One of the most beautiful touching points of prefiguration and typology of Jesus found in the Old Testament is in reference to John 10 and The Good Shepherd passage. The touching point is located in the book of the Prophet Ezekiel, Chapter 34. In fact, the reference to Ezekiel’s prophecy is quite clear when pointed out that Jesus in Chapter 10 of John’s Gospel is claiming divinity. Today’s passage serves almost as a preamble to the revelation of the fulfillment of Ezekiel’s prophecy in the Good Shepherd passage. Jesus says, “I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy; I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.”[1]
In reference to the Ezekiel passage, it refers to quite clearly the context of who the robbers in relation to the people of Israel—Israel’s ruling class priests and kings alike who offended God by way of idolatry, religious ritualism, and forgoing works of charity. The Ezekiel text uses the form of parallelism to express that God will come to shepherd His own people while reaffirming the eternal Davidic covenant grant in vv. 23-31 compared to the Mosaic covenant treaty annulled in Jeremiah 11:10. The Ezekiel passage references a glorious restoration, which is echoed through the book of Isaiah. Of course, The Book of Jeremiah in the context of the Mosaic covenant being annulled refers to the establishment of a New Covenant in Jer. 31:31.
The Dogmatic Constitution of the Church Lumen Gentium from the Second Vatican Council echoes the centrality of this new covenant in which both the remnant people of Israel with the Gentile converts will be grafted back (Rom. 11:29) to the root of the eternal fulfillment of God’s covenants; Abrahamic and Davidic. Lumen Gentium explains, “Basing itself upon Sacred Scripture and Tradition, it teaches that the Church, now sojourning on earth as an exile, is necessary for salvation. Christ, present to us in His Body, which is the Church, is the one Mediator and the unique way of salvation.”[2]
The Catholic Church still officially teaches among the confusion occurring in it that Jesus, and His teaching, is the gate and whoever does not enter through the gate is a thief and a robber. The centrality of Christ for the salvation souls is imperative to the proclamation of the gospel. The whole of the Sacred Tradition, Sacred Scripture, and Salvation History becomes absurd divorced from this fact. Let us not lose sight of Him, our Blessed Lord, and Saviour—Jesus Christ. Let us cherish Him in the most Blessed Sacrament—The Eucharist. Amen.
[1] New American Bible, Revised Edition. (Washington, DC: The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2011), Jn 10:9–10.
[2] Catholic Church, “Dogmatic Constitution on the Church: Lumen Gentium,” in Vatican II Documents (Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2011).
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