“When
the Shepherds came to see the little babe Jesus, they saw him with Mary. Those
who stood on Golgotha saw Jesus with Mary. Those who assembled in the first
church assembled with Mary. Mary cannot be separated from her Son. We cannot
adore Him without venerating her.” (Pastor Richard Wurmbrand, Shalom Times,
India, October 1996)
Mary,
Ark of the Covenant
Luke’s
Gospel tells us more about the Mother of Jesus than any other book in the New
Testament. Most of this information is packed within his first two chapters,
where Luke strings together some of the most beautiful traditions we have about
her life and mission. The deeper we delve into Luke’s narrative, the more we
appreciate the way in which Luke tells us the story of Mary. One example of
this is found in the story of the Visitation. On one level, it tells of a
joyous encounter between two expectant mothers; on another, it recalls
memorable stories told in the Old Testament about the Ark of the Covenant. By
alluding to these ancient traditions, Luke expands the vision of the careful
reader considerably. For he leads us to see Mary as the Ark of God’s New
Covenant and implies that the sacred Ark of the Old Covenant merely prefigured
a more wonderful Ark to come: the Mother of the divine Messiah.
One
tradition that Luke draws upon is from 2 Samuel. He intentionally set up the
subtle but significant parallels between Mary’s Visitation with Elizabeth and
David’s effort to bring the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem narrated in 2 Samuel
6. When Luke tells us that Mary “arose and went” into the Judean hill country
to visit her kinswoman (Luke 1:39), he reminds us of how David “arose and went”
into the same region centuries earlier to retrieve the Ark (2 Samuel 6:2). Upon
Mary’s arrival, Elizabeth is struck by the same sense of awe and unworthiness
before Mary (Luke 1:43) that David felt standing before the Ark of the Covenant
(2 Samuel 6:9). Parallels continue as the joy surrounding this great encounter
causes the infant John to leap with excitement (Luke 1:41), much as David
danced with excitement before the Ark (2 Samuel 6:16). Finally, Luke adds that
Mary stayed in the “house of Zechariah” for “three months” (Luke 1:40, 56),
recalling how the Ark of the Covenant was temporarily stationed in the (house
of Obed-Edom” for a waiting period of “three months” (2 Samuel 6:11). Taken
together, these parallels show us that Mary now assumes a role in salvation
history that was once played by the Ark of the Covenant. Like this golden
chest, she is a sacred vessel where the Lord’s presence dwells intimately with
His people.
Luke
also draws upon a second tradition from the Books of Chronicles. This
time he brings into his story a significant expression once connected with the
Ark. The term shows up in Luke 1:42, when Elizabeth bursts out with an
exuberant cry at the arrival of Mary and her Child. Although the Greek verb
translated as “exclaimed” seems ordinary enough, it is hardly ever used in the
Bible. In fact, it is found only here in the entire New Testament. Its presence
in the Greek Old Testament is likewise sparse, appearing only five times. Why
is this important? Because every time the expression is used in the Old
Testament, it forms part of the stories surrounding the Ark of the Covenant. In
particular, it refers to the melodic sounds made by Levitical singers and
musicians when they glorify the Lord in song. It thus describes the “exulting”
voice of instruments that were played before the Ark as David carried it in
position to Jerusalem (1 Chronicles 15:28; 16:4-5) and as Solomon transferred
the Ark to its final resting place in the Temple (2 Chronicles 5:13). Alluding
to these episodes, Luke connects this same expression with the melodic cry of
another Levitical descendant, the aged Elizabeth (Luke 1:5). She too lifts up
her voice in liturgical praise, not before the golden chest, but before Mary.
Luke’s remarkable familiarity with these ancient stories enables him to select
even a single word that will whisper to his readers that this young Mother of
the Messiah is the new Ark of the Covenant.
For
the reader with eyes to see and ears to hear, Luke has given us a vision of the
Virgin Mary that becomes even more glorious the deeper we dig into the
Scriptures. Our ability to see Mary as he did depends in part of our knowledge
of the Old Testament and in part on our own sensitivity to Luke’s skilful use
of it. By choosing his words and phrases carefully, he is able to weave various
strands of biblical tradition into his narrative, adding beauty and depth to
his already elegant prose. Little wonder the Church’s liturgical and
theological traditions have so often described Mary as the Ark of the new
Covenant. This vision is not merely the fruit of mystical speculation from a
latter age. It is already embedded within the Infancy Narrative of Luke’s
Gospel. (Ignatius Catholic Study Bible
p.107)
