Sunday, August 15, 2021
The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Solemnity)
First Reading: Revelation 11:19; 12:1-6, 10
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 15:20-27
Gospel: Luke 1:39-56
The Assumption of Mary is one of those teachings about Mary that we don’t find explicitly in the pages of the Bible but flows from it. The early fathers of the Church loved to delve into Scriptures to find deep meanings and parallels. One of the titles they gave to the Blessed Virgin Mary is the ark of the new covenant. And so, in the litany, Mary is invoked as the Ark of the Covenant. Why is that? In His discussion on the Bread of life, Jesus says He is the new manna come down from heaven. Any first century Jew who heard this about Christ would have wondered, “where is the new ark?” because every Jew would have known that the manna was put in a gold jar and put in the Ark of the Covenant.
In the Old Testament, the Ark of the Covenant was a powerful object. Why? Because it was the dwelling place of God on earth. The Lord comes down and dwells in it and moves with His people.
If you go through Exodus from chapter 25 to 40, you will see elements of the Ark of the Covenant that are very important to understanding the identity of Mary as the ark of the new covenant. The first thing we find is that the ark was the dwelling place of God on earth. The second thing we find is that it was a sacred container, a box made of acacia wood that was covered with gold, with two golden statues of angels on top of it. The ark was described as holy and as having being made of incorruptible wood. The acacia wood is a very hard and durable wood which does not just rot.
Why was it covered with gold? Why do we often have gold in Churches? Because that is how God wants it. What does gold symbolize? Gold is a symbol of divinity; it is a symbol of the awesomeness and absolute holiness of God, and therefore of the ark. It was so holy that only priest could touch it and live. Another important thing we find about the ark is that it contained three things: manna from heaven, the two tablets of the Ten Commandments and then the staff of Aaron.
Later on, Israel will make a permanent dwelling place for the ark in the temple. In the 6th century BC, a terrible thing happened. It was the Babylonian exile. The temple was burnt down and the ark is lost. There are several theories about what happened to the ark. Some people say it was stolen by the Babylonians. This cannot be true if we remember what happened to the Philistines when they captured the ark. Moreover, the Book of Kings does not list it among the things the Babylonians took away. Ezekiel 10:15-19 describes how the glory cloud departed from the temple before it was destroyed.
We, Catholics are not in doubt where the ark is. The Second Book of Maccabees (which is not found in non-Catholic bibles) 2: 4 tells us how God commanded Jeremiah to take the tabernacle and the ark up to the mountain where Moses went up and saw the promised land. Verse 5 tells us that he hid it in a cave and closed it. Those who followed him came back to mark the place but could no longer find it. And then Jeremiah told them they will not know where the ark is hidden until the glory cloud is revealed.
The Gospel today presents us the account of the visitation of Mary which we contemplate in the second joyful mystery. Here Luke is clearly depicting Mary as the new Ark of the Covenant. This has a striking parallel with 2 Samuel chapter 6. In Second Samuel 6:2, David arose and went to the hill country of Judah to bring up the ark of the God. In Luke 1:39, Mary arose and went into the hill country of Judah to visit Elizabeth. in verse 9 David exclaims, “How can the ark of the Lord come to me?” expressing his unworthiness to receive the ark. In verse 43 of Luke chapter 1, Elizabeth exclaims, “and why is it granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” expressing her unworthiness to receive Mary. In 2 Sam 6:15-16, David leaped before him Ark and was shouting. In Luke 1: 41-42, John leapt in the womb of Elizabeth and Elizabeth cried out with a loud voice. Finally, the Ark remained in the hill country, in the house of Obed-Edom for three months (2 Sam 6:11), Mary remained in the hill country, in the house of Elizabeth for three months. The striking intention of Luke cannot be missed here. He could have simply said Mary remained there until John was born. But he chooses to say she remained for three months. This is especially clear in Luke 1:35 where the angel said to Mary, “the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you, therefore the child to be born will be called Holy, the Son of God.” He used a very distinctive verb “episkiazo “to describe the Holy Spirit and the power of God overshadowing Mary. Where else do we find that word in the Old Testament? It was when the glory cloud overshadowed the ark in Exodus 40:30. So, in Exodus 40:30, the glory cloud overshadowed the tabernacle with the ark in it and in Luke 1:35, the Holy Spirit overshadows the Virgin Mary, the new ark of the covenant.
So, what is the significance of Mary being the new ark of covenant? It tells us about the holiness of Mary. The ark was so holy only priest could touch it. The ark contained the manna from heaven, the two tablets of the law and the staff of Aaron which symbolize priesthood. In the body of Mary, the new covenant, we had the Word of God made man, who is also the true manna, the Bread of Life who is the true and eternal priest. It also tells us about the incorruptibility of her body, more specifically about her Assumption into heaven. If Mary is not the new ark of covenant, then we need to think again, if Jesus is truly God. If Mary is the new Ark of the Covenant, then makes sense that Jesus is God and her body will not corrupt. This is especially attested to by the fact that no city, not even Ephesus where Mary is said to have spent her last days on earth or any Church lays claim to having the body of Mary unlike the apostles or any of the early saints. The first reading from the Book of Revelation tells us that God’s temple in Heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant could be seen in the temple. Continuing he says, “a great sing appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.” Everyone knew this woman is no other than Mary.
Happy Sunday
Rev. Fr. Chidi Onwuka M.Ss.Cc