Texts: Isaiah 5:1-7; Psalm 80: 1-2, 8-18; Hebrews 11:29-12:2; Luke 12:49-56
In the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely” (Hebrews 12:1).
Have you ever stood in a cloud? Have you ever stood on the top of a mountain that was shrouded by a cloud? If so, then you may recall that being in a cloud is liked being embraced – being completely engulfed – by an entirely different realm. I have been in many clouds while climbing the mountains of New England, and it has always been an amazing experience.
If you can call to mind this kind of experience, I want you to hold that in mind when you hear this famous verse of scripture from The Letter to the Hebrews: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses”. To be surrounded by this cloud is something like, I think, being on a mountain-top in the clouds. In this cloud, we are embraced by an entirely different reality. And if we are aware and awake to this reality, then it can have an enormous impact upon our everyday lives.
But rather than the darkness which accompanies the clouds stuck upon the mountain-tops, this great cloud is one of a million lights, and there is one light which shines out far beyond the others.
My friends, on this day we are bound to speak about this one who holds the pre-eminent position in this luminous embrace – this engulfment of encouragement – in which we live and move throughout our lives.
On this day every year – August 15, the church remembers and celebrates the events which surround the death of the Mother of our Lord. This date was specifically set aside by the Roman Emperor in the year 600 AD as a feast to celebrate the falling asleep of Mary.
In Rome, they call this day the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In Moscow and Alexandria and Damascus, they call this the Dormition of the Theotokos.
In the Anglican sphere, we have tended to be much more cautious about those matters not clearly illuminated by Holy Scripture, but you can see an obvious reference to the glorious events surrounding the death of Mary even in our appointed Collect for this day, which we will pray together in just a few minutes.
But no matter what different leaders of the church might call this Feast, what we all celebrate annually on this 15th day of August is of crucial importance. In fact, what happens on August 15 to Mary completes that which began on December 25 in the Incarnation of Christ.
Now, I contend that no one needs to get entangled in the quagmire of debate concerning the doctrines which surround Mary in order to appreciate and celebrate the simple and radiant facts of her life.
She alone among women was chosen to be the mother of God, the living tabernacle in which God came to dwell, the source from which the Living Water began to flow. She gave the full assent of her will to the gracious will of God. She bore and nursed the Word of Life. She was present at all the key events in the life of her Son. On the day of Pentecost, she was there with the Apostles when the Holy Spirit came down in flames of fire.
This much is clear from the scriptures. According to tradition, Mary continued to live in Jerusalem with different apostles. Eventually, she died and the apostles gathered together to bid her farewell. They served as her pall-bearers as they carried her body to her tomb with prayers and songs of praise. But one apostle was missing, and of course, this was St. Thomas, Doubting Thomas who also was missing when the resurrected Christ first appeared to the apostles. When St. Thomas arrived 3 days later, he requested to enter her tomb so that he too could bid her farewell. But when the tomb was opened, her body was gone.
In our first reading, we heard a poem today from the hand of the prophet Isaiah. It expresses God’s desire for the people of Israel, and God’s disappointment that they had not yet produced the fruit that God desires.
“God dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines; [God] built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it; [God] expected it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes” (Isaiah 5:2).
But finally, after a long wait, Israel did in fact produce the finest of all grapes, the fruit of true inner goodness, a flower of amazing beauty. In Mary, our Mother, we see the complete journey of a life that has been transformed by acceptance of the grace of God.
My friends, I truly believe this. The early fathers and mothers of the church believed it and celebrated it. It makes sense. Think about this: what is the end for those who are full of grace? What could be the end for the one who gave her flesh, her body so that the world might be redeemed?
The full process of salvation was completed in her, in her soul and her flesh.
But let us be clear in understanding that this was not a resurrection like that of her Son, our Lord Jesus. What happened to Mary is what the Bible teaches will happen to all God’s faithful people. It is the end for which we all pray and wait. When the final trumpet sounds, the dead will rise in the flesh and stand before the presence of God. The only difference is that Mary did not have to wait. She was taken into the heavens immediately to dwell forever before God. And what does she do there? She does what this entire great cloud of witnesses does; what all the saints do, of course. She intercedes on our behalf, and on behalf of the entire world.
The Lord said that he came to bring fire to the earth. We understand now that this fire is the gift of the Holy Spirit, the One who fills the disciples with power and strength to live in the kingdom of God. But it was the Virgin Mary, the God-bearer, who first received the power of the Holy Spirit into her very being and who experienced the full potential of the grace of God. Praise be to God for her example, and for her prayers on our behalf.
Let us pray:
O God, you have taken to yourself the blessed Virgin Mary, mother of your incarnate Son: Grant that we, who have been redeemed by his blood, may share with her the glory of your eternal kingdom; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
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