As Christians, we have the luxury of hindsight when we read the Old Testament. We can see how the promises of God the Father are fulfilled in the person and actions of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Likewise, we can see how important figures, events and objects in the Old Covenant foreshadow the establishment of the New Covenant through Our Lord. Today, as we celebrate the Assumption of Our Lady into Heaven, this hindsight makes Mary’s role in salvation clear and shows why we need to emulate Her in our lives.
When we look back at the Old Covenant, one major object stands out: the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark was the holiest object for the Israelite people, as it represented the presence of God with them. It also carried three of the holiest articles given to the Israelites: the tablets containing the 10 Commandments; Aaron’s staff which budded to show the call of the Levite tribe as the priesthood of Israel; and the manna in the desert which sustained the Israelite people for 40 years.
Each of these objects foreshadow some aspect of Our Lord’s role in salvation of humanity. The tablets with the 10 Commandments are fulfilled in the commandments Our Lord gave through His teaching. The staff shows that Our Lord is the High Priest of the New Covenant which He established through His blood. The manna, the bread from Heaven, is a foreshadowing of the Eucharist, which is the true and eternal Bread from Heaven.
Even the Ark itself foreshadows an important figure in the New Covenant. Just as the Ark held objects which foreshadowed Our Lord, Mary held in her womb the fulfillment of those objects as the mother of Jesus. Our Lady, the Blessed Virgin Mary, is the fulfillment of the Ark of the Covenant, and is rightfully called the Ark of the New Covenant.
With this understanding, it’s not a coincidence that the first reading, which comes from the Book of Revelation, begins with the appearance of the Ark of the Covenant. If you look this passage up in your Bible, you’ll find that the first sentence of the reading has been placed in the chapter prior to the rest of the text. Some might argue that this division of the text means that the Ark is not linked to the remainder of the passage, but with the understanding of Mary as the Ark of the New Covenant, it’s obvious that the appearance of the Ark of the Covenant fits with the imagery of the woman immediately following.
This image of the “woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars” has been the most popular image of Our Lady almost from the very beginning of Christianity itself. In fact, devotion to Mary as the Mother of God has existed from the earliest times of the Church, and has only gotten stronger over the years. Marian devotion is popular within the Church because we can see Mary as the example for our lives as Christians. In the words of her cousin Elizabeth, this humble young woman “believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.” She believed in the promise of salvation for Israel, and believed the message of the Archangel Gabriel that she was to become the mother of the one who was foretold to be the savior of not only Israel, but all humanity.
Are we willing to believe in the promises of Our Lord and respond with a “yes” as Mary did? Mary responded to God’s invitation with faithful submission and God was able to do great things for and through her. When we respond to the invitation to follow Our Lord with our whole lives, God will also do great things for and through us. To this day, Mary is called “blessed” for her openness to God’s will. The question is: do we want to follow her example and be called blessed?
