I struggled with the idea of the Blessed Virgin Mary for a long time. I wasn’t raised with her and it’s hard to see how all that weird Catholic stuff with songs and statues and candles and parades isn’t worship. I figured early on that I could just ignore it and be okay, but, as it turns out, you can’t really be Catholic if you’re not at least trying to be into Mary. So I tried.
I started praying a rosary every day, I went to Medjugorje, and I even did St. Louis de Montfort’s total consecration to Mary. But I still didn’t get it.
And then I found the key somewhere surprising–the Old Testament. For pretty much everything I understand about Mary, I’m eternally (literally) in the debt of Scott Hahn, specifically his work in Hail, Holy Queen. When I read that book, I started to see that Mary is literally all over the Bible–the ancients were just subtler than I wanted them to be.
Marian theology’s too much for one post, obviously. Here I want to focus on Old Testament typology (foreshadowing) and Mary as the Ark of the Covenant. I’ll share the experiences in prayer that led me to a deeper understanding of Mary some other time. For now, let’s talk Scripture.
The Ark of the Covenant is an ancient artifact stolen by the Nazis that will consume you with lightning if you–oh, wait. Not so much.
The Ark was the center of God’s presence for the Israelites. In Exodus 25, it is described in detail as acacia wood plated with gold.* According to Exodus, the tablets of the ten commandments were placed inside (Ex 25:21). Numbers 17:25 suggests that Aaron’s staff may have been placed there as well, but it’s unclear until Hebrews 9:4:
…the ark of the covenant entirely covered with gold. In it were the gold jar containing the manna, the staff of Aaron that had sprouted, and the tablets of the covenant.
So the Ark of the Covenant held the presence of God and contained the life-giving bread, the high priest’s staff, and the word of God.
See where I’m going with this?
The Ark was treated with reverence, not because it was God but because it contained God (in a sense). It led the Israelites and was given a place of highest honor.
This is all on my mind because of the Feast of the Visitation yesterday, in which we celebrate Mary’s visit to Elizabeth. We’re used to these words because we’ve heard the story so much: the infant leaped, how does it happen that the mother of my Lord should come to me. But those Jews who read Luke’s Gospel would have been familiar with them, too, because the same words are used in reference to the Ark in 2 Samuel 6, where King David was bring the Ark of the Covenant into the hill country (Lk 1:39). Check it out:
Then David came dancing before the LORD with abandon, girt with a linen ephod. (2 Sam 6:14)
When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb. (Lk 1:41)
Now, I’m no Greek scholar, but I did manage to ascertain that the Greek word for dancing in the Septuagint (Greek version of the Old Testament) is the same as the word for leaping in the New Testament.
David said, “How can the ark of the LORD come to me?” (2 Sam 6:9)
Elizabeth said, “And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” (Lk 1:43)
Again, we’re seeing the same language here, only replacing Ark with Mother.
The ark of the LORD remained in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite for three months. (2 Sam 6:11)
Mary remained with her about three months and then returned to her home. (Lk 1:56)
So Luke’s definitely feeling this Ark of the Covenant business, but John makes it even clearer in Revelation. Turn to Revelation 11:19 (right before Revelation 12, which we hear read from on pretty much every Marian feast day).
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.
Wow. That’s pretty intense. To give you some context, the Ark of the Covenant, which was the center of Israelite worship, had been lost for centuries. According to 2 Maccabees 2, Jeremiah hid the Ark in a cave right before the Babylonian Captivity (around 587 BC). So for 600 years, the most important thing in the world was lost. And John saw it! It was such a huge deal that there was lightning, thunder, hail, and an earthquake. This thing is for real!
And then the chapter ends and John moves on. “I saw the Ark! It was epic!
“Then this other time I saw a lady.”
That’s how it reads to us, with a big, bold “Chapter 12” separating his proclamation that he saw the Ark from his description of the Ark. But remember, John didn’t write in chapters. He said, “I saw the Ark! It was epic! A lady in the sky with a crown of 12 stars…. She was the mother of all Christians” (Rev 11:19; 12:1, 17; paraphrased).
John is explaining here that Mary is the new Ark of the Covenant. Just as the old Ark contained the life-giving bread, Mary contains Jesus, the Bread of Life (John 6). Just as the old Ark contained the high priest’s staff, Mary contains our Great High Priest (Heb 4:14). Just as the old ark contained the word of God, Mary contains the Word of God made flesh (Jn 1:1-3, 14).
“Okay, so Mary’s like some box,” says the voice in my head. “So what?”
So what?? So everything!!
Seriously, understanding this is a huge step towards understanding pretty much everything the Church teaches about Mary.
The Immaculate Conception
(This is when Mary was conceived without Original Sin, not when she conceived Jesus. Think embryonic Mary. More on this topic another time.)
The Ark of the Covenant was specially prepared to house God’s presence (see Ex 25 again). It was pure and holy, made specifically for a divine purpose. If Mary is the new Ark of the Covenant, she, too, must have been prepared from her creation for this purpose. She must have been pure, not by her own power but by the power of Him who created purity. They wouldn’t have used a random box for the Ark; God wouldn’t have used a random sinner for the Mother of God.
The Perpetual Virginity of Mary
(Mary remained a virgin before, during, and after the birth of Christ. Again, more on this later.)
The Ark of the Covenant was created for a sacred purpose and was made sacred by what it contained. If one were to empty the Ark of its holy contents, one would not then use it as a jewelry box or a stepstool. It was consecrated to one divine purpose; to use it for a worldly purpose would defile it. Now sex is holy and beautiful (see this beautiful reflection by Elizabeth Hanna Pham for proof), but sex must be open to life. And every baby besides Mary and Jesus is conceived with Original Sin. For Mary’s sanctified womb to nurture fallen life would defile it, just as using the Ark for a good but profane** purpose would be wrong.
The Assumption
(Mary was assumed body and soul into heaven by the power of God. She never suffered death, the separation of body and soul, as it’s a consequence of Original Sin.)
The Ark of the Covenant, as I said above, was made sacred by what it bore. Middle Eastern culture has a strong sense of sanctity (and profanity) being contagious, if you will. See pretty much the whole book of Leviticus for proof.
Having been made sacred, even if it had been emptied, it would have been honored. It wouldn’t have been left in the desert to rot (can things rot in the desert?) and it wouldn’t have been broken up and tossed. If Mary is the new Ark of the Covenant, she, too, must be revered even after she no longer contains the presence of God. An empty Ark wouldn’t have been tossed; Mary’s body wouldn’t have been left to decay. Since the options seem to be death (nope), immortality (I think we’d know if she was 2000 years old), or eternal life in the body (the Assumption), I think the logical answer is clear.
Reverence for Mary
No, the Bible doesn’t tell us to have parades and sing songs to Mary (although Luke 1:48 sure seems to suggest it), but that’s how Israel handled the Ark. Luke and John both make it clear to the discerning reader that the Ark is a type of Mary. So we honor her, we respect her, we pray through her, not because of who she is but because of whose she is and who he made her to be.
*These are the kinds of passages that make me want to skim.
**Profane, in this sense, does not mean evil but secular, non-sacred.