My Dear People,

This week I am going to reflect on the first Reading from Joshua in order to connect it better with Jesus and the Gospels. In the Old Testament, God’s plan unfolds and prepares the people for the coming of the Messiah. The connection between Joshua and Jesus helps us understand what happened in the Old Testament, which is a revelation of what was going to happen with Jesus. 

The First Readings during Lent primarily give a summary of the story of God’s people of Israel (i.e., salvation history).  The First Sunday of Lent gave us a summary of the story of Israel, from Abraham to the conquest of the land. The Second Sunday was the account of the covenant with Abraham in Genesis 15 (Abrahamic Covenant), and last week we pondered God’s call to Moses, who led the people out of Egypt (Mosaic Covenant).  This Sunday’s reading reminds us of the ministry of Joshua, who succeeded Moses and successfully led the Israelites into the Land of Canaan. 

As is usually the case, it is helpful to read the passage in context. The preceding passage tells us how Joshua circumcised the people of Israel once they had entered Canaan. Moses had neglected to circumcise the generation that grew up during the forty years’ wandering in the wilderness. It is after, and in response to, the communal circumcision that God says, “Today I have removed the reproach of Egypt from you.”

Moses’s failure to circumcise the generation in the wilderness is a sign or symbol of Moses’s general failure to accomplish God’s will for the people of Israel. Moses was never able to bring the people into the Promised Land nor get them to obey God for any length of time. His failure to circumcise is emblematic of his broader failure and, by extension, the failure of the covenant that he mediated. 

“Joshua” is the English name derived from the Hebrew name Y’shua, meaning “salvation.” In Greek, it translates to “Jesus.” Joshua is a great role model of the “Joshua” to come, Jesus Christ. 

Joshua succeeds in the areas where Moses failed. Moses did not bring the people into the Promised Land, but Joshua does. Moses could not get people to obey God, but Joshua does. Moses did not circumcise the people, but Joshua does. In all these things, Joshua is an image of Jesus.  

Jesus (and the New Covenant He inaugurates) succeeds in all the ways Moses and his Old Covenant did not. Moses and the Old Covenant cannot bring one to heaven, but Jesus and His New Covenant can (Heb 8:6-13). Moses and his covenant do not bestow the power to obey God, but Jesus and His covenant do (Rom 8:2-4). Moses’s covenant cannot circumcise the heart, but Jesus circumcises our hearts through Baptism (Rom 2:25-29; Col 2:11).

In today’s First Reading, the Land of Canaan is a symbol and a type of heaven—the new life in God’s presence.  The manna in the wilderness is a type of the Eucharist, the bread from heaven which sustains us through our journey in the “desert” of this present life. Yet the Eucharist will not remain forever. When we enter into God’s presence in the life to come, the Eucharist will pass away as we feed on the direct vision of God. So, in today’s reading, we see that manna ceases when the people enter into the promised inheritance and begin to eat the fruit of the land itself.  The sacrament passes away as direct reality is experienced. It will be “a whole new world.” 

The Land of Canaan into which Joshua leads the Israelites was, for them, a “new creation.”  Our “new creation” is experienced through Jesus Christ by faith, sacrament, and directly in the world to come.  [portions from Reflections on the Sunday Readings by Dr. John Bergsma]

Yours in Christ, 

Fr. Vincent Clemente