Sermon Blog
Joshua a Type of Christ and His Followers
March 28, 2025
History tends to repeat itself because when it is reborn in the present, it has a different shade and tint. We don’t see it for what it is. In the Gospels, Jesus tells many parables designed to enlighten, but they often confuse his listeners because they are blind to themselves. The Pharisees were biblical encyclopedias who knew the history of their people, but they did not know that they were the spiritual heirs of the false prophets that preceded them. The Old Testament likewise confounds many contemporary Christians who see it as out of date and too shortsighted to anticipate their particular difficulties. In “Joshua a Type of Christ and His Followers,” St. John Henry Newman shows us the bond between the Old and New Testaments and what we can learn when we look closely.
The New Testament authors strongly urge us to read and study all the inspired words of God. Of the trials of the ancient Israelites, St. Paul writes to the Corinthians, “These things happened to them as an example, and they have been written down as a warning to us, upon whom the end of the ages has come.” They are a warning to us because we have the same weaknesses as our forefathers and are likely to err in similar ways. They are also a witness to God’s faithful provision throughout the history of his chosen people.
In Joshua, God gave his people a leader, but also a figure or or type of Christ. Newman notes various parallels between the two: Joshua is the Hebrew form of the Greek “Jesus”; Joshua leads the Israelites into the promised land as Jesus opens the gates of heaven; Joshua reflects Jesus’ mercy by sparing Rahab, a prominent sinner; Joshua was chosen just like Jesus: “Moses was not told to appoint one of his own sons as his successor; nor did he betake himself to the family of Aaron; nor to the tribe of Judah, from which the Shiloh Himself was to be born. But he chose Joshua, who had no claim or title to be chosen.”
The similarities go on and on. But why did God give us this figure and what can we learn from the comparison between Joshua and Jesus? In comparing them, we see that despite two separate testaments, there is one testimony of the faithfulness of God from creation until the end of the age. The God that saved Noah and humanity through the wood of the ark opened the way to heaven by the wood of the cross.
At the same time, when the two are placed side by side, Jesus stands apart. He is not just another great leader; he is a category of his own. Jesus brings a new order where Joshua could only be one of the best followers of the old order. This new order is not a not a new religion, but a fulfillment of the original. Jesus himself makes this point when says that he did not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it. But when he fulfills it, he does so in a revolutionary way, by asking more from the hearts of men than mere exterior observance of the law. He also completes it in a way that not even the most upright of God’s people could: by living the perfect life and then sacrificing that life to save us.
Though Joshua conquers Israel’s enemies, Jesus and we who are his disciples conquer in a new and paradoxical way. We wrestle not against flesh and blood. Rather, “We advance by yielding; we rise by falling; we conquer by suffering; we persuade by silence; we become rich by bountifulness; we inherit the earth through meekness; we gain comfort through mourning; we earn glory by penitence and prayer. Heaven and earth shall sooner fall than this rule be reversed; it is the law of Christ’s kingdom.”
When we read the Scriptures, especially the Old Testament, we have the opportunity to reflect on ourselves. We can see our own struggle to follow God in the successes and failures of God’s people of old. And we can see that though we are unfaithful, God has been faithful since the beginning and he will be faithful to the end. Our story does not have to be a repetition of the past. Like Our Lady at the Annunciation, we can say yes to Our Lord and allow him to work in new ways starting today.
