Mary: Behold Your Mother

The sincere Marian devotion of many Catholics usually has Evangelicals and Messianic believers run for their spiritual battle dress.  I have probably heard the complete array of the most vicious attacks against her, from theories that the woman Catholics "worship" is actually a reincarnation of a Greek goddess, or even Satan himself disguised as an angel of light.  Mary was also the main focus of my personal anti-Catholic attacks a few years ago, and I still believe many Catholics put too much emphasis on Mary at the expense of knowing Yeshua.

In her right role, however, Mary does not take the place of Yeshua; rather, she leads us to Him.  She is not divine, but fully human. She is not greater or equal to Him, and should not be worshipped.  As she told the servant at the wedding at Cana, she tells us "Do whatever He says to you" (Jn 2:5).  Yet when she visited her cousin Elizabeth while pregnant, this humble Jewish girl broke out in a song of praise, saying: "For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed" (Luke 1:48).  The question is, how often do Evangelicals and Messianic believers obey this Scripture and call her blessed, rather than depreciate her biblical role at every opportunity?

In the book of Revelation, we read that "now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars.  Then being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth... She bore a male Child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron." (Rev. 12:1-2, 5).  Frankly, I don't know why anyone would have any difficulty in identifying this highly exalted woman as Mary, unless preconceived theology prevents us from accepting the simple meaning of the text.

Mary's title of "Mother of God" is one that sounds highly offensive to Jewish and Protestant ears - making it sound as if Mary existed before God.  It also did to mine, until I understood what the term really means.  The expression "Mother of God" comes from the Greek Theotokos.  A more accurate translation would be "Bearer of God".  Theotokos was already used to describe Mary near the end of the second century, and it was declared a dogma in the year 431 as a response to a heresy that was threatening the divinity of Yeshua.  This heresy, called Nestorianism, claimed that Mary was mother of Christ but not mother of God.  The implication was that it divided the human nature from the divine nature of Christ and created two separate persons.  Calling Mary "Mother of God" does not make her divine, but makes clear that Yeshua was fully God and fully man united in one person.

The Immaculate Conception, the belief that Mary was preserved from the stain of original sin, is another doctrine that is deemed unacceptable among Evangelicals (even though Martin Luther believed in it).  The doctrine is said to contradict passages such as "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Rom 3:23) and Mary's own words: "my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior" (Luke 1:47).  The fact that Mary admitted that she needed a Savior does not contradict the Immaculate Conception.  Indeed, she needed Yeshua's salvation as much as anyone else.  The difference is that He saved her from sin even before she was born.  A common analogy is that we have all fallen into a deep pit, and God came and pulled us out of it.  With Mary however, God kept her from even falling into the pit.  In this way, His work of grace and salvation is even greater in Mary's life than in ours.

As for Romans 3:23, Paul's statement does not mean that there can be no exceptions.  Adam and Eve were an exception to this rule and were not born with original sin.  Yeshua was an exception.  Babies who die in the womb are also exceptions, having not sinned.  The angel's greeting to Mary "Rejoice, highly favored one" is traditionally more accurately translated "Hail, full of grace".  The Greek for "full of grace", kecharitomene, conveys a perfection of grace that is at once permanent and of a unique kind, and strongly hints at the absence of sin for the whole of Mary's life.  Through her holiness, Mary is the perfect model and type of the Church, presented before God without spot or wrinkle.

Probably the most alarming issue for Protestants concerning Mary is her said role of being "co-redemptrix" with Christ.  Unlike the term "Mother of God", the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption, however, the role of Mary as co-redemptrix is not a declared Catholic dogma, but merely a controversial issue within the Church today. Furthermore, this idea must not be conceived in the sense of equating the role of Mary with the redemptive activity of Christ - who remains and will always remain in Catholic doctrine the sole Redeemer of Humanity.  So what does the idea of Mary as co-redemptrix mean?  In a certain sense, all believers participate in Christ's work of redemption.  Paul expresses this in the epistle to the Colossians: "Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church"  (Col. 1:24).  It's not that Christ's work on the cross was not enough, but for some reason, He chose to include us, weak human beings, in his work of redeeming humanity, through our prayers, labors, and love. And Mary, in her close identification with the suffering of her Son, also played a very particular role in sharing in Christ's redemption.

As the perfect model of faith, servanthood and obedience, Mary is also the perfect model of a human being's participation in Christ's work of redemption.  All of this merit derives from Yeshua, and we are called to the same glorious task.  Still, I am personally not in favor of Mary's title of co-redemptrix ever becoming a dogma, not because I am concerned that this would be a heresy putting Mary at an equal level with the Messiah, but simply because the doctrine would be so easily misunderstood in this way.

In short, Mary is not divine or put on par with her son.  She is not the savior but needed to be saved like us.  Yet, as prophesied by her own words and seen in the book of Revelation, she does have an exalted role in heaven.  When Yeshua on the cross entrusted John to Mary with the words "Woman, behold your son!" and said to the disciple, "behold your mother" (Jn 19:27), He was doing much more than a private family arrangement.  (This would have been a strange thing to do for someone under the agonizing pains of crucifixion, especially considering the protestant belief that Yeshua already had brothers who could have taken care of Mary).  By these words, Yeshua established Mary as the mother of mankind, the new Eve prophesied in Genesis whose seed would bruise the head of the serpent (Gen. 3:15).