John 1:51 states: "And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye shall see the heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man." This last verse of John 1 prepares us for the openly Marian chapter of John 2. As the last verse of John 1 prepares and situates us for the unveiling in John 2 of the Woman who is the Mother of the Messiah so the last verse of John's Apocalypse 11 prepares and situates us for the unveiling of the Woman in Chapter 12. Apocalypse 11:19 states: "And the temple of God was opened in heaven: and the ark of his testament was seen in his temple, and there were lightnings, and voices, and an earthquake, and great hail."
We see in John 1:51 and Apocalypse 11:19 the concept of the opening of the heavens. Apocalypse 11:19 links this to the concept of the Temple directly whereas John 1:51 alludes to the Temple by referring to the angels ascending and descending just as the angels ascended and descended upon Jacob (a type of the Son of Man) at the place which Jewish tradition believed that the later Temple was built and the place in the Holy of Holies where the Ark of the Covenant stood on the Shettiyah Stone or Rock.
Thus John 1:51 united in the light of the Resurrection analogy of reading Scripture reveals Our Lady as the mystical and spiritual Temple and Ark of the Covenant as well as the spiral Staircase or Ladder. In John 2:1 the phrase "On the Third Day" alerts us that this is a prophetic sign connected to the mysteries of the Passion, Crucifixion and Resurrection of the Son of Man. Jesus rose "on the third day" after being in the underworld for 36 hours (he died at 3pm on Good Friday and rose at 3 am on Easter Sunday). This counterpoints the three days or 36 hours (3am Friday morning to 3pm Sabbath afternoon) that Adam and Eve lived in the Divine Will in the Garden of Eden according to Jewish tradition. The whole mystery of the Akeidah (Binding) of Abraham and Isaac (which alludes to the passion crucifixion and resurrection of the Messiah) is prefaced with this "on the third day"in Genesis 22:4. As I wrote in my essay entitled "Resurrection of Jesus: Myth or History?":
"...Lapide [an orthodox Jewish scholar and theologian] also points to the figure of Joseph in Genesis 42:18- “On the third day Joseph said to them, Do this and you will live…”. For the Jewish Christian this has even deeper meaning in the context of the Jewish traditions of Messiah son of Joseph who will appear in the Galilee and will be killed and rise from the dead. Lapide then refers to the three days mentioned in regards to Jonah (Jonah 1:17), Queen Esther (Esther 5:1) and Hosea 6:2. He writes: “On the third day…contains for ears which are educated Biblically a clear reference to God’s mercy and grace which is revealed after two days of affliction and death by way of redemption… thus, according to my opinion, the resurrection belongs to the category of the truly real and effective occurrences, for without a fact of history there is no act of true faith…"
The second chapter of John in a mystical manner, reveals the role of the intercession of Our Lady as the Mother of the Messiah in restoring, through her Son, fallen mankind to his lost estate. Our Lady along with St Joseph and Jesus the God -Man are the first 36ers (called Lamed vavniks in Jewish tradition) who become present in all generations as intercessors and victim souls for each generation through re-doing all the generations acts in the Divine Will.
These lamed vavniks who live in Divine Will are alluded to in Apocalyse 11:1 where it speaks of the measuring rod (also mentioned in Ezekiel 40:5) which according to Jewish tradition was 6 cubits and each cubit was 6 hand-breaths which equals 36 hand-breaths.
"...The length of the rod is six cubits. Each cubit is six handbreadths. See, therefore, how all the lights are bound together in this light, which is called "All," since all are contained within it. There are six directions [the six ketzavot, alluding to the six sefirot from Chesed to Yesod, all of which are included in Yesod], and when they are all connected to one another, they make thirty-six, corresponding to the length of this rod [36 handbreadths]. (see the writings of Rabbi Moshe Hayyim Luzzato (Ramchal) in "The Future Temple" ).
John reveals that those who live in Divine Will (in the 36 hours which is also hidden in the mystery of the 36 candles of Hanukkah) are those in the heart of the Church or Temple who remain in the inner sanctuary in adoration and worship even when the rest of the Temple (Church) is being destroyed and trampled. We could also say that the Bat Kol (Daughter of All) is Luisa Piccarreta as the daughter (Bat) and Our Lady being the All (Kol). Ramchal links the concept of 36 with the light called "All". Interestingly the walls of the Temple were also 6 cubits high (36 handbreaths) and 6 cubits thick (36 handbreaths) according to Ramchal.
"...The Temple Mount has five entrances, two in the south, one in the east, one in the north and one inThe five entrances of the Temple Mount may symbolise the five partzufim (personas) of Jesus (Adam {Zeir Anpin/ Son} Kadmon {Arich Anpin/ Word}) as the East Gate, Mary (Imma) as the West gate, Joseph (Abba) as the North gate, Luisa (Nukvah) and the Holy Spirit (Atik Yomim) as the South gates.
the west. The height of the wall is six cubits and its thickness six..."
John the Beloved reveals Mary as the prophetic Woman of Genesis 3:15 in John 2 with the miracle of turning water into wine, at the foot of the Cross and in Apocalypse 12. This sorrowing woman in labour or travail is found throughout Scripture alluding to the role of Our Lady as the weeping Shekhinah and Suffering Soul of all Israel (called Miriam by Rebbe Nachman and other Jewish rabbis and mystics) who followed man out of Eden into this valley of Exile. Micah also refers to this Woman in Labour who is the Mother of the Messiah born in Bethlehem involved in the restoration of Judah and the lost Israelites (see Micah 5:3) which confirms and reinforces the Marian interpretation of John 1:31.
Father Aidan Nichols tells us that our first step in authentic Catholic Mariology is the exploration of the sources of Revelation in the Scriptures and Tradition. The second step is an applying the analogy of faith which consists in interrelating of the fruits of our Marian exploration with the other teachings of the faith. Thus Mariology does not stand alone but must be integrated with Christology and Eccesiology and many other areas of the faith. Once we have integrated our Marian insights with the whole of the faith then we can in the third step re-explore Scripture and Tradition using other helpful philosophical tools with this fruit of analogy of the faith to plumb even deeper in to the Divine Revelation for even richer Marian insights that may reveal a more hidden Biblical basis for those Marian teachings found in Tradition, the Magisterial teachings and the liturgical and spiritual life of the Church and its faithful.
Thus there is not just one Marian theology but a number of enriching Marian theologies that complement and enrich one another in unveiling the role of Our Lady in the fiats of Creation, Redemption and Sanctification. In fact the whole of Marian teaching is hidden in a mystical, anagogical and Marian interpretation or reading of Genesis 1-3 and its counterparts in the New Testament- John 1-2 and Apocalyse 11-12. Both Moses and St John the Beloved like St Paul caught a glimpse of the Third Fiat or Heaven which is the realm of the Woman Clothed with the Sun (Divine Will) in Eternity (Atzilut). In a future post I will endeavour to interpret the second chapter of John's Gospel in more detail based from this Marian unveiling of John 1.
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