15 August 2013 - friends in high places

15 August 2013 - friends in high places

They are borne in with gladness and joy;
they enter the palace of the king.

Today we celebrated that Mary is the queen who now stands before us at the right hand of God.  We need not be envious that such a great blessing was afforded to a creature.  Through her all find blessings.  If we try to minimize her blessings to make God seem more fair from a human perspective we find that we diminish the blessings not just to Mary, but to ourselves as well.

For just as in Adam all die,
so too in Christ shall all be brought to life,
but each one in proper order:
Christ the firstfruits;
then, at his coming, those who belong to Christ;

Jesus is the new Adam restoring what was lost in the Fall.  Mary is the new Eve.  With her "fiat" she restores the obedience which the old Eve fails to render to God.  She is the first to share in the blessings of this restored humanity.  She does so as "the mother of all the living" that Eve was meant to be (cf. Gen 3:20).  But her offspring are "those who keep the commandments of God and bear testimony to Jesus."

We need to appreciate the significance of the fact that God does not choose to give the world salvation apart from Mary.

She gave birth to a son, a male child,
destined to rule all the nations with an iron rod.

She is his chosen vessel, clothed with the sun and crowned with the stars.  She is the ark of the new covenant that brings the presence of God to us.

Yet even as she acknowledges her unique blessings...

From this day all generations will call me blessed:
the Almighty has done great things for me
and holy is his Name.

...she goes on to say that she is simply an example of how God deals with mankind.

He has mercy on those who fear him
in every generation.

He shows the extent of his blessings perfectly in Mary.  But he does this with her as an example of how he longs to be brought to birth in each one of us.  He longs to tabernacle in each of our souls no less than he does in Mary.
 
Just as God does not permit Uzzah to touch the old ark even when the oxen stumble...

Uzzah put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled. And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Uzzah; and God smote him there because he put forth his hand to the ark; and he died there beside the ark of God. 

...so too does he not permit death to touch Mary.  He does this because she is the new ark bringing his presence perfectly and completely to mankind.  The old ark only foreshadowed this.

Seeing this we have great confidence that his presence in us can bring us safely home. But she doesn't just go before us to show the way.  She becomes the great fount of all blessings.  She is Co-redemptrix and Co-mediatrix of all grace.  Not apart from her do we hear:

“Now have salvation and power come,
and the Kingdom of our God
and the authority of his Anointed One.”

Let us not be afraid to entrust all of our cares to the one to whom the Father entrusted our salvation.  Even though Mary is so blessed she does not hesitate to give God the praise for everything she receives.  Let us join her in his praise!

“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior