4. THE BIBLICAL PORTRAIT OF MARY

The biblical portrait of Mary begins with the prophecy of the salvific mission of the Woman and her Seed in the book of Genesis and ends with the stunning vignette of the triumphant Woman Clothed with the Sun in the book of Revelation.

The truth about Mary and her role in salvation can come only from a full understanding of Scripture and the portrayal of Mary in Scripture. This full understanding comes from careful study of the two covenants between God and His people, the Old and the New. Mary is the bridge between the Old and the New Covenants. The two covenants are basic to the

For the New Testament Church the place of Mary in Scripture involved three dimensions. First, Mary was seen as the meeting-point of the Old and the New Testaments embodying both the People of Israel (the "Daughter of Zion") and the new-born Church. Secondly, Mary was seen in relation to the divine plan of salvation as the New Eve working with the New Adam. Thirdly, Mary was understood against the background of what we call here the seven splendors, the references to her in Genesis, Isaiah, Micah, the Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, Galatians and Revelation.

Over the last two centuries many Christians have lost the Scriptural Mary venerated and praised by all Christians in every other century. Two factors in particular were responsible for the loss of the Scriptural Mary. On the one hand there was a growing tendency to ignore the interpretations of Scripture adopted historically by the Christian faithful and to replace these with one's own interpretations. And on the other hand it became fashionable to deny the divine inspiration of Scripture and to make interpretations solely using the criteria and tools employed by professional historians. The first trend is epitomized by the Fundamentalists and the second by the Liberals.

Neither Fundamentalists nor Liberal New Testament scholars can be of great help to the Bible-believing Christian who seeks to know the truths shown in Scripture. Although the Liberal scholars can speculate on the sources and dates and the various possible meanings and senses of the New Testament texts they cannot tell us what truths God intended to teach through these texts. Only the early Christian community inspired by the Holy Spirit could determine the true divinely-intended meaning and interpretation of these texts. Similarly, since they have cut themselves off from 20 centuries of Spirit-inspired Christian interpretation, Fundamentalist writers can only offer us their own speculations on the meanings and senses of the various passages in Scripture. And these speculations are just as uncertain and arbitrary as the speculation of the Liberal scholars. The real issue for the Christian believer is not whether we should rely on Scripture alone but whether or not we can have an authoritative interpretation of Scripture. From the time of the early Church the Christian community has affirmed and taught what they hold to be an authoritative, consistent and binding interpretation of Scripture.

Despite the negative impact of Liberalism and Fundamentalism on theology, modern exegesis has also led to the rediscovery of Mary in Scripture. This rediscovery has been spearheaded by such major scholars as Ignace de la Potterie, Stefano Manelli, Rene Laurentin, A. Feuillet, F.M. Braun and William Most who have used the resources of contemporary exegesis to re-discover the Scriptural Mary known to the Christian world from the beginning. For biblical studies on Mary this is a time of rediscovery. The biblical Mary of the apostolic community and the Fathers was deeply rooted in the Old Testament and the entire salvific message of the New Testament. The overwhelming presence of Mary in Scripture led both to the great definitions of Marian doctrine and the liturgical devotions. Without an understanding of the Scriptural portrait of Mary it is difficult to truly appreciate the Marian doctrines. Even at the time of the Protestant Reformation, the Marian imprint on Scripture was evident to both Catholics and Protestants. It was certainly evident to Martin Luther.

Many Post-Reformation Protestants, however, seem to be suffering from collective amnesia on the question of Mary. Despite their ardent commitment to Scripture, the Fundamentalists have failed to see any Marian connection in Scripture. Nevertheless, today Protestant and Catholic exegetes and theologians have rediscovered the Marian "mother lode" not just of the New but also of the Old Testament. Like the Fathers, these exegetes now see Mary as the Daughter of Zion, the embodiment of Nation Israel, as the Ark of the Covenant, as "transformed by grace", as the New Eve, as the bride at the Messianic Wedding Banquet and as the Church. If this development in understanding was simply a modern fad we could legitimately call it into question. But it is actually a rediscovery of what the Apostolic Community from the earliest times and the Scriptures themselves so obviously tell us about Mary. Anyone who comes to see the full spectrum of Marian material in the Bible will spontaneously see the fittingness of the titles and doctrines of Mary.

The richness of the Scriptural portrait of Mary is manifested most prominently in the Old Testament prophecies and prefigurings of Mary and the New Testament passages that portray her as the link between the Old and the New Covenants. Mary serves as a link between the two Covenants not just through parallel or prophetic verses but by embodying common themes. She is a bridge between the Old and the New Testaments because Scripture shows her representing both the people of Israel and the Church begun by her Son. The Scriptural images of Mary in the context of both Testaments are astounding in their variety. We see Mary as:

the New Eve, the Virgin Mother prophesied in the Old Testament

the embodiment of all the qualities prefigured in the heroines of the Old Testament

the Queen-Mother of the Davidic Kings

the people of Israel, the Daughter of Zion

the Ark of the Covenant: the parallels are too numerous to be ignored

the Church

the exalted Mother of Jesus

the Mother of all the Faithful

Spouse, Mother and Daughter

The mystery of Mary's role in the Old and the New Covenants is brilliantly underscored by Ignace de la Potterie: "A very important insight of modern exegesis has brought to light that the mystery of Mary forms in some way the synthesis of all the former revelation about the people of God, and of all that God by his salvific action wishes to realize for his people. In Mary are accomplished all the important aspects of the promises of the Old Testament to the Daughter of Zion, and in her real person there is an anticipation which will be realized for the new people of God, the Church. The history of revelation on the subject of the theme of the Woman Zion, realized in the person of Mary, and continued in the Church, constitutes a doctrinal bastion, an unshakable structured ensemble for the comprehension of the history of salvation, from its origin up to its eschatology. A vision of the mystery of Mary, biblically founded, ecclesiologically integrated and structurally developed, gives then a complete image of the concrete realization of the total mystery of the Covenant." ¹

In Down to Earth: The New Protestant Vision of the Virgin Mary, the Evangelical theologian John de Satge highlights Mary's position with respect to the Old and the New Testaments: "She is the climax of the Old Testament people, the one to whom the cloud of witnesses from the ancient era look as their crowning glory, for it was through her response to grace that their Vindicator came to stand upon the earth. In the order of redemption she is the first fruits of her Son's saving work, the one among her Son's people who has gone all the way. And in the order of her Son's people, she is the mother." ²

i. Mary from Genesis to Revelation

To a great extent the loss of Mary among modern Christians stems from ignorance of the ancient insight that the drama of salvation begins in the book of Genesis with the prophecy of a new Adam and a new Eve and ends in the book of Revelation with the culmination of the battle between the serpent and the new Adam (Jesus) and the new Eve (Mary). This truth was accepted by all Christians until quite recently and even Martin Luther saw in Genesis 3:15 a prophecy of Jesus and Mary. Once the glorious role of Genesis and Revelation in the biblical revelation of the scheme of salvation was lost to view there was a corresponding eclipse first of Mary and then of Jesus. The first Christians and the Fathers looked to Genesis to understand Jesus and Mary and the message of salvation. The significance of the book of Revelation was understood only later because the Scriptures initially available to the early Christians were the Jewish Scriptures. If Bible-believing Christians want to reclaim the historic faith they must return to Genesis and Revelation.

The story of salvation starts at the beginning of human history with Adam and Eve giving in to the temptation of the serpent and through their disobedience opening wide the doors of damnation and death for themselves and their descendants. At that crucial juncture God Himself announces that it is a woman and her seed who will do battle with the serpent and crush its head: "And the Lord God said unto the serpent, ... I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." (Genesis 3:14-15).

Most Christians have recognized that if this prophecy is about Jesus then the Woman referred to here has to be Mary. To quote Martin Luther, "Is Christ only to be adored? Or is the holy Mother of God rather not to be honoured? This is the woman who crushed the Serpent's head. Hear us. For your Son denies you nothing." ³ Luther made this statement in his last sermon at Wittenberg in January 1546. In a two volume historical study on the interpretation of Genesis 3:15 among the Protestant Reformers and their theological descendants up to the end of the 18th century, T. Gallus "gives an account of the exegesis of seventy Protestant professors, showing that all of them fully accept the messianic and mariological significance of Gen. 3:15. The followers of Luther do nothing more than deepen and clarify the exegesis of the German Reformer. The seed of the woman is Christ and only Christ. In the phrase 'the seed of the woman' is indicated the virginal birth of Christ from Mary, a promise confirmed by Isaiah 7:14."⁴ In any case Christians can see that the "old serpent" of Revelation 12 is clearly a reference to the serpent of Genesis 3 and that it is no coincidence that in Revelation this serpent is locked in battle with the Woman and her Seed.

The battle between the Serpent and the Woman and her seed, pre-figured in the first book of the Bible, is appropriately enough brought to a climax in the final book of the Bible - at the end of history - where we see the Woman and her Son in combat with the Dragon, "that old serpent". Since the Son here is again clearly Jesus, His mother, the Woman, is just as clearly Mary.

The author of the Book of Revelation is "the beloved disciple" John who is also the author of the Gospel of John. The Marian references in the Book of Revelation are closely related to the references in John. In the Gospel Mary is never named: she is referred to by her Son as "Woman" - indicating that she is the "Woman" both of Genesis and Revelation. At the crucifixion when her Son entrusts her to the care of the beloved disciple, He says "Woman, behold thy son! ... Son behold thy mother!." (John 19:27). This instruction of Our Lord has always been understood as an act whereby all Christians are placed under the spiritual motherhood of Mary. And this explains why in Revelation 12 we read that "the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." (Revelation 12:17). The seed of the Woman now includes every Christian, a continuation and confirmation of the theme in John 19 where our Lord makes His mother the mother of all His disciples.

Since the Book of Revelation was not accepted as part of the canon of Scripture for several centuries, it had no early tradition of interpretation. Once its canonicity was established, the identification of Mary with the Woman of Revelation 12 became obvious (since the Woman's Man-Child was Jesus). For instance, Epiphanius in 367 A.D. gave a Marian interpretation and Quodvultdeus, a disciple and friend of Augustine, wrote, "None of you is ignorant of the fact that the dragon was the devil. The woman signified the Virgin Mary." (De Symbolo 3, PL 40, 661). With this, the scriptural basis of the Assumption was set solidly in place.

The Scriptural theme of the Woman and her Son in battle with the Serpent/Dragon enabled the Fathers of the Church to discern the ancient image of Jesus as the New Adam and Mary as the New Eve. This theme is of paramount importance in understanding the role of Mary in the divine scheme of salvation, in particular her union with her Son's salvific mission.

It is when we turn to the Gospels that we grasp the full meaning and application of the prophetic theme of the Woman and her Seed. The most relevant passage is certainly Simeon's prophecy to Mary about her Son, "this child is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel", which is accompanied by a prophecy about her: "a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also." (Luke 2:35). The prophecy of participation in the work of the Savior comes to fruition on Calvary where the Mother of Jesus offers up her Son on the cross. It is also reflected in Revelation 12 where we are shown the Woman "travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered" (12:2) - a passage that has traditionally been interpreted as a reference to Christ's crucifixion and Mary's overwhelming sorrow followed by the resurrection ("her child was caught up unto God, and unto his throne").

Mary's participation in her Son's salvific mission is clearly laid out in the Gospels. Peter Stravinskas writes,

"At every significant juncture in our Lord's life, one finds Mary on the horizon. When God began His plan for our redemption, He sent to Nazareth an angel, who hailed a woman as 'highly favored' or 'full of grace' to be the human partner in this divine enterprise (cf. Luke 1:28). When the Babe was born in Bethlehem, He came forth into our world not from heaven but from the womb of the Virgin Mary (cf. Mt 1:25; Lk 2:7). As the Child was presented to the Lord in the Temple of Jerusalem on the fortieth day, the old prophet Simeon singled out His Mother Mary for special mention as a woman destined to be the Mother of Sorrows (cf. Lk 2:35). Twelve years later, after another temple visit, the Boy Jesus returned with His Mother and foster father to Nazareth and was subject to them (cf. Lk 2:51). It was Mary who prodded her Son into action at Cana to work His first miracle, launching Him on His public ministry (cf. Jn 2:3). And it was Mary who stood by His side at the foot of the Cross and was given to John as the Mother of the Church (cf. Jn 12:26f). Finally, as the Church was waiting to be born in the Upper Room, while the disciples prayed for the Pentecost gift of the Spirit, Luke tells us that Mary was in their midst (cf. Acts 1:14)." ⁵

The biblical depiction of Mary as the New Eve, recognized by the first Christians, is outlined in more detail in the trilogy. All the great Marian doctrines are contained in the basic insight that is more ancient than the Creeds and the Councils. By her obedience, the new Eve gave birth to her seed, the new Adam, Who would "save his people from their sins". He was "Emmanuel", God with us, and she was therefore the "Mother of God" - by seeing her as Mother of God we are reminded too of His true humanity, His Adamness. If it was truly God Who was born with a human nature, He could not be generated by a human action - hence the Virgin Birth. In truly being the Mother of God it was unthinkable that Mary could be mother of anyone else - hence the doctrine of her perpetual virginity (and if she was thought to have had other children this would place the Virgin Birth in question as well). If Mary was truly to be the New Eve she could not be subject to the Original Sin brought about by the first Adam - and hence the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception brought about by the redemption won by the new Adam (the Scriptural basis comes also from the angelic salutation discussed in more detail in the section on Luke 1-2). Since the corruption of the grave came from Original Sin and the new Eve was truly the partner of the new Adam who reversed Original Sin she could not be subject to the consequences of Original Sin - hence the doctrine of the Assumption. 

ii. The Old Testament

In addition to Genesis 3:15, the other famous Old Testament prophecies concerning the coming of the Messiah are Isaiah 7:14 and Micah 5:1-4 in both of which passages the Mother of the Messiah plays a prominent part.

Apart from prophecies, many of the individuals and events in the Old Testament pre-figure New Testament individuals and events. Just as the Israelites spent forty years in the wilderness, for instance, Jesus spent forty days in the desert. The twelve tribes of Israel pre-figure the coming of the twelve Apostles. Because Jesus exercised His Messianic Office as Priest, Prophet and King, all the priests, prophets and kings of Israel in some sense pre-figured Him. Similarly, many of the heroines of the Old Testament pre-figured Mary and at times the parallels are startling. The Marian "pre-figures" include Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, Miriam, Deborah, Ruth, Abigail and Esther (the parallels are developed in the trilogy).

Mary's role at the side of her royal Son is pre-figured in the Old Testament depictions of the Queen Mother of the Davidic Kings. The title of Queen Mother or Gebirah was very common in Old Testament times and was a position independent of the King. The Queen Mother had a very influential role in national affairs and acted as regent when the king was absent or dead. Since the importance of the Queen Mother was recognized by the ancient Hebrews, the first Christians saw no conflict in honoring the Mother of their King.

The position of the Queen-Mother was its highest in the reign of the Davidic Kings. Concerning Jesus, we are told in the Gospels that "the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David." (Luke 1:32). How entirely fitting then that His Mother too is a Queen-Mother with the same dignity and stature as the other Davidic Queen-Mothers - but with the one difference that of her Son's kingdom "there shall be no end." (Luke 1:33).

It has also often been said that Abraham pre-figured Mary for reasons explained here by the exegete John McHugh:

God made three promises to Abraham: that his children would be a great nation (Gen 12:2; 13:16; 15:5; 17:6, 19; 22:17); that his descendants would possess the land of Canaan (Gen 12:7; 13:15; 15:18-21; 17:8); and that in him all the nations of world would count themselves blessed (Gen 12:3; 22:18). In Mary's child, the last of the three promises was fulfilled, and it is not surprising that Luke draws out many parallels between Mary and Abraham. Like Abraham (Gen 18:3), Mary found favour with God (Lk 1:30); like Abraham (Gen 12:3; 18:18; 22:18), she is a source of blessing for, and is blessed by, all nations (Lk 1: 42,48); like Abraham (Gen 15:6), she is praised for her faith in the promise that, by a miracle, she would have a son (Lk 1:45).⁶

Another striking parallel has been drawn between Mary and Old Testament mediators like Moses in recent exegesis as Ignace de la Potterie shows here:

'Moses then went, convoked all the elders of the people and related to them all that Yahweh had ordered him to tell them. Then the entire people, with one accord responded: 'All that Yahweh has said, we will do.' And Moses brought back to Yahweh the response of the people." (Ex 19:7-8). In this text and the others that we pointed out, even though they appear with several variants, there are always two constants: the word of the mediator and the response of the people.

A. Serra correctly noticed that the expression of the Covenant ("All that Yahweh has said, we will do"), closely parallels the words of Mary to the servants at Cana: "Do whatever he tells you" (Jn 2:5). From this one can conclude that Mary - in her very last words - uses the formula of the Covenant; she personifies in a certain manner the people of Israel in the context of the Covenant. For, as A. Serra continues, "John puts on the lips of Mary the profession of faith that the whole community of the chosen people pronounced one day in front of Sinai." Mary therefore asks of the "servants" to adopt vis-a-vis Jesus an attitude, which is in reality the attitude of the Covenant, that is an attitude of perfect submission to the will of God, expressed here in the command given by Jesus." ⁷

Perhaps the most striking and obvious Marian image in Scripture is that of the Daughter of Zion. The Daughter of Zion representation of Mary is evident in the parallelism between a great number of texts in the Old and the New Testaments. In the Old Testament, Zion is shown as Spouse and Daughter, Virgin and Mother as is Mary in the New. Daughter Zion is the Spouse of Yahweh, Mother of the People of God (Mother Zion), the Virgin Israel. Many of the Old Testament texts describing the Daughter of Zion are amazingly enough applied to Mary, for instance in Luke 1:26-38, John 2:1-12, John 19:25-27:

"Rejoice, Daugher of Zion, the King of Israel, Yahweh, is IN you. Do not be afraid Zion, Yahweh your God is in your womb as a strong Savior." Zephaniah 3:14-17.

"Sing and rejoice, O daughter Zion! See, I am coming to dwell among you, says the Lord." Zechariah 2:14.

"Rejoice heartily, O daughter Zion, shout for joy, O daughter Jerusalem! See, your king shall come to you." Zechariah 9:9.

"Rejoice so highly favored. The Lord is WITH you. Do not be afraid, Mary ... Listen, you are to conceive in your womb and bear a son and you must name him "Yahweh Savior." Luke 1:28-33.

"My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my savior." Luke 1:46.

"Here," writes de la Potterie, "the Old Testament texts of the 'Daughter of Zion' are applied to a definite woman. ... This is precisely the reason why, in the Fourth Gospel, both at Cana and at the Cross, Jesus addresses Mary calling her 'Woman.'"⁸

In speaking of Mary as the bridge between the Old and the New, we are inevitably led to the theme of Mary as the Ark of the Covenant. From Luke's initial characterization of Mary as the Daughter of Zion we are led to his grand vision of Mary as the Ark of the Covenant (1:26-28), a vision that is continued in both the Gospel of John and the book of Revelation. Students of Luke's Gospel have pointed out that his way of introducing Old Testament themes or prophecies is through allusions rather than direct assertions of "prophetic fulfillment." In introducing Mary as the Ark, he draws on Old Testament texts that any Jewish reader would understand and identify with the Ark. Examples here include the similitude between Exodus 40:34,35 and Luke 1:35 and the striking parallels between the Elizabeth's visit to Mary and the transportation of the Ark of the Covenant from the house of Abinadab to that of Obededom and to Jerusalem:

"The cloud covered the Tent of meeting and the glory of Yahweh filled the tabernacle." Exodus 40:34.

"The power of the Most High will cover you with its shadow. And so the child will be holy and will be called Son of God." Luke 1:35.

"However can the Ark of Yahweh (= My Lord) come to me?" 2 Samuel 6:9.

"Why should I be honored with a visit from the mother of My Lord?" Luke 1:43.

"And David danced before the Lord with all his might ... So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet." 2 Samuel 6:14-15.

"As soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy." Luke 1:44.

"And the Ark of the Lord continued in the house of Obededom the Gittite three months." 2 Samuel 6:11.

"And Mary abode with her about three months." Luke 1:56.

"And the Lord blessed Obededom and all his household." 2 Samuel 6:11. [In Old Testament times, fertility was associated with God's blessing.]

"Now Elisabeth's full time came that she should be delivered; and she brought forth a son." Luke 1:57

The theme is taken up a final time, writes Rene Laurentin,

at the end of the infancy gospel. As Jesus enters the Temple Simeon greets him as 'the glory of Israel' (Luke 2:32). This is a divine title. The glory of Yahweh that had deserted the Temple once it was bereft of the Ark of the Covenant now reenters the Temple as Mary comes there carrying Jesus. Thus it is that Simeon can die happy (Luke 2:26, 29): he now can "see death" since he has "seen the glory of the Lord." The time has been fulfilled. Here Mary, eschatalogical Daughter of Zion and new Ark of the Covenant, accomplishes her mission in a way in bringing to the Temple the one whose place it properly is. This is what Jesus himself will affirm in the very last episode of the infancy gospel, that of his being found in the Temple: 'I must be in my Father's house.' [Luke 2:49].⁹

A number of exegetes have also commented on the parallels between the Infancy narrative in Luke and the Prologue of the Gospel of John. There is reason to believe that in his Prologue John refers both to the Virgin Birth and to the Ark symbolism. The Ark symbolism and its relationship to Mary continues in the Book of Revelation. In Revelation 21:3 and Revelation 11:19 and 12:1, two closely linked verses, the 'tent' is also a 'woman':

"I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, as beautiful as a bride all dressed for her husband, and then I heard a loud voice call out from the throne, 'Behold the tent of God with men' ..." Revelation 21:2-3.

"Then the sanctuary of God in heaven opened, and the Ark of the Covenant could be seen inside it ... Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman, adorned with the sun ... She was pregnant." Revelation 11:19-12:1.

The identification of the Ark of the Covenant with Mary, so clear to Jewish readers of Luke and John, was grasped by the early Christian community as confirmed by references in ancient liturgies, litanies, hymns such as the Akathistos and the writings of the Fathers (for instance, Athanasius). Thus the affirmation of Mary as the Ark of the Covenant, directly derived from Scripture, became a part of the Apostolic Faith. The Ark lies at the center of the Old Covenant and its continuation into the New Covenant in the person of Mary is an invitation to awe-filled meditation on the Marian role in the mystery of salvation.

iii. The New Testament

Without question the two most Marian books of the New Testament are the Gospels of Luke and John. Whereas Luke gives us the "raw" revelation of Mary's role in the Incarnation, John shows the universal and history-spanning significance of the Woman (a theme he carries to completion in the Book of Revelation). Luke gives us a documentary; John, a dazzling drama.

 Luke 1-2

In its dramatic overview of the salvation mysteries of the New Covenant, Luke 1-2 also gives us a magnificent affirmation and summation of the major Marian doctrines. So significant is Luke 1-2 for an understanding of the Scriptural portrait of Mary that the great French exegete Rene Laurentin produced a monumental study on it called The Structure and Theology of Luke 1-2.

Although none of the Gospels are written as textbooks of theology or doctrine, the sacred texts often assume or implicitly support certain doctrinal formulations. In this regard Luke 1-2 is a masterpiece spanning the entire spectrum of Marian doctrine. The most important examples are cited below.

 IMMACULATE CONCEPTION OF MARY:

"Rejoice so highly favored"/"Hail full of grace". Luke 1:28.

Both translations are derived from the Greek word kecharitomene which refers to a person transformed by the grace of God. The word is used only one other time in the New Testament and that is in the epistle to the Ephesians where Paul is addressing those who by becoming Christians are transformed by grace and receive the remission of sins. It is obviously significant that Mary is considered to already have been transformed by grace before the birth of Christ. La Potterie comments:

The perfect passive participle is used by Luke to indicate that the transformation by grace has already taken place in Mary, well before the moment of the Annunciation.

In what then would this transformation of grace consist? According to the parallel text of the Letter to the Ephesians 1:6 the Christians have been 'transformed by grace' in the sense that 'according to the richness of his grace, they find redemption by his blood, the remission of sins.' (Ephesians 1:7). This grace, in reality, takes away sin. This is elucidating for our particular case. Mary is 'transformed by grace,' because she has been sanctified by the grace of God. It is there, moreover, in the Church's tradition that we have the most customary translation. Sophronius of Jerusalem, for example, interprets the term 'full of grace' in this manner: 'No one has been fully sanctified as you ...; no one has been purified in advance as you.' In addition, he takes from the total context that Mary had been 'transformed by the grace' of God in view of the task which she awaits, that of becoming the Mother of the Son of God, and to do so while remaining a virgin. ¹⁰

MARY'S DIVINE MATERNITY:

"And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?" Luke 1:43

"Lord" is used here in the same sense as "Yahweh" which refers to God in the Old Testament. Mary is the mother of God.

MARY'S PERPETUAL VIRGINITY:

"How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?" Luke 1:34

Luke 1:34 has traditionally been considered a reference by Mary to a vow of life-long virginity. Laurentin notes that here we must "recognize the present tense 'I do not know' as having to do with a condition rather than an instant of time. To give an example, if someone to whom a cigarette is offered replies, 'I don't smoke,' he is understood to mean 'I never smoke' and not 'I am not smoking right now.'"¹¹

MARY'S ASSUMPTION INTO HEAVEN:

"The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee." Luke 1:35

This is the first of the verses that depict Mary as the Ark of the Covenant. In Revelation 11 and 12, the Ark is shown in Heaven and is identified with the woman clothed with the sun who is Mary.

"All generations shall call me blessed." Luke 1:48.

This verse can be seen as a pre-figuring of Mary's assumption.

This passage is crucial for the doctrine of the Assumption, writes Presbyterian theologian Donald Dawe, because of "the future tense of the verb in verse 1,48: All generations will call me blessed'." In this verse we can see that "Mary was related not only to her role in the Incarnation but also to the final consummation of salvation in the kingdom."¹² This consummation, in Mary's case, would be her assumption into heaven.

MARY COREDEMPTRIX/MEDIATRIX:

"A sword shall pierce through thy own soul also." Luke 2:35.

This prophecy comes to fulfillment at Calvary where Mary participates in the suffering of her Son. Mary's participation in her Son's Mission has already been outlined.

THE VENERATION OF MARY:

"Rejoice so highly favored"/"Hail full of grace". Luke 1:28.

"Blessed art thou amongst women." Luke 1:42.

"And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?" Luke 1:43

"All generations shall call me blessed." Luke 1:48.

The two central Marian events in John are Cana and Calvary. "The place John gives the episodes of Cana and Calvary in his Gospel," writes Rene Laurentin, "is no less remarkable. These two scenes frame in the ministry of Jesus. One is the occasion of his first miracle, the miracle inaugurating his public life and providing a foundation for the faith of his disciples (2:11); the other is the 'hour' when 'all is consummated.' (19:22 and 30). This is the Semitic procedure of inclusion whose use here is evidence of the importance John gives to 'the Mother of Jesus.'"¹³

When considered along with the rest of Scripture, both Cana and Calvary are seen as embodying primary themes of the Old and New Testaments. More than any other gospel, John shows the link between Mary and Genesis. And the wedding feast at Cana takes us to the wedding feast at the end of time in the Book of Revelation.

If any proof was needed that Jesus did not reject the natural bond of Mother and Son, this is given us at Calvary where his main concern is the well-being of His mother. Moreover, as several authors have shown in passages cited above, in entrusting the beloved disciple to Mary, Jesus was actually entrusting all His beloved disciples to His Mother. Every student of John's Gospel knows that his vision and message are always cosmic and universal: everything he wrote went far beyond the surface text.

F.M. Braun has shown that all Jesus's words on the Cross concerned His divine mission and so it is unthinkable that these words to His Mother, "Woman, behold thy son", were an exception. Moreover, since all the incidents from verses 17 to 42 of John 19 concern the fulfillment of prophecy it has to be concluded that this statement is also prophetically significant. Jesus crushes the head of the serpent (Genesis 3:15 and Revelation 12:9) and "casts him down" forever (John 12:31) on the cross. The reference to the Devil and his seed (Genesis 3) is followed through in John 8:41-4 and 1 John 3:8-10. Since the Genesis prophecy is consciously recalled in John (with the victory over the Devil and his seed), we see then that the last figure in the great prophecy, the Woman who shares in the Victory of her Seed, belongs to this picture. In Genesis the first woman is the mother of the human race; in John and Revelation (as prophesied in Genesis), Mary would appropriately be appointed mother of all who follow her Son. Finally, it is critical to note that the beloved disciple is first entrusted to Mary and not vice versa. Most modern exegetes agree that the disciple here represents all who follow and love Jesus (Jesus has said that those who love Him are those who follow His commandments). When Jesus speaks He does not simply declare but He causes what He says to happen (John 1:3; 2:7-8; 4:15) - thus Mary now actually becomes the spiritual mother of all the beloved disciples of her Son (as confirmed in Revelation 12). Her role is to bring her Son's followers to Him.

Anglican Eric Mascall offers an additional insight: "So on the Cross the Lord commits his mother to St John. Mary and John together are the nucleus of the Christian Church, and she is given to the household of the Church as its mother. To them, that is to say to the Church under the motherhood of Mary, Christ hands over the new dispensation of the Spirit."¹⁴

So accepted was the interpretation that Jesus gave Mary as the Mother of all Christians that Martin Luther had no hesitation in making such affirmations as:

"Mary is the Mother of Jesus and the mother of us all. If Christ is ours, we must be where he is; and all that he has must be ours, and his mother is therefore also ours."

"We are the children of Mary."¹⁵

Mary's role in the public ministry of her Son is today among the most tragically misunderstood portions of the Gospel narratives. Scripture scholars, theologians, Fundamentalists, Catholics and Christians of most denominations have almost entirely missed the point when considering Mary's appearances in the public ministry of Jesus. The whole Fundamentalist rejection of Mary, in fact, is built around the alleged rebukes and reprimands she received from her Son. The "biblical Mary" of the Fundamentalists is strictly the Mary who appears briefly in Jesus' public ministry and who is allegedly ignored or rebuked during these appearances.

Many factors are responsible for this grievous error of interpretation. In the first place, both Liberals and Fundamentalists have lost the Scriptural Mary loved and venerated by the whole of Christendom throughout Christian history. This is the Mary described earlier who bridges the Old and New Testaments, who is honored so highly in the Gospels of Luke and John and who is with us from Genesis to Revelation. Equally, modern Christians have failed to see the seven splendors of Mary portrayed by Scripture: the Salvific, the Prophetic, the Maternal, the Merciful, the Sorrowful, the Holy and the Heavenly. We will consider the Splendors further. Without understanding Mary in the context of these Splendors, we cannot understand the Marian appearances and references in Scripture. Finally the Fundamentalists and the Liberals have lost hold of three truths that are essential for the understanding of Mary's role in the public ministry: Mary is a mother, Jesus is a Son and Jesus is a Man with a Mission. We will consider these three essential truths.

The perception of Mary held by the earliest Christians (as shown in documents dating back to the second and third centuries) is first and foremost that of a merciful, compassionate Mother. This perception merely reflects what stares us in the face in Scripture: the constant concern that Mary shows for her beloved Son in the Gospels and her installation as the Mother of all who follow her Son (John 19, Revelation 12).

But Mary had to bear a burden very few other mothers were called to bear. Both the Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah and Simeon's prophecy in the Temple told her that great things were in store for her Son - but also tragedy (Isaiah 53). She knew that her Son was born to perform the greatest mission in human history - but also that He would be put to death. Knowing all this we ask, which mother could dare to let her Son out of her sight if she knew that He was to be sacrificed? Which mother could bear to watch her Son being surrounded by adversaries and mockers - and finally murderers?

This is Mary the Merciful and Sorrowful Mother - the Mother of "the Lamb of God" "slain before the foundation of the world" Who was "oppressed, and ... afflicted, yet ... opened not his mouth ... [as he was brought] to the slaughter." This is Mary whose heart "a sword shall pierce ... also."

Only when we see Mary as a true mother can we grasp the significance of her every appearance in the public ministry of her Son. We see her in tears when her Son is missing for three days in the Temple. We see her (in Matthew, Mark and Luke) anxiously coming to Jesus in the midst of the multitudes, dreading the day when He would be condemned and rejected by the same people who were now flocking to Him. We see her at Cana - true to the overflowing mercy of her nature - asking her Son to help save a poor couple from embarrassment.

It is true that Mary could have remained stoic through it all. She could have faded away completely and let her Son do what He was sent to do without a trace of emotion or any kind of maternal solicitude. But this would hardly be human let alone motherly. What could anyone expect of a mother in these circumstances? Is it wrong for her to be concerned that her Son is missing? Is it unseemly for her to inquire after His needs: does He have food and shelter? Are the crowds tiring or troubling Him? Is it unbecoming of her to ask Him Who is "flesh of her flesh" to come to the assistance of a couple in unexpected distress? Yes, she would and does submit to the divine will - but her heart has to be pierced in doing so and she cannot hide her maternal affections.

This was no imperfection on her part: her mercy and her compassion are the very essence of what draws Christians to her as Mother. We see that even Jesus, the God-man intent on doing "His Father's will", is fully a human being Whose emotions and feelings are as intense as His commitment to His mission. He is hurt by the ingratitude of those whom He healed. At the death of Lazarus, "Jesus wept. Then said the Jews, Behold how he loved him!" At Gethsemane He says, "O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me" and at Calvary He "cried with a loud voice ... My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Mary's motherly mercy reflects the Divine Mercy of her Son.

Once we understand motherhood and the mercy and compassion that go with motherhood, our understanding of Mary in the Gospels and of Mary herself will never be the same. In the perspective of her mercy, which we shall call her Merciful Splendor, we grasp the true meaning of the appearances of Mary in the public ministry of Jesus.

The New Testament critic who is concerned only with literary forms and Greek particles and reconstructions from source traditions and the Fundamentalist who is concerned only with proof-texts and constantly changing private interpretations are both in the same boat. They cannot see the Gospels as stories of real people with real feelings. Their artificial reconstructions of Jesus and Mary are the by-products of arbitrary speculation of which they can never be certain. The image of Mary as the merciful mother, on the other hand, is the portrait given us in the Gospels - a portrait consistently interpreted as such by the Christian community for 20 centuries.

The second truth we must grasp in understanding Mary's appearances in the public ministry is that Jesus was Mary's Son. Again, much as it knows little of true motherhood, the modern world is becoming less and less familiar with the traditional relationship of child to parent. In almost every culture and society, children were taught not just to love and obey their parents but to show them reverence - and not just in their youth but throughout their lives. For the Israelites this duty of reverence was commanded by God in the Ten Commandments: "Honour thy father and mother, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee; that thy days may be prolonged, and that it may go well with thee, in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee." [Deuteronomy 5:16]. In Hebrew the word for "honour" was actually "glorify."

In their writings on the public ministry of Jesus as it relates to Mary, many Fundamentalists and Liberals seem to have no idea at all of this reverential bond between child and parent. Ignoring idioms, nuances and humorous figures of speech they assume quite naively that Jesus would break one of the Ten Commandments by disrespecting and even rebuking His mother. The words of Jesus Himself are sufficient to refute these misguided assumptions: "How ingeniously you get around the commandment of God in order to preserve your own tradition! For Moses said: Do your duty to your father and your mother, and, Anyone who curses father or mother must be put to death." (Mark 7:8-11).

Conveniently, the critics ignore or downplay the fact that for the first thirty years of His life, Jesus was subject to Mary and that the first miracle of Jesus' ministry was performed at the request of His mother. Again, at the end of His life, His main concern is His mother whom He turns over to the care of John. It is true indeed that Jesus often used rhetorical devices to emphasize a point He was making - and this of course can be said about passages such as Matthew 12:46-50 and Luke 11:27-28 where He was emphasizing the intimacy of His relationship with those who do His will. We should read these verses in the same interpretive spirit in which we read Jesus' words in Luke 14: 25-27: "If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple." If we adopt the Fundamentalist mode of interpretation we would understand this latter passage literally - and a literal interpretation would be quite the opposite of what our Lord had in mind. But the Fundamentalist insists on literalism when it suits his agenda without taking into account the wisdom of historic interpretation.

All those who ignorantly attribute irreverence to Our Lord would do well to heed what Methodius said in 847 A.D.: "He Who said, Honor your father and your mother, that He might observe His own decree gave all grace and honor to His Mother."

Thirdly, the utterances of Jesus in His public ministry have to be considered in the context of His paramount focus on doing the divine will. Luke 2:49-51, Matthew 12:48-50, Mark 3:33-5, Luke 8:21, Luke 11:27-8 and John 2:4 are sometimes cited as instances of Jesus slighting and even rebuking Mary. Some have cited them in arguing that Mary is not given any position of special importance by her Son. Such allegations are, of course, arbitrary interpretations of these passages and must be judged both by a study of the passages themselves and in the light of Scripture as a whole.

We realize first that each one of these passages concern Mary's appearances in her Son's public ministry (except for the incident in which Jesus was away at the Temple for three days). Every one of the appearances is in one way or another a manifestation of Mary's merciful nature - whether it is concern for her Son or for others. Both mother and Son knew that Jesus' mission came first - it was Mary who said "Do whatever he tells you" - and had to be recognized as being of paramount importance. Nevertheless Mary could not but be merciful, could not but be a mother just as Jesus could not but do His Father's will.

In His preaching Jesus focused very specifically on the supreme importance of "doing the will of the Father." "My food is to do the will of him who sent me," He says. And in the Lord's Prayer he teaches us to pray, "Thy will be done." At Gethsemane He even says to the Father, "Not my will, but thine be done." The passages under consideration at the beginning of this section were meant to re-emphasize this fundamental theme of focusing on the will of the Father: "For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother." "Blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it."

The clearest evidence that no slight to Mary is intended is the fact that Jesus makes statements similar to the passages above about honor paid even to Him! "And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say." (Luke 6:46). "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven." (Matthew 7:21). True: we must adore and honor our Lord and Savior. But the highest form of adoration and honor is to do His will.

How does the message of doing "the will of the Father" apply to Mary we might ask? On the one hand, there is no doubt from these verses - and from the historic Faith - that Mary's importance does not come simply from being the Mother of Jesus. On the other hand, these verses give us the ground rules for assessing the importance of any person in the eyes of God. And it is in relation to these "rules" that we understand the true importance of Mary and her place in salvation history. She is important and honored primarily for one thing: she did the will of the Father: she obeyed. "And blessed is she that believed." (Luke 2:45). This passage in fact tells us why the image of Mary as the new Eve is so appropriate: Mary's humble acceptance of the Father's invitation is the true reason for her greatness and it is her obedience which made possible the Incarnation. She became the mother of Jesus because she did the will of the Father and it is for doing His will that we honor her. It is curious that Fundamentalists who preach "faith without works" ignore, first, the fact that in the passages above Jesus is in fact calling us to the "work" of doing the "will of the Father" and, secondly, that Mary's life is the clearest example, after Jesus Himself, of "doing the will of the Father" in the Gospels. Truly she is the second Eve just as He is the second Adam.

Scripture tells us that just as "whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven" is brother, sister, and mother to Jesus, whoever does the Father's will is a child of Mary. In Revelation 12 we read about "the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." (Revelation 12:17). The new Eve whose obedience in doing the will of the Father made possible the redemption of humanity is now the mother of all those who strive to adhere to His will.

The salvific mission of the new Adam and the new Eve would have been in vain if the faithful do not focus on doing the will of the Father. The purpose of the Incarnation was to lead humanity to salvation and the path to salvation is doing the will of the Father.

The analysis of the Eastern Orthodox theologian John Breck is of importance here:

He replies with a rhetorical question, "Who are my mother and my brothers?" The answer is, "whoever does the will of God." The purpose of this exchange, however, is not to diminish the importance of those closest to Jesus. Rather, it is to reply to an obviously burning issue within St. Mark's own community: just who constitutes Jesus true "family"? Recalling Jesus' insistence on doing the will of God, Mark distinguishes Jesus physical family from his eschatological family, which can, of course, incorporate his own family members. As he did so often, Jesus here takes an earthly question and transforms it into an eternal truth: only those are genuine members of his family or body, who hear, receive, interiorize and act upon the Word that he, Jesus, embodies and proclaims. ¹⁶

Even the crudest literalist has to admit that in Luke 11:27 ("But he said, Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it.") Jesus does not actually say that Mary is not blessed. And those who accept the inspiration of the Scriptures have to affirm that Mary is indeed "blessed" in so great a manner that she will be acclaimed by "all generations". Earlier in Luke we see the angel announcing "Blessed art thou among women" [Luke 1:28] and then Elizabeth "filled with the Holy Ghost" proclaiming: "Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb." (Luke 1:42). Mary herself says "Henceforth all generations shall call me blessed." (Luke 1:48). What is more the angel has already told Mary that "thou hast found favor with God." (Luke 1:30). Jesus then could not be contradicting what has already been affirmed under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

The Protestant theologian Margaret E. Thrall gives one way of translating Luke 11:28 in her Greek Particles in the New Testament with particular attention to "rather" [menoun]: "What you have said is true as far as it goes. But the blessedness of Mary does not consist simply in the fact of her relationship towards myself, but (menoun) in the fact that she shares in the blessedness of those who hear the word of God and keep it, and it is in this that true blessedness lies." ¹⁷

Similarly M. Galizzi notes "that the adversative 'rather' is not fully exact, because the Greek participle 'does not have adversative shadings' and is better translated 'even more', that is: 'even more blessed are they who hear.'"¹⁸

In The One Mediator, The Saints and Mary, an ecumenical dialogue between Lutherans and Catholics, the authors conclude that the translation "Yes, but even more" is more accurate than "No rather":

In still another episode, peculiar to Luke, a woman moved by Jesus' preaching during his ministry utters a beatitude over the mother who bore him and nursed him. Jesus himself counters with a beatitude of his own: "Blessed, rather, are those who hear the word of God and keep it' (11:27-28). Though his reply has often been taken as a corrective (= "No rather"), it is more likely intended as a modification (="Yes, but even more"). Thus 11:28 may be related to 8:21.¹⁹

Luke 11:28 in any case is not a response to anything that Mary said. Rather Jesus uses the statement of the unknown woman to make a very crucial point: the supreme importance of doing the will of the Father. It was also important to make it clear that Mary is to be honored primarily for doing God's will - and not for the by-product of this obedience which was that of becoming the Mother of Jesus and the Spouse of the Holy Spirit. Luke 11:27 is in fact a wake-up call to Fundamentalists who preach faith without works: Jesus says very clearly that only "he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven" "shall enter into the kingdom of heaven."

Although the finding of the boy Jesus in the Temple after three days does not belong to the period of His public ministry the incident is important for other reasons, as explained by Rene Laurentin:

Jesus here uses for the first time a teaching method of his that in the long term is rich in result but at first hearing always causes puzzlement. In his reply he takes up the term used in the question addressed to him, but in an entirely different sense, a spiritual sense. "Your father," Mary had said in speaking of Joseph, the foster father. "My Father," Jesus replied without any hint of transition - but he was speaking of his heavenly Father.

Lastly, it is above all worthy of note that Jesus seems to contradict himself when he affirms that he must remain in his Father's house, that is, in the Temple, and nevertheless immediately returns to Nazareth, to the home of his foster father (2:51). Like the gospel of the annunciation, that of the finding in the Temple is incomprehensible as long as it is read only on the level of a factual anecdote. It expresses a mystery, the Paschal mystery, to be exact, and that is what Luke intends to bring home to us. The child Jesus acts out a prophetic gesture whose meaning is his return to his Father. The meaning of that gesture in the city of Jerusalem (Lk. 2:41,43,45), at the time of the passover feast (Lk. 2:41, 42), that is, at the place and time of the event of twenty years later, is explained by Jesus himself when he says "I must be in my Father's house" (Lk. 2:49). This first word of Christ has the same meaning as his last, the one that according to Saint Luke will immediately precede his death: "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit" (Lk. 23:46). Luke mentions the "three days" of separation during which Mary was looking for Jesus (Lk. 2:46) because they prefigure the three days of his death during which he will likewise be sought by the holy women. And the words the child Jesus addresses to Mary, his Mother, "Why were you looking for me?" are quite similar to those that the risen Jesus will address to Mary Magdalen, "Why look among the dead for someone who is alive?" (Lk, 24:6).

To express Mary's anguish Luke uses a very strong word (2:48) by which he elsewhere designates the sufferings of Hades (Lk. 16:24-25; cf. Acts 20:38). He probably sees here the first realization of Simeon's prophecy about "the sword" that will pierce Mary's life. This realization is itself prophetic. The anguish described in Lk. 2:35 and 48, over and above the event of Christ's childhood, refers to the mortal anguish surrounding his Passion and, more deeply, his return to his Father, in whose presence he must hereafter be sought.²⁰

With reference to the passage in the Gospel of John, "Jesus said unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come," (John 2:4), we note that immediately after saying this, Jesus performs His first miracle. Far from being a rebuke, the passage is significant for three reasons: although He appears to reject Mary's request, He performs a miracle, the first of His miracles, immediately after the statement; Mary appears to know that Jesus will do something extraordinary because she asks the servants to "do whatever He tells you"; Jesus implies that He will do what Mary asks for after his "hour" (the crucifixion) has come. Manuel Miguens' comprehensive study of the significance of Cana is extensively quoted in the trilogy.

In conclusion we understand the following things about the role of Mary in the public ministry of her Son:

Mary was the occasion of the first miracle and Mary was present at the very end. It has been said that the Gospel of John "offers a biblical theology of Mary's participation in the redemption of man. The Woman of this gospel is with Christ twice - at Cana and at Calvary. Both times and places find the attention focused on her for a moment, but upon her as the Mother of the Lord, participating in a marriage feast or a sacrifice."²¹

Mary's offering of Jesus at the Temple culminates at the offering on Calvary. Like Abraham she offers up her Son to God. And where Abraham sacrifices a lamb to God, on Calvary it is the Lamb of God Who is sacrificed by His own volition - with the sorrowful assent of His Mother about whom Simeon (under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit) had prophesied: "A sword shall pierce through thy own soul also." There can be little doubt that this prophecy concerned Mary's presence at Calvary as shown by the Eastern Orthodox theologian John Breck in the next chapter.

The Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles

Neither the Acts of the Apostles nor the epistles of Paul are concerned with the life and teachings of Jesus in the same way as the Gospels and correspondingly the Marian material here is limited - as is material on the Virgin Birth, the public ministry of Jesus, the Empty Tomb and other Gospel themes. Nevertheless the few references made to Mary in these sources are significant in grasping the biblical picture of Mary.

Acts was written by the author of the Gospel of Luke and the reference we find here to Mary must be understood in this light. "These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication. with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus ... And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. ... And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost." (Acts 1:14, 2:3-4).

Stefano Manelli's shows the true implications of Mary's presence at Pentecost:

In the Acts of the Apostles (1:14), the name of Mary appears for the last time in the New Testament. The scene is highly significant. Here is the Church in birth awaiting the seal of the Spirit promised by Jesus (Acts 1:8). And Mary is present at the very center of the Church, she who is "the Mother of Jesus" and of all the disciples of Jesus represented by John at the foot of the Cross: "Woman, behold your son."²²

The comparative silence of Paul on Mary is understandable given the very structure of the New Testament writings. John McHugh points out that "It cannot be stressed too often that the New Testament is not an orderly compendium of Christian doctrine, setting out in magisterial form a comprehensive synthesis of all items like the Summae of the medieval schoolmen; and indeed it is a priori possible that an item of historical fact - even an important item, which was widely known in the early Church - could have failed to find a place or mention in the apostolic writings by pure accident. Such a total silence (e.g. on the martyrdom of James, the bishop of Jerusalem) is no proof that it never happened." Paul's silence on a topic has no bearing on its importance. "If the story of the empty tomb was as widely told as the gospels imply, why does St. Paul never mention when writing of the Resurrection? ... There seems no particular reason for holding that whatever is not mentioned in St. Paul's purely occasional writings is necessarily, or even probably, an unwarranted addition to the preaching of the primitive Church. Paul, after all, was not the only preacher in early times, and his epistles tell us very little about the historical facts of Jesus' earthly life. He does not even mention that Jesus once preached in Galilee, but it can hardly be doubted that Paul believed he did (Ac 13:31). An argument from 'Pauline silence' is very feeble indeed."²³

The only direct reference to Mary in the epistles of Paul is Galatians 4:4-5 (Philippians 2:7 and Romans 1:3 have been seen as indirect references to the Virgin Birth):

But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.

The Fathers of the Church have found this particular passage to be one of the great Mariological messages of Scripture. We quote Stefano Manelli for a summary of the ancient interpretations:

The Apostle of the Gentiles mentions Mary only once. He gives no data concerning her, nor does he even record her name. Nevertheless, for all his brevity, he succeeds in presenting her as an active participant in the mystery of the Incarnation of the Word and of the redemption of men called to the "adoption of sons". Mary is the "woman" who has made Jesus, from whom Jesus was "born" in the "fullness of time" appointed for the redemption of mankind.²⁴

This passage is significant also because it portrays Mary's role as the New Eve - a role highlighted in John 19 and Revelation 12. Here again we see that Christ's mission is inextricably united to the secondary but nevertheless unique role of His Mother.

Paul's importance for Marian doctrine lies in the fact that he lays the foundations of the theology of human mediation in the divine plan of salvation. "I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is the Church." (Colossians 1:24). "For we are labourers together with God." (1 Corinthians 3:9). While the redemptive sacrifice of Christ was completed on Calvary, the work of redemption, the application of this redemptive sacrifice to men and women, will continue throughout history. The suffering of any person, when offered freely to God, is incorporated by Him in His salvific scheme and we can all be co-redeemers in this sense. With Paul's teaching of human mediation in the divine plan, the Christian community was better able to understand the universal significance of the mediation of Mary that was revealed in the Gospels ("A sword shall pierce through thy own soul also") and the Book of Revelation ("The remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ") - just as Paul's teachings on the work of the Holy Spirit assisted the Christian community in its articulation of the doctrine of the Trinity (although Paul himself did not provide a comprehensive theology of the Trinity).

v. The Seven Splendors of Mary in Scripture

Our study of Mary in Scripture - true both to Scripture and to the ancient divinely-protected interpretation of Scripture - reveals a seven-dimension portrait of Mary. The same Mary is shown to us from seven perspectives each one of which complements the others. If we do not understand these seven dimensions - as Christians have from time immemorial - our understanding of the Scriptural Mary will be defective and distorted. The seven dimensions of Mary merely reflect the Splendor of God and we will call them here the Seven Splendors of Mary.

The first dimension of Mary, her first Splendor, is the Salvific Splendor. This is her role as the New Eve prophesied in Genesis and manifested throughout Scripture. This dimension of Mary was celebrated by the earliest Church Fathers and became the starting-point of all Marian doctrine and devotion.

The second dimension is the Prophetic Splendor. We have seen how Mary was foreshadowed not just in Genesis, and not even just in Isaiah and Micah, but in a multitude of ways in the Old Testament ranging from the Daughter of Zion theme to specific individuals such as Abraham. Again this scriptural backdrop was noted by the ancient Christians.

Thirdly we have the Maternal Splendor - a dimension that manifests her both as the Spouse of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mother of the Word Incarnate. We see how the Salvific and the Prophetic Splendors lead inexorably to the Maternal Splendor.

Fourth is the Merciful Splendor. It is this fourth dimension of Mary that has been entirely lost by Fundamentalists and Liberals in their reading of Scripture. As a result these Christians today disparage Mary using the same texts that drew the historic Christian community to the merciful mother. Only a recovery of this lost dimension can help the Christians of today come to grips with the Scriptural Mary.

Fifthly there is the Sorrowful Splendor which in a sense reflects both the Maternal and Merciful Splendors. Who can gauge the sorrow of a mother whose Son is humiliated and rejected by His and her people and then subjected to public torture and a cruel death? This sorrow is magnified with the spiritual death of any of the children entrusted to her by her Son.

Sixth is the Holy Splendor. It is textually clear-cut in Scripture that Mary had the most intimate union possible for a human being with the Holy Spirit (see the infancy narratives in Matthew and Luke). Scripture documents six direct interventions of the Holy Spirit: the virginal conception in Matthew, Elizabeth's hymn to Mary under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in Luke, Simeon's inspired prophecy to Mary in Luke, the baptism of Jesus in Matthew, the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost in Acts and finally the direction of the Holy Spirit in the laying on of hands in Acts 13. Of these six explicit interventions Mary is present at four and enters into the deepest possible intimacy with the Spirit in the first intervention. How can we possibly comprehend what it means to be to be "overshadowed" by the Holy Spirit? Luke draws attention to the presence of Mary at Pentecost - and this has been reflected in the traditional Christian emphasis on the intercession of Mary.

The Seventh Splendor, the Heavenly, is the culmination of all the others. From "All generations shall call me blessed" to "the woman clothed with the sun" to the great "wedding feast of the Lamb," Scripture tells us of the highest honors bestowed on Mary by the Almighty. The traditional Christian doctrines of Mary's Assumption and her coronation as Queen simply echo the undeniable testimony of Scripture.

We present below the main texts in Scripture which testify to the Seven Splendors (these are not the only texts and some of the texts inevitably illuminate more than one Splendor):

The Salvific Splendor - God's Promise of a Second Eve Whose Seed will Crush Satan

"And the Lord God said unto the serpent, ... I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." (Genesis 3:14,15)

The Prophetic Splendor - the Prophecy of the Virgin Birth and the Coming Messiah

"The Lord spake again unto Ahaz, saying, Ask thee a sign of the Lord thy God; ask it either in the depth, or in the height above. But Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither will I tempt the Lord. And he said, Hear ye now, O house of David; Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will ye weary my God also? Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." (Isaiah 7:10-14).

"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever." (Isaiah 9:6-7).

"But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting. Therefore will he give them up, until the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth: then the remnant of his brethren shall return unto the children of Israel. And he shall stand and feed in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God; and they shall abide: for now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth. And this man shall be the peace." (Micah 5:2-4):

The Maternal Splendor - Mary, Daughter of the Father, Spouse of the Holy Spirit, Mother of the Son

"The angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end. ... The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. ,.. And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word." (Luke 1:26-33, 35,38).

"Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost." (Matthew 1:18).

"Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost: and she spake out with a loud voice, and said, blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? ... And blessed is she that believed." (Luke 2:41-43,45).

"But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons." (Galatians 4:4-5).

"And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them." (Luke 2:51).

The Merciful Splendor - Mary in the Public Ministry of Jesus

"And when they found him not, they turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking him ... And when they saw him, they were amazed: and his mother said unto him, Son why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing. And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business. And they understood not the saying which he spoke to them. And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them: but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart." (Luke 2:45-9).

"While he yet talked to the people, behold, his mother and his brethren stood without, desiring to speak with him. Then one said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to speak with thee." (Matthew 12:46-7).

"There came then his brethren and his mother, and standing without, sent unto him, calling him. And the multitude sat about him, and they said unto him, Behold thy mother and thy brethren without seek for thee." (Mark 3:31-2).

"Then came to him his mother and his brethren, and could not come at him for the press. And it was told him by certain which said, Thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to see thee." (Luke 8:19, 20).

"And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine ... His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it." (John 2:3,5).

The Sorrowful Splendor - Mary at the Foot of the Cross Crowned as the Mother of All the Faithful

"And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary ... A sword shall pierce through thy own soul also." (Luke 2:34-35).

"In the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain." (Revelation 5:5).

"And she being with child cried." (Revelation 12:2).

"Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother ... When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother." (John 19:25-27).

The Holy Splendor - Mary at Pentecost

"These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication. with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus ... And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. ... And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost." (Acts 1:14, 2:3-4).

The Heavenly Splendor - the Second Eve Continues Her Mission in the War with the Dragon

"And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: And she being with child cried ... and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron ... And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." (Revelation 12).

"The marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready ... Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb." (Revelation 19:7,19).

This seven-splendored story was the story of Mary that the Fathers of the Church and all Christians for 1800 years saw in Scripture and this is still the story grasped by the vast majority of Christians to this day in the Holy Bible. The glorious tapestry of Mary's mission woven in the Word of God gave rise to the great Marian titles and devotions of the centuries. The Fathers recognized in Mary a bridge between the Old and the New Testaments, a Second Eve whose cooperation with the Second Adam was foretold and fulfilled. For our part, we cannot know the truth about Mary if we do not contemplate and appropriate each one of the seven Scriptural splendors of Mary. If Mary is seen in the light of only one or a few of the seven splendors the Mary we see is not the Mary of either Scripture or the historic Christian faith (The "biblical Mary" of the Fundamentalists, for instance, is simply a caricature of the Scriptural Mary because it focuses simply on one aspect of one Splendor, the Virgin Birth, and ignores all the other Splendors while purveying distorted interpretations of references to Mary in the public ministry of Jesus).

The seven-splendored story of Mary in Scripture is closely related to the Mary's place as the New Eve in Scripture. From the earliest days, as we see in the ancient liturgies and in the writings of Irenaeus and the first Church Fathers, Mary was seen as the New Eve serving Christ the New Adam in His mission of redemption. This tale begins in a prophetic mode in Genesis and reaches a crescendo in the book of Revelation. The parallelism between Christ and Adam is pointed out by Paul and between Mary and Eve by John. Only when we grasp the New Adam-New Eve theme can we understand the historic Christian teaching on the divine plan of salvation. And only then do we see both the need for and the obviousness of the Marian doctrines.

In the light of the New Adam-New Eve theme of salvation history revealed in Scripture we understand more fully the place and message of each of the seven splendors of Mary. Without this fuller understanding, unfortunately, it is impossible to grasp the Scriptural Mary of the historic Christian faith. The heart-rending tragedy of the last 200 years is the fury with which both Fundamentalist and Liberal Christians have torn to shreds the great scriptural tapestry of the Seven Splendors of Mary. The "biblical Mary" of most Fundamentalists bears little resemblance to the Mary of Scripture. In their minds, Mary's role is reduced to their negative interpretations of references to her in the public ministry of Jesus. Following in the wake of the Fundamentalists, the Liberals not only ridiculed all seven of the splendors of Mary but rejected even the divine splendors of her Son. Whereas the Fundamentalists read Scripture in isolation from the historic Christian faith the Liberals read it in isolation from any kind of faith at all.

And just as liberal New Testament scholars have pursued their so-called quest for the "historical Jesus", Fundamentalists have embarked on their own search for the "biblical Mary." Discarding the witness of Scripture, the historic teachings of the Church and the faith of the Christian community, the Liberals have concocted a Jesus who is dramatically different from the Savior worshipped by Christians. Similarly Fundamentalists have discarded the seven-splendored story of Scripture and the historic faith of Christians and have created a "Mary" who is dramatically different from the Mary to whom Elizabeth said, "Whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?"

The root of the current confusion about Marian doctrine and devotion is confusion about Scripture and the Mary of Scripture. A return to the historic Christian Faith has to begin with a return to Scripture and the Mary of Scripture.

This brings us back to the problem of interpreting Scripture with which we began. We must realize first that no verse in Scripture should be interpreted in isolation. Every verse belongs to a context and every context belongs to a larger context and every larger context belongs to the overall vision of the Christian Faith handed down from the Apostles and taught by the Apostolic Community as the historic Faith for four centuries before we ever had the fixing of the New Testament canon. Christians who wish to retain their faith in their Savior and His Teaching must realize that this is possible only if they stay close to this historic Faith. Many of the heretics who abandoned the doctrine of the Trinity - from the Arians to the Jehovah's Witnesses - accepted the inerrancy of Scripture but interpreted Scripture in isolation from its inerrant interpretation in the historic Faith. The pattern of arbitrary interpretation is inevitably a path out of the historic Christian faith.

Conclusion: Mary's Role in the Divine Plan of Salvation

o "And the Lord God said unto the serpent, ... I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed." (Genesis 3:14-15).

o "Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." (Isaiah 7:14).

o "The power of the Most High will cover you with its shadow. And so the child will be holy and will be called Son of God." (Luke 1:35).

o "Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother ... When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother." (John 19:25-27).

o "And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." (Revelation 12:17).

o "A sword shall pass through thy own soul also." (Luke 2:35).

o "And she being with child cried." (Revelation 12:2).

o "And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there ... His mother saith unto the servants, Whatseover he saith unto you, do it. ... This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him. (John 2:1,5,11).

o "And the king rose to meet her, and bowed down to her; then he sat on his throne, and had a seat brought for the king's mother; and she sat on his right. Then she said, 'I have one small request to make of you; do not refuse me.' And the king said to her, 'Make your request, my mother; for I will not refuse you.'" (1 Kings 2: 19-20).

o "These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication. with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus ... And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. ... And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost." (Acts 1:14, 2:3-4).

o "Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight." (Hebrews 12:1).

o "And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand." (Revelation 8:3-4).

From the passages above we see that Mary played a unique role in God's plan of salvation. Her role was prophesied in Genesis and Isaiah and pre-figured by both Abraham and Moses. Then in the Gospels we see that she is "blessed because she believed". In one of the most striking testimonies to her co-redemptive role, Simeon prophesies that "A sword shall pass through thy own soul, also" - a prophecy fulfilled on Calvary (and poignantly recounted in Revelation 12:2). Like Abraham who offered up his son Isaac to God, Mary offers up her Son to God first in His infancy at the Temple and then finally on Calvary where the "sword" passed "through" her soul and she "cried" (Revelation 12:5 encapsulates the whole offering: "And she brought forth a man child ... and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne"). In making this offering, Mary became the mediatrix of Jesus' redemptive death and all the graces that came with it. At Cana we see that her mediation brings about faith in the disciples - with Jesus' promise that He will answer her petitions when His "hour" [of passion] has come. In John 19:27 and Revelation 12:17 we see her unmistakably portrayed as spiritual mother of all Christians as Christians from time immemorial and even Protestants like Martin Luther have acknowledged. Mary's spiritual motherhood - and her spousal union with the Holy Spirit - is the basis of all Marian mediation. In Hebrews 12:1 and Revelation 8:3-4 we are told that the saints in Heaven are still involved with human affairs in this world. This applies most of all to the Mother of those who "keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." (Revelation 12:17).

NOTES

¹ Ignace de la Potterie, Mary in the Mystery of the Covenant (New York: Alba House, 1992), p. 262

² John de Satge, Down to Earth: The New Protestant Vision of the Virgin Mary (Consortium, 1976), p. 111.

³ Martin Luther, Weimar edition of Martin Luther's Works, Volume 51, pp.128-129.

⁴ Cited in Stefano Manelli, All Generations Shall Call Me Blessed (New Bedford, Massachussetts: Academy of the Immaculate, 1995), p.23.

⁵ Peter J. Stravinskas, The Catholic Response (Huntington, Indiana: Our Sunday Visitor, 1985), pp.70-1.

⁶ John McHugh, The Mother of Jesus in the New Testament (New York: Doubleday, 1975), p. 78.

⁷ Ignace de la Potterie, Mary in the Mystery of the Covenant (New York: Alba House, 1992), p. 189-190.

⁸ Ignace de la Potterie, Mary in the Mystery of the Covenant, p. 48.

⁹ Rene Laurentin, A Short Treatise on the Virgin Mary (Washington, New Jersey: AMI Press, 1991), pp.27-30.

¹⁰ Ignace de la Potterie, Mary in the Mystery of the Covenant, pp.17-20.

¹¹ Rene Laurentin, A Short Treatise on the Virgin Mary, p.285.

¹² Donald G. Dawe, "The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin in Ecumenical Perspective," The Way, Summer 1982, p.45.

¹³ Rene Laurentin, A Short Treatise on the Virgin Mary, p.35-6.

¹⁴ Cited in The Blessed Virgin Mary: Essays by Anglican Writers, E.L. Mascall and H.S. Box, eds. (London: Darton, Longman & Todd Ltd, 1963), 22-3.

¹⁵ Luther (1523);, Luther (1529); Quoted in Max Thurian, Mary, Mother of the Lord, p.173.

¹⁶ John Breck, "Mary in the New Testament", Pro Ecclesia, Vol. II, No. 4, 463-4.

¹⁷ Greek Particles in the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1962, p.35.

¹⁸ Stefano Manelli, All Generations Shall Call Me Blessed, p.322.

¹⁹ The One Mediator, The Saints and Mary edited by H. George Anderson, J. Francis Stafford, Joseph A. Burgess (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1992), p.79.

²⁰ Rene Laurentin, A Short Treatise on the Virgin Mary, pp.31-2.

²¹ Thomas A. O'Meara, Mary in Protestant and Catholic Theology, (New York: Sheed and Ward, 1966), p.187.

²² Stefano Manelli, All Generations Shall Call Me Blessed, pp.340-4.

²³ John McHugh, The Mother of Jesus in the New Testament, p.270,273.

²⁴ Stefano Manelli, op. cit., pp.107-112.