The God-Bearer AKA. The Ark Of The New Covenant
And a great portent appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; she was with child and she cried out in her pangs of birth, in anguish for delivery. And another portent appeared in heaven; behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems upon his heads. His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven, and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to bear a child, that he might devour her child when she brought it forth; she brought forth a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne (Revelation 12:1-5, RSVCE)
The Book of Revelation is a work of art. It contains numerous analogies and metaphors that are sometimes hard to understand. One way to get closer to the meaning of the text is to dive into Levantine culture and history to see the parallels that Saint John has put into this book.
Since we just had International Women's Day a couple of days ago, let's talk about the woman in Revelation 12. So who is this woman that Saint John sees in his vision? Well, there are different interpretations, depending on who you ask. The majority of Christians would say the woman represents Mary, the mother of Jesus. This included Catholics, Orthodox, traditional Lutherans, some Episcopalians/Anglicans, and many more. In this article, I want to talk a little about Mary and why she is so important. Yes, I would even go so far as to say that she is the person that deserves the most veneration (besides the Godhead, of course).
First of all, and that brings in the title of this article, Mary is the Theotokos. Theotokos is an ancient Greek composite that means "God-bearer" (theo = God, tokos = bearer). This is a title that has been given to Mary to remind the church that it was through her that Jesus came into this world in his mortal form. Now, someone could say that being the mother of Jesus is a nice gimmick, but why does this make her special? Shouldn't our focus be on Christ? Yes, indeed, our focus should be on Christ. But one of the ways to Jesus is through Mary.
Do you remember King Solomon from the Old Testament (OT)? So Bathshe′ba went to King Solomon, to speak to him on behalf of Adoni′jah. And the king rose to meet her, and bowed down to her; then he sat on his throne, and had a seat brought for the king’s mother; and she sat on his right. Then she said, “I have one small request to make of you; do not refuse me.” And the king said to her, “Make your request, my mother; for I will not refuse you.” (1 Kings 2:19-20)
In ancient Israel, it was the tradition that the king's mother was referred to as the queen or "queen-mother". It was not the wife because kings used to have multiple wives. But since there can only be one mother, it was her honor to be seated next to the king and make decisions equal to his. So whenever someone wanted to get the king to do something but could not get an audience, they went to the queen-mother instead to make intercession. Depending on which Christian tradition you belong to, you can still petition Mary in a so-called intercessory prayer. But even if you do not believe in intercessions, Mary can still be a guidance for your Christian life.
His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” (John 2:5, RSVCE) Being his mother, Mary would have had no reason to be obedient to Jesus. But she knew about his divine mission, and thus, she knew that his authority was far greater. At the wedding of Cana, the servants panic because they are running low on wine. Mary then tells them to do whatever he would ask them to do. In this, we can see advice for our lives, too. Whenever we are stuck or when times of hardship are ahead, we can always ask Jesus and he will tell us what to do.
Next, let's talk about Mary as the Ark of the New Covenant. There are some significant similarities between the first and original ark, and Mary in the New Testament (NT). In the OT, the Spirit overshadowed the ark which became the dwelling place of God; in the NT, the Spirit also overshadowed Mary who became the dwelling place of our Lord and God, Jesus Christ. The ark was brought to the hill country of Judah and stayed there for three months; Mary traveled to Elizabeth in the hill country of Judah and stayed with her for three months. King David leaped when he saw the ark coming; John the Baptist leaped in Elizabeth's womb when Mary approached her. The ark ends up in Jerusalem where it is brought into the temple; Mary presents Jesus in the temple.
In the OT, the ark contained three things: the tablets with the ten commandments, the rod of Aaron which came back to life, and the pot of manna (the bread from heaven). Mary, when pregnant with Jesus, carried the Word of God in the flesh, the high priest who came back to life after his death, and the living bread from heaven in her womb. These similarities are astonishing and are there for a reason. They are meant to show us how important Jesus is, but they also show how great his mother is. If Jesus is our king, then Mary is our queen-mother. And as such, she deserves our respect and love. Without her, there would be no Jesus. This is also a beautiful symbol of motherhood in general. Whenever women feel degraded because they cannot become priests, we should remind them that they are the living legacy of Mary. Motherhood is a blessed ordination, and women should never feel like they are worth less than men.
Media Sources:
https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-ncregister/swp/hv9hms/media/2020082722080_5f481196c2bf74d8ccdfeb42jpeg.webp
Comments
Post a Comment