Mary, assumed into Heaven: the first to enter glory, going where we can follow

Christian writers from the early centuries came to see Mary as the new Eve. Eve’s sin in the Garden of Eden is to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge, and to encourage her husband to do the same. The serpent tempts her saying that if she does so, ‘You will be like God, knowing good and evil’ (Gen 3.4). So, Eve overreaches herself: she grabs out for a status that is not hers. She tries to promote herself; raise herself up. By contrast, Mary humbly accepts God’s will and God’s plan for her: ‘I am the handmaid of the Lord, let it be to me according to your word’ (Luke 1.38).

​Some might ask whether the Church is, in a patriarchal or even misogynistic way, condemning Eve: a strong, self-empowered woman, wanting to enhance her status, and by contrast commending Mary: the young girl who does what she’s told. But the tenth century Armenian poet called Gregory of Narek pictures Eve and Mary together. Far from being empowered and self-possessed, Eve is a shrivelled and pathetic figure, compared with Mary who stands tall:

​The lost Eve

Deprived of life,

Stood still

Next to the Virgin.

Her feet were aching,

Her waist bent,

Limping through life.

Lost compared with the Virgin.

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With her shrivelled arms,

With tears she implored:

‘Life-giving Saviour,

Give life to the lost.’

​The gospel invites us to think that it is not self-enhancement and self-assertion but life with God, walking with him, being receptive to his will for us that ultimately empowers us, raises us up, make us stand tall. This is what Mary herself articulates in her Magnificat (Luke 1.46-55) and that Christians celebrate on this midsummer day when we celebrate her being raised to the glory of heaven.

• This article draws on Bishop Christopher Cocksworth’s contribution to the first session of this year’s Lent course on The New Eve: Mary of Nazareth.

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Dates for your diary

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• Coffee Morning – on Saturday, September 2, and every first Saturday of the month, the Friends of Chichester Cathedral host a coffee morning in the Cathedral’s South Transept between 10am and 11.15am to which everyone is most welcome. No booking is required, so do feel free to drop by whenever you are in Chichester at the start of the month.

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• Heritage Open Days, September 8-17 – across Sussex and indeed across the country there are a series of open days exploring our rich historical heritage in the first half of September. Churches and other places of worship make up a significant proportion of this repository of beauty and history. For more information, please visit www.heritageopendays.org.uk

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• Service for Black History Month – at Chichester Cathedral on Saturday, October 7. More details will be released nearer the time but for now do save the date for a celebration of the variety and breadth of humanity in our cathedral church.