Saturday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time
A type of Christ is someone whose life recalls the life of Christ. Since the days of the Church Fathers, many types of Christ have been found in the Old Testament (e.g., Isaac, Moses delivering the Israelites out of Egypt, David as King of Israel, etc.). Types of Christ continue in the New Testament. We read today of St. John the Baptist who was beheaded by King Herod. St. John the Baptist was imprisoned because he spoke against the sinfulness of the king. He was executed by King Herod because King Herod wanted to preserve his reputation among his courtiers, who had heard him promise Salome anything she wanted (she asked for John’s head). We see in John a type of Christ because Jesus also spoke out against sinfulness, was imprisoned, and was eventually executed by Pontius Pilate because Pilate wanted to preserve or improve his reputation among those he governed.
While many biblical figures are types of Christ, we must not think that all types of Christ are limited to the time before Christ. Those people are types of Christ who foreshadow Christ, yet they are far from the only ones. Even after Christ, there are many types of Christ. These types are those who imitate him. Therefore, you and I can be types of Christ if we resolve to imitate him. We can join the ranks of John the Baptist, Abraham, Isaac, Moses, etc. We can live our lives as a disciple with such fidelity that Christ is recalled in our lives. We have been baptized into Christ and been made participants in his priestly, prophetic, and kingly mystery. May our lives be evidence of that; may we be types of Christ through our imitation of him.