologically. Let’s try to peep in at a similar passage taken from the chapter earlier from the death of Jesus:

And Jesus cried again with a loud voice and yielded up His spirit. And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom; and the earth shook, and the rocks were split; the tombs also were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many. And the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, "Truly, this was the Son of God!" (Matthew 27:51-54)

Once scrutinized, the sentence order of this section seems to insinuate that all of these events cropped up right after Jesus' death, especially since Matthew uses the word 'Behold' to draw the audience’s attention. But if one looks at the section about the tombs of the saints opening, the Gospel says that they came out of their tombs “after His resurrection,” that is, three days later at least. But Matthew places this event in the same section as the centurion's act of faith and the splitting of the temple curtain, both of which occurred at the time Jesus breathe His last.

Applying this to the stone, it could be viewed that it is not necessary to maintain that the stone was rolled away by an earthquake in the presence of the women. Mark, Luke and John uniformly say that they found the stone rolled away when they arrived there. Perhaps, Matthew should be interpreted as saying that while the women were setting out, or while they were on the way there, the earthquake took place, leaving the stone rolled away for them to find. Utilizing man’s principle, it could be seen that Mark, Luke and John consistently and specifically cite that the stone was moved when the women got there, and so this should be taken into consideration. Matthew is unclear with respect to the time, and so the gap in Matthew can be interpreted referring the information as provided by the other three Gospels.

Further, aside from the stone, the angels are also in question.  Matthew has one, Mark one, Luke two, while John reports nothing about it. Matthew accounts that the angel sits upon the rolled back stone, Mark tells the angel sits in the tomb, and Luke recounts there are two angels who both of them simply "appear" before the women and stand there. If Luke mentions two, then there must have been two. The fact that Matthew or Mark cites one angel does not rule out the likelihood of a second one not mentioned by them, as John's exclusion of any angel's does not imply they were not there, only that he prefers to exclude them.

If Luke's statement that there were two angels is taken, then the fact that the angel in Matthew sits on the stone while Mark's angel is in the tomb should not create confusion, as it is simply agreeing with Luke that there were two angels, each in a different location. Concerning Luke statement saying that the angels "stood" by them, while Matthew and Mark both have their angels sit, it is interesting to consider that the word "stood" is a pretty all-encompassing verb. For example, if one says that he together with his friends were "standing" around outside the apartment, it could mean that two of the were standing, one was sitting on the front steps, one was reclining on the grass, and one was leaning up against a tree. Still, the phrase "standing around" would be suitable for this situation. Therefore, the fact that Luke uses the word "stood" needs no compelling force to accept that the angels were literally standing up. Or, if they were, it does not compel to believe they stood the whole time. The angel in Mark's Gospel, who was sitting in the tomb, could have gotten up and stood upon seeing the women approaching. No accounted several postures of the angels can be obtained from the Gospels.  However, it is a common sense that whether it is sitting, reclining or squatting posture at that instance, every posture is entitled to change eventually because of from time to time body movements.

Mary's encounter with Jesus is also raised as issue here. Matthew records it, as does John, but the order and the events surrounding the episode are different. Matthew tells that the women are specifically said to have clung to Jesus' feet,  while John accounts that Jesus tells Mary, "Do not hold Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father" (John 20:17).

The question that crops up is that how come that in Matthew’s Mary holds Him while it’s opposite in John.  Matthew directly says that they did hold Jesus, so one must take this into account that He was touched by the women.  It should be noted that although Matthew told that they hold, John’s account may be interpreted in a sense that Mary attempted to touch Him but Jesus pulled away from her before she was able to, and lastly if viewed it any angles the text does not actually say whether Jesus was touched or not.  However, Jesus' words seem to imply that Mary did indeed touch Him. Nonetheless, it’s interesting to note that the Lord did not say, "Do not touch Me," but, "Do not hold Me." The use of the verb "hold" seems to imply that she had in fact been holding the Lord before He gave her the command, “Touch Me Not”. Hence, Matthew and John are reconcilable. Matthew accounted that Jesus' feet were clasped while John wrote down that Jesus told them to let go of Him.

Matthew's Gospel narrates that Mary Magdalene and the women run to Jesus after leaving the tomb and the encounter with the angel (verse 28:10). There He repeats the message of the angel and tells them to go tell the disciples about His resurrection.

John stages a more difficult chronology (20:11-18): Mary goes to the tomb and sees it empty (no angels are mentioned), runs back to tell the disciples and Peter, and John in haste go to the tomb to probe. Mary encounters Jesus, does not know who He is, recognizes Him, and is commanded to go back and tell the disciples of His resurrection.

Peter and John's rush to the tomb is not an issue as this is mentioned in Luke as well. The issue is Mary's meeting with Jesus. Matthew as the only other Gospel to mention this meeting tells that she meets Jesus after leaving the tomb the first time. There He commands her to go tell the disciples of the Resurrection. On the other hand, John's Gospel narrates that she apparently accompanies Peter and John back to the tomb to show them and has her encounter with Christ after they leave, which would make this her second time seeing the Risen Lord. He gives her the same command to tell the disciples about Jesus’ Resurrection, and she again does so. From these points, two possibilities can be made:

1) Mary goes to the tomb two times (once with the women, once with Peter and John), sees the Risen Lord two times, receives the same instructions two times and carries them out twice.

2) Mary sees Jesus only once: the meeting of Jesus and Mary in Matthew is the same meeting as portrayed in John.

Number two can be much more probable.  Looking at John's Gospel, although Mary's encounter with Jesus is mentioned after Peter and John’s appearance to the tomb, it does not specifically say that this is the instance when it happened. It could have occurred on her first visits and was mentioned in this place only because John desired to give emphasis to Peter's visit to the tomb instead of Mary's visit from Jesus. This emerges later on, as a reference to the episode with Peter and John.

Hypothesizing two appearances to Mary is to be soldered into an attempt to explain Jesus’ awkward position commanding Mary to go tell the disciples of the Lord’s resurrection, Mary doing so and bringing the two back to the tomb, and then being again commissioned by Jesus to do the same thing she had already done, and her going to tell the disciples again that Jesus rose even though they had already been there in the tomb and seen it. It seems straightforward to simply say that John's narrative of Mary's visit with Jesus is not chronological while Matthew's is sequential.

Putting them all together, what really happened on Easter morning is that

Mary Magdalene, Joanna, the other Mary and some other unnamed women arose early to go to the tomb. While they were on their way (but before they arrived), there was an earthquake and the stone was rolled away by an angel. The guards were stricken and fainted. The women possibly heard the earthquake or felt it from afar. Arriving in the area, they found the guards passed out and the stone rolled away. Then out of curiosity, they went inside the tomb to examine and found the body was not there anymore. At this juncturee, two angels appeared, one on the stone, another in the tomb who told these women that Jesus was not dead, but had risen, and that they should go and tell the disciples. The women fled in fear.

While approaching, they ran to Jesus and did not recognize Him (Mary thought He was the gardener). When Jesus uttered Mary's name, they recognized Him and clasped His feet in worship. Nevertheless, He commanded them to stop holding Him, but charged them to go, as the angel had instructed, to tell the disciples the good news about the Resurrection.

The women returned, and Mary told the disciples. Most of them disbelieved, but Peter and John hurried to the tomb. John arrived there first, but he waited for Peter. They went into the tomb, saw the linen cloths, and left bowled over.

There it is, about the Resurrection. This account is coherent with all of the Gospels. Anyone who says that the Gospel accounts contradict each other is the one who wants the Gospels to contradict each other and who has no time on discerning this, or if not, skeptics may have the chance to read the Scriptures but felt self-sufficient by his/her private word-for-word interpretation out of pride that he/she is intellectual than the other not knowing that there are things that she/he knows which others don’t know and there are things that others know which she/he does not , or if not, a number of them prefers not to entertain anymore what the Church authorities say about it because of personal interest or pursuits of the few to gain advantage for whatever sort than universal benefit, or if not, others have been completely blinded by indoctrination which conditions their minds, heart and conscience to hate Resurrection celebration – everything that human feeds to her/mind whether good or bad is adapted by these faculties forever except in the presence of readiness to accept and embrace logical truth. 

Whatever the reason may be for non-acceptance of celebrating the Resurrection just like how they give a negative response on celebrating Christmas and the Seven Sacraments, may the good Lord who emptied the tomb which gives a sign that He emptied everybody’s sin bringing each one in His eyes a new life without any marks from the violence of sin, like a blank tomb without any traces of blots from the cruelty of man’s transgressions; may also empty everybody’s pride, self-sufficiency and wrong motives to replace it with humility and hunger for truth, especially those who utterly renounce Jesus, the skeptics, those who are inside the faith but have no time in engagement, and the converts who after conversion repudiates the Resurrection that the Church celebrates in honor of Jesus’ summit of saving the humanity, providing an inkling that indeed Jesus death does not end up in the grave but rather He rises from the dead, and that everybody who lives in Him, with Him and for Him, bon in words and in deeds will also rise with Him at the time of death, Amen!

Sects are Christian denominations which establish religious party under human unofficial headship and wander away from the path of truth

A sect is any Christian denomination which has independently established his/her own Church. Any Christians who group together and rejects to accept the entire doctrine or recognize the supreme authority of the Catholic Church makes up a religious party under human unofficial headship.

Although men’s adherence is withheld by many because of ignorance and abuse of free-will, only the Catholic Church alone is the universal society instituted by Jesus Christ which has a rightful claim to the submission of all men.

The Catholic Church is the sole keeper of the complete teaching of Jesus Christ which must be embraced in its entirety by all mankind. Together with its members, Catholicism does not represent a sect because they not belong to a group summoned into existence by a human leader, or to a school of thought avowed to the commands of an earthly master.

They form part of a Church which embraces all space and in a certain sense both time and eternity, considering that it is militant, suffering, and victorious.

The assertion that the Catholic religion is the only authentic type of Christianity surprises several people by its exclusiveness. However, the truth is inevitably exclusive, which must rule out error just as significantly as light is unsuited with darkness.

Brought by denunciation by non-Catholic denomination of some truth or truths taught by the Lord, or rejection of authority instituted by Him in his Church, they have in some indispensable point relinquished His doctrine to human learning or His authority to self-established headship.

No unprejudiced person will be affronted by this reality if it is learned by heart that loyalty to its Divine mission puts into effect this clear-cut attitude on the ecclesiastical authority. Divinely revealed truth cannot and must not be sacrificed to human opposition and assumption. Nevertheless, while the Church denounces the flaws of non-Catholics, she edifies the practice of justice and charity towards their persons, renounces the use of aggression and coercion to produce conversions and is all set to welcome back those who have wandered away.

Let's see how the Scriptures narrate about the beauty of obedience than insubordination brought by rejection of authority instituted by Jesus in his Church, and its effect to the humanity:

Deuteronomy 8:20  Like the nations which the LORD destroys before you, so shall you too perish for not heeding the voice of the LORD, your God.

Deutronomy 11:13-17 If, then, you truly heed my commandments which I enjoin on you today, loving and serving the LORD, your God, with all your heart and all your soul, I will give the seasonal rain to your land, the early rain and the late rain, that you may have your grain, wine and oil to gather in; and I will bring forth grass in your fields for your animals. Thus you may eat your fill. But be careful lest your heart be so lured away that you serve other gods and worship them.

Deuteonomy 28:15 "But if you do not hearken to the voice of the LORD, your God, and are not careful to observe all his commandments which I enjoin on you today, all these curses shall come upon you and overwhelm you.

Leviticus 26:3-4 "If you live in accordance with my precepts and are careful to observe my commandments, I will give you rain in due season, so that the land will bear its crops, and the trees their fruit.

Exodus 24:7  Taking the book of the covenant, he read it aloud to the people, who answered, "All that the LORD has said, we will heed and do."

Joshua 22:5   But be very careful to observe the precept and law which Moses, the servant of the LORD, enjoined upon you: love the LORD, your God; follow him faithfully; keep his commandments; remain loyal to him; and serve him with your whole heart and soul.

Exodus 20:19-21  I am the LORD, your God: observe my statutes and be careful to keep my ordinances; keep holy my sabbaths, as a sign between me and you to show that I am the LORD, your God. But their children rebelled against me: they did not observe my statutes or keep my ordinances that bring life to those who observe them, and my sabbaths they desecrated. Then I thought of pouring out my fury on them, of spending my anger on them in the desert.

Isaiah 45:19  I have not spoken from hiding nor from some dark place of the earth, And I have not said to the descendants of Jacob, "Look for me in an empty waste." I, the LORD, promise justice, I foretell what is right.

Matthew 16:18  And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, 13 and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.

Matthew 28:19-20 Go, therefore, 12 and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. 13 And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age."

John 16:13 But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth. He will not speak on his own, but he will speak what he hears, and will declare to you the things that are coming.

Romans 1:5  Through him we have received the grace of apostleship, to bring about the obedience of faith, for the sake of his name, among all the Gentiles,

2 Corinthians 9:13  Through the evidence of this service, you are glorifying God for your obedient confession of the gospel of Christ and the generosity of your contribution to them and to all others.

2 Thessalonians 2:15  Therefore, brothers, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught, either by an oral statement or by a letter of ours.

1 John 4:6 We belong to God, and anyone who knows God listens to us, while anyone who does not belong to God refuses to hear us. This is how we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of deceit.

1 Peter 1:4Like obedient children, do not act in compliance with the desires of your former ignorance 8

1 Peter 1:22  Since you have purified yourselves by obedience to the truth for sincere mutual love, love one another intensely from a (pure) heart.

In conclusion, even inside Catholicism, people have been divided resulting to sect of Catholicism called Cafeteria Catholics. These Catholics make a decision for themselves as to which doctrines of the Catholic Church they keep, and which ones are to be discarded.  The ones preferred are obeyed and hyped to others. Conversely, the one that are junked are disobeyed resulting to subsequent cursing of the Pope and the Church.

As we contemplate on this reality, may we be revitalized by the goodness of obedience modeled by Jesus Himself, which His disciples embraced until they became apostles and by their successors. Amen!

References:

Felix Just, S.J., Ph.D. , Disciples and Apostles in the New Testament,  http://catholic-resources.org/Bible/Disciples.htm

Cafeteria Catholics, http://www.catholicbible101.com/cafeteriacatholics.htm

Traditions are not man-made but teachings that the Apostles orally passed on

The Catholic Church neither refers to tradition as legends or mythological accounts, nor does it include transitory customs/practices which may change, as situations merit, like styles of priestly dress, specific forms of devotion to saints, or even liturgical rubrics.

Sacred or apostolic tradition consists of the teachings that the apostles passed on orally through their preaching. These teachings largely overlap with those contained in in the Bible, but the method of their transmission is distinct.

They have been entrusted to the Church. It is important that Christians believe in and obey this tradition as well as the Bible (Luke 10:16). The precision of the faith has been given chiefly to the leaders of the Church (Ephesians 3:5), who, with Christ, form the foundation of the Church (Ephesians 2:20). The Church has been guided by the Holy Spirit, Who protects this teaching from corruption (John 14:25-26) , 16:13).

Paul illustrated tradition, " For I handed on to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures; Therefore, whether it be I or they, so we preach and so you believed."(1 Corinthians 15:3, 11). The apostle praised those who obeyed Tradition, " I praise you because you remember me in everything and hold fast to the traditions, just as I handed them on to you." (1 Corinthians 11:2).

The first Christians "devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching" (Acts 2:42) long before there was a New Testament.

From the very start, the fullness of Christian teaching was found not in a book but in the Church as the living personification of Jesus, our Lord.

The teaching Church, with its oral, apostolic tradition, was authoritative. Paul himself quotes  from Jesus that was handed down orally to him: "It is more blessed to give than to receive" (Acts 20:35).

This saying is not recorded in the Gospels and must have been conveyed to Paul. Indeed, even the Gospels themselves are oral tradition which has been written down (Luke 1:1–4). Further, Paul does not quote Jesus only. He also quotes from early Christian hymns, as in (Ephesians 5:14). These and other things have been given to Christians "through the Lord Jesus" (1 Thesslonians 4:2).

Fundamentalists claim that Jesus condemned tradition quoting " "And why do you break the commandment of God 3 for the sake of your tradition?" (Matthew 15:3). Paul cautioned, " See to it that no one captivate you with an empty, seductive philosophy according to human tradition, according to the elemental powers of the world 3 and not according to Christ." (Colossians 2:8). However, these verses simply denounce flawed human traditions, not truths which were passed on orally and entrusted to the Church by the apostles. These concluding truths are part of what is established as apostolic tradition, which is different from human traditions or customs.

For example, let’s try to cite Matthew 15:6-9, which Fundamentalists and Evangelicals frequently quote to defend their stance: "You have nullified the word of God for the sake of your tradition. Hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy about you when he said: 'This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines human precepts.”

From this verse, Jesus was not condemning all traditions but only those that made God’s word void. Specifically, it was a matter of the Pharisees counterfeiting the dedication of their goods to the Temple so they could evade supporting their aged parents, which itself nullify the tradition to "Honor your father and your mother" (Exodus 20:12).

Elsewhere, Jesus taught His followers to obey traditions that are anchored to God’s commandments. " The scribes and the Pharisees have taken their seat on the chair of Moses. Therefore, do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you, but do not follow their example. For they preach but they do not practice" (Matthew 23:2-3).

The term tradition in 1 Corinthians 11:2 and 2 Thessalonians 2:15 is used in a different sense, to describe what should be believed.  Jesus did not knock all traditions down but only flawed traditions, whether doctrines or practices, that demoralize Christian truths.

So how does each community know which traditions are apostolic and which are merely human -by listening to the magisterium or teaching authority of Jesus’ Church. If the Church revealed to her flock the canon of Scripture, it can also reveal the "canon of Tradition" by instituting which traditions have been passed down from the apostles. After all, Jesus assured that “the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16:18)  and the New Testament itself pronounces the Church to be "the pillar and foundation of the truth" (1 Timothy 3:15).

Reference:

Source: What is Tradition?, http://www.catholic.com/tracts/scripture-and-tradition