A God Who Keeps His Promises

A God Who Keeps His Promises

The Church around the world celebrates the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. And “assumption” means that she went up to heaven with Jesus's help. She didn't go on her own. Now, the dogma of the Assumption was declared by Pope Pius XII on All Saints Day in 1950. Now you will hear people say, “well, obviously the Church didn't consider this a dogma or important except for the last 100 years.”

Nothing could be further from the truth. 

The Church for the last 2000 years has acknowledged the Assumption of Mary. There are documents dating back as far as the second century speaking of Mary being assumed into heaven. Also, the Eastern Church has celebrated the Dormition, or the “falling asleep” of Mary since the fifth century. And part of the reason for this is the Church has always recognized the similarity between the Ark of the Old Covenant and Mary, the Ark of the New Covenant.

Here are some of the similarities pointed out in Scripture. Mary arose and went to the hill country of Judea, and Kerem (where Elizabeth lived) and Abu Ghosh (where the ark resided in the Old Testament) are within walking distance of each other. Mary and the Ark were both on a journey to the hill country of Judea. When David saw the ark, he rejoiced and said, “how can the ark of the Lord come to me?” Elizabeth uses almost exactly the same language when she says, “why is this granted me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” When David approached the ark, he was wearing the ephod of a priest, and he leaped before the ark. When Mary entered the house of Elizabeth, John (who was from the lineage of a priest) leaped in Elizabeth's womb.

The Ark of the Old Covenant remained in the house of Obed for three months. Mary remained in the house of Elizabeth for three months. The ark returns to its home and finds its way to Jerusalem. Mary returns to her home and then finds her way to Jerusalem to present Jesus in the temple. Saint Athanasius of Alexandria, my favorite patristic father, wrote, “you are the ark, in which is found the golden vessel containing the true manna, that is, the flesh in which divinity resides.”

And St. Hippolytus said, “at that time the Savior coming from the Virgin, the ark brought forth his own body into the world. From that ark which was gilded with pure gold within by the word, and without by the Holy Spirit, so that the truth was shown forth. And the ark was manifested.” And Saint Ambrose wrote, “the prophet David danced before the ark.”

Now what else should we say the ark was but holy Mary? And noteworthily: the ark disappeared in 586 BC. Mary disappeared when she went to sleep.

There are two locations noted in the world for Mary's grave. One in Ephesus, one in Jerusalem. What is noteworthily absent is any mention of a body in a Church that loves relics. There is not a single relic of Mary to be found. If there was such a thing, don't you think somebody would have had one? But we know there isn't one, because Mary was assumed into heaven. 

So what does this whole thing with the Ark of the Covenant have to do with the Assumption? If you paid very close attention to the Gospels, you will note why this is important. Remember that when John wrote his Gospel, he did not write it in chapter and verse. So when we read the John's Gospel and we have chapter 11 moving to chapter 12, we have to remember this was not separate when John wrote it.

This is how it looks. If we take out the notations of chapter and verse, then, “God's temple in heaven was opened, and the Ark of his Covenant could be seen in the temple. There were flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder, an earthquake and a violent hailstorm. A great sign appeared in the sky: a woman clothed with the sun, with a moon under her feet. And on her head a crown of 12 stars.” 

John is the apostle who took Mary into his home. John would have recognized Mary when he saw this vision. And the Church has recognized Mary in this vision for 2000 years, because the Church believes that the Ark of the New Covenant resides in heaven next to her son.

Now the question arises: why is this important for us? Why do we even care that Mary was assumed into heaven? 

Because the Assumption tells us that Jesus keeps his promises. 

The Book of Genesis tells us that the wages of sin are death. Well, Jesus, by a singular act of mercy, saved his mother from all sin before she was conceived, and therefore she had a straight path to heaven. We, on the other hand, perhaps are going to take a detour. But ultimately, the promise still holds. The promise that Jesus made, that if we believe in him, that if we follow him, we might have eternal life. And the Assumption tells us that he keeps his promises, that if we do what Mary has done, and that is to follow as a disciple, and to remember to do whatever he tells you. 

If we do that, we too will have a path to heaven. We know this because Jesus keeps his promises. And Jesus, I trust in you. Amen.