Mary in the Bible (Mariology)

                                                           Mary as the Mother of God

First, I want to clear all the misconceptions of anti-Catholics, non-Catholics and also Catholics alike about the Lord's Mother. There are a lot of Biblical Typologies that can be pertained to Mary. Now, Typology is a symbol in the Old Testament that points to something greater in the New Testament.



1. Mary, the New Eve



First, let us look at the first Proto-Evangelion in the Bible. In the book of Genesis, here's what it says:



Genesis 3:15 (Good News Translation), "I will make you and the woman hate each other; her offspring and yours will always be enemies. Her offspring will crush your head, and you will bite her offspring's heel"



Now, based on this passage, the Woman and the Serpent will fight and out of the Woman's offspring will sprout the One who will crush the Serpent's head. Now, in the wedding at Cana and at the Cross (John 2:1-11, John 19:26-27), Jesus called His Mother, "Woman". But why is that? Jesus was pointing it out to something greater, that she is the fulfillment of Genesis 3:15, the Woman who will have enmity with the Serpent. Also, why did St. Ireneaus said, "death through Eve, life through Mary"? It is because when St. Paul said in Romans 5:19 that death came through one man (Adam), so did life came also through one Man (Jesus). also in 1 Corinthians 15:47, Paul compares Adam to Christ, Adam is from the earth and the the New Adam came from heaven. Now what am I trying to point out here? In the Bible, Eve and Mary are full of grace. One brought death by eating the forbidden fruit in Genesis 3:6, the other brought life through the fruit of her womb, Jesus and through her obedience (Luke 1:38, 42). One listened to the voice of the Serpent, the other listened and obeyed the Lord through her fiat in Luke 1:38.

                              

   "I will make you and the woman hate each other; her offspring and yours will always be enemies. Her offspring will crush your head, and you will bite her offspring's heel" (Genesis 3:15)

2. Mary, the New Miriam

First, how does the Bible describe Miriam? She watches over Moses (Exodus 2:4) , she is a prophetess (Exodus 15:20-21), she spoke against Moses, the servant of the LORD and was eventually punished for it (Numbers 12:9-16).

But how does this point out to Mary? Mary watches over her Son as the Holy Family fled to Egypt to escape Herod's wrath (Matthew 2:15), she was the Mother of the Lord (Luke 1:43), who is God Himself and also she honored Jesus who prefigured Moses (John 2:4-5).

Mary kept Jesus from harm as Miriam did Moses in the banks of the Nile

3. Mary, the New Ark of the Covenant

First, what does the Ark contain? The Ark contains the Ten Commandments in Exodus 40:3, the Ark is so holy that only few could ever dare touch it in Numbers 4:5-6 and in 2 Samuel 6:7-9. Now what is this got to do with Mary?

First, God is so holy that He cannot tolerate sin in Habakkuk 1:13, Mary had to be sinless in order to bear the Holy Son of God since it is impossible that Jesus Christ and Satan to coincide in 2 Corinthians 6:15. Why is Mary called "The Ark of the Covenant"? Simply because just as the Ark contained the stone tablets of the Ten Commandments, Mary carried in her womb the One who came not to abolish the Law and the Prophets, but to fulfill them (Matthew 5:17). David was filled with awe at the old Ark in 2 Samuel 6:9, Elizabeth was filled with awe in Luke 1:43 at the New Ark.

The Old Ark carried the Ten Commandments. Mary, the New Ark carried the One who came not to abolish the Law and the Prophets, but to fulfill them

      "But I love only one and she is as lovely as a dove. All women praise her. Queens and concubines sing her praises" (Song of Solomon 6:9)



4. Mary the New Queen Mother (Gebirah)



Our Protestant friends out there for sure will use Jeremiah 7:17-18, "Do you not see what they are doing in the streets of Judah and in the cities of Jerusalem? The children gather wood, the men build fires, and the women are baking cakes for the goddess whom they call the Queen of Heaven. They also pour out sacrifices to other gods and provoke Me to anger"



But if we will consider its timeline, the Queen of Heaven that Jeremiah is referring to there is Astarte, the Canaanite goddess. They will argue, "But Queen of Heaven is a pagan title", my response to that is, yes it is, but so does, "king of kings", "lord of lords", "god", "lord", "son of god". Why use the arguments that Jews and atheists use against Jesus to malign Mary?





Now let's get to the issue, why was Mary called the Queen Mother? Let's look at the Bible from a Davidic kingdom perspective. Queen mothers are usually the mother of kings right? And the kings on the other hand, honor these queen mothers in 1 Kings 2:19. The reason why Mary is called the queen mother is that Jesus, her Son is King. Here's what the Scripture says about the queen mother:



Psalm 45:9 (Good News Translation), "Among the women of your court are daughters of kings and at your right hand sits the queen, wearing ornaments of finest gold"



Based on this passage, the queen wearing ornaments of gold sits next to this King whom the Scripture declares as "God" (Psalm 45:6-7). The role of Mary being the queen mother is found in John 2:4-5, wherein Mary intercedes to Jesus for the guests in Cana. Jesus, though His hour had not yet come, didn't refuse His own Mother and that is beautifully illustrated in 1 Kings 2:19-20, wherein Bathsheba intercedes to Solomon on Adonijah's behalf. If a feeble king like Solomon could not refuse his mother, how much more the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords whose Name is Jesus Christ? He cannot do so as well and He is greater than Solomon (Matthew 12:42).



The bottomline is this: We call Mary Queen of Heaven not in a sense that we elevate her to a level of Deity, but because her Son is King, that's only the point. Martin Luther said in his sermon that Mary is a Queen of Heaven yet it doesn't make her a goddess.

5. Mary the Mother of God



Protestants for sure will be horrified at this when they hear that Mary is the Mother of God. They will say, "She is the Mother of the human Jesus only, but not the Mother of the whole Person of Jesus". Protestants should know that mothers bear persons and not just natures. I'll cite an example:



The name of John Mark's mother in Acts 12:12 is Mary right? Do we think people will say, "This is Mary, the mother of the body of John Mark"? No! They will say, "This is Mary, the mother of John Mark". The same applies to Mary's Divine Motherhood. We say Mary as the Mother of God, not in a sense that she came before Jesus Christ, but because through her obedience in Luke 1:38, Jesus, the Word who was with God and is God took flesh in her womb (John 1:1, 14). That is why Elizabeth said, "Who am I that the Mother of my Lord should come to me?" (Luke 1:43). If Mary is the Mother of the Lord Jesus and the Lord Jesus is God, therefore, Mary is the Mother of God. Mary is not the Mother of the human Jesus only, but also of the whole Jesus, His human and divine nature.

                        "Who am I that the Mother of my Lord should come to me?" (Luke 1:43)

6. Mary the mirror of Justice


Why is Mary called the mirror of Justice? Look at a mirror, just as it reflects light from the sun, so does Mary. She reflects light from the Sun of Justice with healing in its wings who is none other than the Lord Jesus in Malachi 4:2. Mary is the mirror of Justice, Jesus Christ is the Sun of Justice. No wonder why she is called also, "THE DISPENSER OF GRACES" based on this title.



PLEASE UNDERSTAND THAT THE LITANY OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY CONFIRMS THE RELATIONSHIP THAT MARY HAS WITH HER SON JESUS CHRIST. GOD BLESS AND AVE MARIA!