The Glorious Mysteries:
His Kingdom is established in Heaven.
1. Jesus' resurrection from the dead
"He is not here. He has risen."
- Mark 16:5-7 ~ "vindication"
According to the apocryphal gospel of Peter, which remained incomplete after Mark was finished, only a handful of Roman soldiers and a couple Temple guards saw the actual resurrection of Jesus, and they all swore to keep silence. It had been known that Jesus claimed that He would rise from the grave. Thus, guards were sent to keep watch, so anyone who came to steal the body would meet with resistance. But it wasn't a gang of men who came to roll the stone away, it was two angels. The soldiers were too afraid to interfere.
So when the two women came on Sunday morning to care for Jesus' body with the herbs and spices that were required, they didn't see any soldiers. Indeed, they later told how they were afraid when they found the stone rolled away, and someone sitting inside the tomb. Upon being informed that Jesus was not present, they asked where the body had been taken, but the stranger only said to go and tell his disciples to expect to see Him, and to go to meet Him in Galilee. Yet they were too confused and afraid to believe, and when they returned, they only said that the body was missing. So Peter and John both ran to see what had happened. It was only later that they saw Him, and heard the rest of the story from his own mouth.
Jesus had repeatedly told his disciples that He was going to rise from the dead after He was crucified, but no one believed Him. Even after He had raised Jairus' daughter, and Lazarus, and plainly said that He had the power to lay down his life and to take it up again, it was unbelievable. How can a dead man perform miracles? But Jesus was not just a man. He is an integral person in the Holy Trinity who is God, and when He says He can do something, it can be done.
But the resurrection of Jesus is not only the proof of his divinity, it is the vindication of his message and the surety of his promises. When He promises to raise us up, He can and will do it. This final part of the Gospel is essential to the message, and the witnesses who saw the risen Christ are the focal points of contact between humanity and God's intervention into history.
Over the next forty days, Jesus appeared to the disciples many times, and He met with a crowd of followers when they got to Galilee. There were over five hundred witnesses, and when Paul named some, many were still alive to be asked what they had seen. And those witnesses were willing to stake their lives on their testimony. They lived and died to spread the story of Jesus and his message. They knew the risk, but the promise and its proof were worth it. "He is not here. He is risen."
2. Jesus' ascension to Heaven
"He was lifted up while they were looking"
- Acts 1:9-11 ~ "amazed"
When we talk about Jesus' ascension into Heaven, we also have to try to imagine how He looked in his resurrected body. So often his disciples failed to recognize Him, we have to assume that He could appear in any way He wanted. Any form, from totally normal and incognito, as on the road to Emmaus, to all luminous and snowy white, as He was at the transfiguration, to being blindingly lightning bright, as in the predawn of his resurrection when the guards had to avert their eyes. Any of these was available to Him. Presumably, He chose to travel to Galilee in a form that only his followers could discern, and once there He revealed Himself to the gathered crowd that included over 500 men.
But Jesus ascended to Heaven from the Mount of Olives near Jerusalem, rising bodily, straight up into the clear sky. His astonished apostles were left staring upward with their mouths hanging open. They could not believe their eyes, although by now they had learned to expect Jesus' miracles. The sight was so completely unexpected that they were still staring when they were approached by two angels. "Men of Galilee, why are you standing there looking at the sky? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into Heaven will return in the same way as you have seen Him going into Heaven." But what they had seen, none of them described. All we can know is, it must have been for their eyes only, for if anyone else had seen it, they didn't report it.
Perhaps we can imagine a Pillar of Light, to remember the pillars of smoke and fire the Israelites followed through the Sinai desert. And Jesus rose through it slowly, with his arms spread, showing the nail prints, like He wants to embrace the whole world. His white clothing sparkles like sunlight reflecting from new snow, and his face is shining like the sun - but not blinding. We can look at Him, rising higher and higher, until the figure fades into the blue of the sky itself, and we see only a few scattered puffy clouds. He is gone.
We begin to feel a sense of loss, until we recall that He told us to wait in Jerusalem until the festival of Shavuot, when He and the Father would send down the Holy Spirit to stay with us. We have ten days, and then it's our job to go and tell the story to everyone, all over the world. Then, He said, He will come back. What an amazing story we have to tell!
3. The descent of the Holy Spirit
"tongues as of fire"
- Acts 2:1-6 ~ "empowered"
And so the disciples returned to Jerusalem to wait for the Holy Spirit to be poured out. In the meantime, they chose Matthias to replace Judas, and told him his role as witness to Jesus' mission and message. Then, on the day of Shavuot, or Pentecost, a great sound like a rushing windstorm passed through the neighborhood. And in their room appeared a vision of fire, which divided into "tongues" and went to rest above the heads of each of the Apostles. Amazed and elated, they began to speak all at once, but in foreign languages, declaring their messages about Jesus. Then going out of doors, they encountered a crowd gathering to investigate the noise.
Although the city was full of visitors, coming for the Holy Days, from all over the diaspora, everyone assembled there heard them speak in their native tongue. Amazed that local Galileans could speak so, some thought they were drunk, but the message came loud and clear. Jesus was the long-awaited Messiah! Indeed, although crucified, He had risen from the dead, as He had promised, and lived with them until just a few days ago. And they had seen Him rise up, straight into the sky, going into Heaven to be with God the Father.
Even the crucifixion itself had not been his defeat at Roman hands, but a victory over sin and its banishment from God's Presence. Our affliction with demons from Be'elzebub, a possession due to sinful habits, is broken because the penalty for sin has been paid. Satan can have no more claim upon us. Jesus has set us free, giving us the ability to behave with righteousness, if we keep our focus on Him. Those who disagreed with Him, and handed Him over to the Romans to be put to death have themselves been put to shame. They would not believe that his miracles were signs of God's endorsement of his message. And now, He is risen from the dead! Hallelujah!
So now, with the descent of the Holy Spirit, the Gospel is in full force. And what is the message? "Repent! The Kingdom of God is at hand! Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah!" And more than we expected, He is the actual Son of the Living God! His coming was foretold in the Scriptures, and He has saved us from our sins! Repent, and be baptized. God has heard us groaning in our misery, and answered us in our distress. Yeshua is the answer to our prayers, our rescue from oppression. And when He returns, He will reign as the King of the world, forever.
4. Mary's assumption to Heaven
"Blessed is the womb that carried you..."
- Luke 11:27, 28 ~ "praise"
Ever after Jesus appointed John to watch over her, Mary has been the Mother of the Church. Most blessed among women, most beloved among believers; she was the center of the Apostle's adoration.
Mary stayed with the Apostles in Jerusalem, observing and advising as needed, until John left to spread the Gospel through Asia Minor. They settled in Ephesus in a small house for a few years, with John preaching in the synagogue there. At his words, many came to believe in Jesus, both Jews and Gentiles. Her holiness and devotion were renowned all throughout the region. Many people came to her to ask for her blessing, and she would pray for their needs. To this very day, the house where Mary and John stayed on the outskirts of Ephesus is remembered with reverence.
But the diaspora never felt like home for her, as the years passed, Mary began to long for Galilee and Judaea. At last, John decided to escort her back to Jerusalem. The passage through Galilee gladdened her heart, to see the flowers covering the hills like blankets, and the sea, sparkling like the Face of God, just like its local name, "Peniel." And the trek up to Jerusalem filled her with anticipation, to see her son James and the others who had known Jesus when He was preaching. The sight of the great Temple came with mixed feelings, joy to see the House of God, but sadness to know that so many listened to the libelous stories told by the Pharisees. Too many lacked faith in the Gospel.
The word had traveled ahead that Mary was coming home, so also went from there the invitation for all of the disciples to return to greet her. Upon her arrival, Mary was tired, being now near 70 years of age. The trip had taken its toll. James, her son-in-law, and leader of the Jerusalem Church, gave her a place to stay with him, and she settled in to rest. One by one the friends of Jesus came by to greet her, and she had plenty of company to watch and care for her. But now, her age had caught up with her, and her health began to fail.
Finally, Mary died in Jerusalem, and all of the Apostles, except Thomas, attended her funeral with great sorrow. But the very next day, Thomas arrived. Disappointed to have missed seeing her, Thomas asked to view her body. But when they reopened her tomb, it was empty, all but for being filled with roses.
5. Mary's coronation as Queen of Heaven
"and on her head a crown of 12 stars"
- Revelations 12:1 ~ "glory"
According to ancient Hebrew tradition, since a King could have many wives, for diplomatic reasons, the official Queen of the nation was the Mother of the King. And yet, we have only the one Scripture, in John's Apocalypse, to confirm our expectation. Mary is crowned with twelve stars when viewed among the constellations. There is no description of the great ceremony held in Heaven to bestow the Cosmic Crown upon her. In our mind's eye, let us try to view the scene.
We can only imagine the vast crowds of Angels gathered to witness the event, and the elect from the Council arrayed with solemn dignity on either side of the processional aisle. Perhaps the Archangels Gabriel and Michael ecorted her forward to the stage, followed by the saints devoutly praying the Rosary. At the front, on either side of the altar, stood Moses and Elijah. And God, as the Holy Trinity, gloried in the place of the Sacred Tabernacle. The starry host in the sky shed their brightest radiance through the crystal domed ceiling of the Heavenly Temple.
As the procession reached the front, the music of coronets reached a crescendo then fell silent. Only the soft strains of harps kept playing with the ebb and flow of psalms, just low enough to allow voices to be heard. As Mary approached the altar, she bowed and reached inside her breast, withdrawing her own Immaculate Heart. As she stood, she placed it upon the altar, surrounding it with a wreath of roses. Then Jesus stepped forward, from the other side, reached inside his robe, and brought forth his Sacred Heart. He placed it beside hers, inside the wreath, and surrounded them both with his crown of thorns. Then, making the sign of the Cross above them, He changed the roses and thorns into two crowns. Both alike, they were made of twelve golden magen-stars linked together and shining with the internal light of glowing gemstones. Jesus walked around the altar to his Mother, and they both knelt.
Then the Holy Father, Adonai, came forward, as a pillar of Light, and with his own Hands lifted the two crowns and placed them on the Sacred Heads of his Son and his beloved Spouse. Once more the coronets burst forth with jubilant music, and the crowds began to chant Hallelujah! Holy, Holy, Holy Lord!
Thus began the eternal reign of Jesus as our Lord, the King of Heaven, and his Mother, as our Lady the Queen of Heaven. And so we know that our prayers to Mary are heard, and attended with care by Her and her Son, as they watch over us now and always.
Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment