Saturday Read: August 15 - The Assumption
Today Catholics and many other Christians celebrate the Assumption of Mary - the teaching that when her earthly life ended, God took her body and soul into heaven. This doctrine, while not explicitly recorded in Scripture, has been believed since Christianity's earliest centuries. Pope Pius XII officially defined it as Catholic dogma in 1950, but the feast itself dates back to at least the 5th century, possibly earlier.
The feast was originally called the "Dormition" (falling asleep) of Mary, reflecting Eastern Christian tradition that Mary died naturally before being assumed into heaven. Western tradition, using the term "Assumption," leaves open whether Mary died or was taken directly to heaven without experiencing death. Either way, the central belief is the same: Mary's body did not experience corruption but was glorified and taken to heaven.
Historical evidence supports early Christian belief in this teaching. Early Christian writers note that while burial sites of apostles and martyrs were venerated across the Christian world, no one ever claimed to possess Mary's body or know where she was buried. The absence of relics is remarkable given Christianity's early practice of preserving and venerating remains of saints. The traditional explanation: there was nothing to preserve because her body was taken to heaven.
At the Council of Chalcedon in 451, the Roman Emperor Marcian reportedly asked Bishop Juvenal of Jerusalem for Mary's body. Juvenal replied that when the apostles opened her tomb at the request of Thomas (who arrived late, as at Jesus's tomb), they found it empty except for burial cloths. The apostles concluded that God had taken her body to heaven. This account, while not Scripture, reflects what early Christians believed.
The biblical basis for the Assumption is indirect. Revelation 12:1 describes "a great sign in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head." Catholic tradition identifies this woman as Mary, though the passage can also represent Israel or the Church. The woman gives birth to a son "who will rule all nations with an iron scepter" - clearly Christ. Her glorified state in heaven suggests bodily assumption.
Genesis 3:15 also factors in. God tells the serpent: "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel." Mary is the woman whose offspring (Jesus) crushes Satan. Victory over sin and death logically includes victory over bodily corruption. If Mary was preserved from original sin (the Immaculate Conception, another Catholic doctrine), it follows that she'd be preserved from sin's consequence - bodily decay.
Protestant Christians generally reject the Assumption as lacking scriptural warrant and unnecessary for salvation. They view Mary as blessed among women for bearing Christ but not as deserving special veneration or unique preservation from death's natural consequences. The Reformation emphasized "Scripture alone," and the Assumption doesn't appear in Scripture explicitly enough for most Protestants to accept it.
Yet even Protestants who reject the doctrine can appreciate what it represents: God's power to glorify the human body, the promise of bodily resurrection for all believers, and the truth that death doesn't have the final word. What Catholics believe happened to Mary, all Christians believe will happen to themselves - bodily resurrection and glorification. The Assumption is simply early, not unique.
Paul wrote: "But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep... For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him" (1 Corinthians 15:20, 22-23). Christ's bodily resurrection guarantees ours. What God did for Jesus, he will do for all believers. Mary's assumed body (if the doctrine is true) simply experienced early what you'll experience at the resurrection.
This matters because it addresses fundamental human questions: What happens to our bodies after death? Is physical existence important to God, or is it just a shell we discard? The Assumption (and more broadly, the doctrine of bodily resurrection) affirms that physical bodies matter to God. He created them, he will redeem them, he will glorify them. You're not just a soul temporarily inhabiting a body; you're an embodied soul, and that embodiment is part of God's eternal plan.
This counters ancient heresies that treated bodies as evil or irrelevant. Gnosticism taught that spirit is good and matter is evil, that salvation means escaping the body. Christianity teaches that God created matter good, became incarnate in a body, rose bodily from death, and promises bodily resurrection for believers. Bodies aren't prisons to escape; they're good creations to be redeemed.
Mary's assumption (if true) also demonstrates God's power to preserve from corruption. Psalm 16:10, applied to Christ's resurrection, says: "You will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, nor will you let your faithful one see decay." What was true for Jesus could be true for Mary and will be true for all believers at the resurrection. God has power over death and decay. He can preserve, restore, and glorify bodies.
Whether you accept the Assumption as historical fact or pious tradition, it points to future reality: God will raise believers bodily, glorify them completely, and bring them into his presence forever. Death is not the end. Bodies will be redeemed. Physical existence matters eternally. This isn't wishful thinking; it's the promise secured by Christ's resurrection and guaranteed by God's power. Mary's assumption (if it happened) was just first. Yours is coming.
