Catechism of the Catholic Church

Many of Jesus' deeds and words constituted a "sign of contradiction," but more so for the religious authorities in Jerusalem, whom the Gospel according to John often calls simply "the Jews," than for the ordinary People of God. To be sure, Christ's relations with the Pharisees were not exclusively polemical. Some Pharisees warned him of the danger he was courting; Jesus praises some of them, like the scribe of Mark 12:34, and dines several times at their homes. Jesus endorses some of the teachings imparted by this religious elite of God's people: the resurrection of the dead, certain forms of piety (almsgiving, fasting, and prayer), the custom of addressing God as Father, and the centrality of the commandment to love God and neighbor. (993)