Mary set out
and traveled to the hill country in haste
to a town of Judah,
where she entered the house of Zechariah
and greeted Elizabeth.
Mary was the ark of the New Covenant. The ark of the Old Covenant contained the word of God in the form of the two stone tablets of the Ten Commandments, Aaron's rod, and an pot of manna. Mary contained in her womb Jesus, the living Word of God, the great high priest, and the true bread from heaven.
When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting,
the infant leaped in her womb,
This incident of Mary visiting Elizabeth was meant to be evocative of David bringing the Ark to Jerusalem as described in Second Samuel chapter 6. There was a parallelism of language, as David and Mary both "arose and went". We can hear it even more clearly as David was moved with fear when he witnessed as Uzzah accidentally touch the ark and was struck down by God. David exclaimed, "How can the ark of the Lord come to me?" We clearly hear the echo in the holy fear of Elizabeth before the Presence which Mary brought to her home.
And how does this happen to me,
that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
The ark remained in the house of Obed-edom for three months. So too with Mary, who "remained with [Elizabeth] about three months and then returned to her home".
It was nothing about Mary on her own apart from Jesus that gave her this role that was even more worthy of holy fear than the presence of the ark. Just as the ark of the Old was holy because it was the locus of the presence of God himself, so too, and even more, was Mary established in holiness to be a dwelling place for God's presence, now incarnate in human flesh. Just as nothing unholy was permitted to touch the old ark, so too was no stain of sin permitted to touch the new.
We see the New Testament refer again to the ark in the book of Revelation. And while there is some controversy among scripture scholars as to weather this is properly a reference to Israel, the Church, or Mary (hint: all of the above), it should not surprise us that Mary herself is a primary reference once we understand the typology that Luke for one took for granted.
God’s temple in heaven was opened,
and the ark of his covenant could be seen in the temple.
A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun,
with the moon under her feet,
and on her head a crown of twelve stars.
We see Mary reigning in heaven, the doctrine of the assumption more or less implied by her presence there, in a way fundamentally different from that of the other saints prior to the resurrection of the body. What was she bringing to birth through her labor pains? In the first place, this was how she experienced the whole process of our redemption culminating in the cross of her Son. And so we can say that these were her labor pains bringing us to birth as new creations in Christ, sons and daughters in the Son. And so we ought not now neglect a mother who has so endured and struggled for our sakes. She is meant, like a mother, to play a continuing role in our lives as we grow into the fall stature of Christ (see Ephesians 4:13). Mary is meant to be able to help us by covering us in the protection against the dragon which was given to her by God. The dragon can't touch her. Nor, finally, can it touch anyone under her protection. The dragon hates us because he believes that by harming us he can get back at God and Mary whom he can no longer touch. But Mary loves us, and by doing so returns the love of God for her, loving the image of Jesus in each of us.
Then the dragon became angry with the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring, those who keep God’s commandments and bear witness to Jesus (see Revelation 12:17).
For just as in Adam all die,
so too in Christ shall all be brought to life,
Just as in Eve disobedience entered the world, so too in Mary was obedience restored. She was lifted up this day and seated with Christ in heavenly places (see Ephesians 2:6), a reality of which we also partake even now by faith. She is seated there so that we can be seated there in her, as it were, in her lap, as small and faithful children. She was uniquely a part of the firstfruits of Christ himself, but the gift was given for the sake of all "those who belong to Christ" who shall "all be brought to life" but "in proper order". This is the reality toward which we press by faith and hope, and with the love which Mary herself guides us to imitate.
The queen stands at your right hand, arrayed in gold.
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