Thursday of the
Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time
(Joshua 3:7-10a.11.13-17; Matthew 18:21-19:1)
Thanks to Cecil B. De Mille most people know that the Bible
depicts the Red Sea splitting in two so that
the Israelites might escape the Egyptian charioteers. Few, however, are aware of the Jordan River parting so the God’s Chosen Ones might enter
the Promised Land. The first reading
today from the Book of Joshua tells this second story. The responsorial psalm also refers to
it. This same psalm is part of the
Liturgy of the Hours for Easter Sunday evening which helps us understand the
meaning of the event in Christian eyes.
The Church reads the Old Testament as foretelling the person
and mission of Jesus Christ. Theologians
call such a reading typology. The story of the Ark of the Covenant leading
the Israelites through the Jordan
is a type for Christ’s bringing his followers into the fullness of God’s
kingdom. Jesus is for us the Holy of
Holies whose death and resurrection make it possible for us to transverse the
otherwise impassible gulf between earth and heaven.
If Jesus facilitates the crossing, then what must we
do? Our role in our salvation is both nothing
and everything. All that is required of
us is to believe in Jesus by following his commands. The gospel demonstrates the paradox of this
challenge. You would think it would be nothing
for the servant whose master has just written off his large debt to forgive the
small debt of a fellow servant. But no,
the servant – probably thinking “this is a different case” – punishes his
counterpart. We must not do likewise;
rather, we are to open our hearts to those who genuinely ask forgiveness just
as Christ has opened the way to our salvation.
