Today Catholics celebrate the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. As a Lutheran, I admire the recognition of Mary’s life and death on this earth from the perspective of her special relationship with God. Mary was exemplary in showing us how to praise Gd amid profound surprises that would challenge even the best of us. Mary’s faith reveals how God can accomplish remarkable things through ordinary people. Her obedience to God helps us recognize God’s greatness in the ordinary paths we journey in this life. Her faith reveals the Glory of God in human vulnerability, especially death.

Mary’s life and death profoundly proclaim God’s victory over death. While the details of how death are destroyed happens are a bit unclear even in Catholic theology, the main questions are fundamental to all Christians. What is death? What happens when we die? We believe we are transformed from a temporal state to an eternal state of being, but we really do not know how. But more importantly, all Christians know why. We all confess that it is because God loves us and through Christ, shows us mercy. As a wonderful illustration, today we recognize that Mary’s relationship to God in her life and her death reveals God’s mercy. Her life of faith is a model of trust in God during the challenging times. Thinking about death makes us all very vulnerable, but because of Christ, we do not have to fear it. We believe Mary certainly trusted that her death would be swallowed up in the victory of the Cross. It is good for all of us to reflect on this trust.

There is another important message here for me as I reflect on the life of Mary. The readings point to the honored place of a woman who gives birth to God’s special child in the Kingdom of God. I treasure that recognition of the role of women in the kingdom of God, which is also already present in part on this earth. On earth, men most often assume all the highest positions of power and glory. Not so in heaven. And not so for those who seek to live in the Kingdom of God on this earth. We better get used to this notion of shared glory, because whether we are male or female, it is through Christ that we are all brought to eternal life. Christ destroys every authority and power, and all our enemies, especially death, for all of us. It is good to recognize that happened for Mary even if we do not know exactly how it happened.

Through Christ, we believe that it will also happen for us. And we know why. We do not need to know how.