Thursday: An Assumption!
WEEK 8
THURSDAY
AN ASSUMPTION!
Philippians 2:1-6
We saw yesterday that the last thing we see of the Virgin Mary in the pages of Scripture was that she was waiting with the rest to receive the Holy Spirit on the same basis. When the curtain went down on Mary’s marvelous drama, she was not seated on a throne of privilege next to the Son of God, but seated on the floor with heart and possibly hands uplifted to receive God’s best gift, the Holy Spirit. All else beyond that simple scene is tradition and mostly fiction. Ending there it is beautiful and right and befitting.
But human imagination and vested interests have turned her into a demigoddess, being prayed to, and through to Jesus, and through him to the Lord. So we have a hierarchy of mediators—saints, Mary, Jesus. The New Testament says there is “one mediator between God and humanity, the human Christ Jesus” (1 Tim 2:5). The Roman Church adds two more—saints and Mary—and thus pushes Jesus away from immediate contact with people. A sign in a library said: “Think of Mary, and Jesus will grow in your heart.” My reaction was: “Think of Jesus; and you’ll find God within you.” To set up a human being as a mediator between God and people is idolatry pure and simple. And the nemesis of idolatry comes inevitably; God is pushed further away by the idol.
Someone asked me what I thought of the “Assumption of the Virgin,” and I replied, “It is well named; it is an assumption.” Everything is an assumption beyond the simple fact of the blessed Virgin receiving the Holy Spirit on the same basis as the rest. There is where the divine drama closes for her. It is a beautiful closing. Mary is in her place, and so are we. It is the place of equality for all. That is worthy of the drama of redemption. Had it ended with Mary on a throne, it wouldn’t have been redemption; it would have been God putting divine imprimatur on the structure of society of that day with its deep injustices and special privileges based on blood. A caste system instead of a world community would have resulted. A little twist here would have twisted the shape of things to come into the old nepotisms instead of the new fellowship.
O Lord, I ask for no special privilege except the wonderful privilege of being a person, no heredity except being descended from you. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: My place will be with Mary and all other saints, praying for the Holy Spirit.