Old Testament Reflection: Sunday 28 January 2018

     Almighty and everlasting God, you govern
           all things both in heaven and on earth:
        Mercifully hear the supplications of your
  people, and in our time grant us your peace;
        through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives
   and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one
                          God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Deuteronomy 18:15-20

Moses said: The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you shall heed such a prophet. This is what you requested of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said: “If I hear the voice of the Lord my God any more, or ever again see this great fire, I will die.” Then the Lord replied to me: “They are right in what they have said. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their own people; I will put my words in the mouth of the prophet, who shall speak to them everything that I command. Anyone who does not heed the words that the prophet shall speak in my name, I myself will hold accountable. But any prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, or who presumes to speak in my name a word that I have not commanded the prophet to speak—that prophet shall die.”

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Moses promised that another prophet would follow him. Things get interesting with this promise when we remember the name of the immediate successor of Moses, known to us as Joshua. It was Joshua who lead the people into the Promised Land given long before to the ancestors of Abraham that God promised the aged Patriarch that he would father with his wife of many years, Sarah.

But remember that the apostolic writings that found their way into the Canon of the New Testament spoke of a greater promised rest and a greater promised land that would endure forever. These writings speak of another figure who will lead the people of God into this enduring rest and eternal promise. The one who thus leads the people, according to the apostolic witness and the Christian faith, is Jesus.

What is really interesting is to note that the names of Joshua and Jesus are in fact one name; Yeshua. Jesus is more than the successor to Moses. He is the faithful and perfect Joshua. In Jesus, we encounter God who is perfect, who keeps the promises made by doing what humans time and time have not been capable of doing. Jesus is the perfect leader, for he is God Incarnate among us.

                                    Father Timothy Alleman