Jesus honored her before all ages, and will honor her for all ages. No one comes to him, nor even near him, no one is saved or sanctified, if he too will not honor her. This is the lot of angels and of men- St. Maximilian Mary Kolbe
Mary mother of all
This topic is pretty straightforward but for some reason people tend not to see its obviousness nor its implications. This topic is naturally tied with all the other Marian doctrines especially the concept of Mary as “Queen” but we shall try to keep that for a separate page. Also one should note that the doctrines about Mary while true regardless of this point I’m about to say; they all protect a certain fact about Christ.
We mentioned in earlier post (Mary as the new Eve) that the old Eve was called the mother of the living in Genesis. The reality is that Eve was the mother of the old creation born into sin by her disobedience. Eve gave her children the gift of a fallen sinful nature and death.
Gods remedy was to send a savior, to bring about a new creation in Christ as seen when Paul says “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Co 5:17). Ezekiel speaks of God bringing about a new creation with the advent of the messiah when he says “And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them (Eze 11:19–20). So this new creation also has with it a new Adam and a new Eve, again see 1 Cor 15:45.
Mary according to the early christians was seen the true mother of the living, the mother of the new creation in Christ as witnessed in the qoute:
“Eve was called the mother of the living …after the fall this title was given to her. True it is…the whole race of man upon earth was born from Eve; but in reality it is from Mary the Life was truly born to the world. So that by giving birth to the Living One, Mary became the mother of all living – (St. Epiphanius, Against Eighty Heresies, 78,9, written c. 374)
Mother of God is Mother of all
The mother of God also know by the title Theotokos “Mother of God” or “God Bearer” is an important title because it is true but it has much more implications. The title does not mean that Mary created or gave Jesus his divinity but that God who is divine took on human nature in Mary who then gave birth to the God-Man Jesus. St Cyril of Alexandria points this out in his letter to Nestorius when confronting the Nestorian heresy of of which he said:
“So then he who had an existence before all ages and was born of the Father, is said to have been born according to the flesh of a woman, not as though his divine nature received its beginning of existence in the holy Virgin, for it needed not any second generation after that of the Father (for it would be absurd and foolish to say that he who existed before all ages, coeternal with the Father, needed any second beginning of existence), but since, for us and for our salvation, he personally united to himself an human body, and came forth of a woman, he is in this way said to be born after the flesh; for he was not first born a common man of the holy Virgin, and then the Word came down and entered into him, but the union being made in the womb itself, he is said to endure a birth after the flesh, ascribing to himself the birth of his own flesh.”
Cyril of Alexandria. (1900). The Epistle of Cyril to Nestorius. In P. Schaff & H. Wace (Eds.), H. R. Percival (Trans.), The Seven Ecumenical Councils (Vol. 14, p. 198). New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons.
Throughout Christianity there was many heresies about the person and nature of Christ, that he was merely a man possessed by the divine. One particular heresy (Nestorian) was settled at the Council of Ephesus in 431 A.D that Mary was indeed the “Theotokos , Mother of God”. St. Cyril of Alexandria wrote much on the subject and drew up 12 statements of anathema (which brings with it excommunication), one which says:
“If anyone does not acknowledge Emmanuel to be truly God and therefore the holy Virgin to be Theotokos (for she gave birth according to the flesh to the Word of God made flesh), let him be anathema” ~ St Cyril of Alexandria
Young Frances. (2003). Theotokos: Mary and the Pattern of Fall and Redemption in the Theology of Cyril of Alexandria. In The theology of St. Cyril of Alexandria: a critical appreciation (p. 56). London; New York: T&T Clark.
Even before the council of Ephesus is was quite clear among Christians that Mary was the Mother of God and so Mother of all Gods children and Queen of the Kingdom for her Son was King; which by its nature made her a powerful intercessor in the economy of God. In the year 250 A.D we have one of the oldest prayers to Mary (Sub Tuum) which also calls her “Theotokos” the Mother of God.
” Beneath your compassion,We take refuge, O Theotokos ( Θεοτόκε) [Mother of God, God-bearer]:do not despise our petitions in time of trouble: but rescue us from dangers, only pure, only blessed one.” ~ (Sub Tuum)
Biblical passages for Mary Mother of God
Jesus fulfills many types, promises and prophecies of the Old Testament (This is not an exhaustive list) for he is the
- Seed of Abraham that will bless all nations of the world
- True and Eternal Son of David
- New Moses
- New Adam
- Paschal Lamb
- True High Priest
- King of Israel
- Lion from the tribe of Judah
- Emmanuel ( God with us)
It is clear that when the Angel appeared to Mary it was the Son of God who she would give birth too making her not only the Mother of God but also the Queen of the Davidic Kingdom and the spouse of the Holy Spirit, giving to her the role of Mother to all God has created and Queen to his Kingdom.
Lk 1:31-33
“behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Lk 1:26–33). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.
This passage is clear, she will conceive a son who will partake in her humanity, her own blood; who is the Son of God that she will give birth too. Jesus will live as her child and she as his earthly mother which scripture makes clear.
Mary’s visit to Elizabeth also shows who Mary is in relation to her son and to Elizabeth
(Lk 1:39–46, ESV)
“In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a town in Judah, and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”
Elizabeth who is speaking by inspiration of the Holy Spirit says Mary is the mother of “My Lord” recognizing that the child in her womb is both God and king. My lord is also a phrase used to greet the Davidic Kings in Israel and reference to messianic King (see 2 Sam 24:21 and Ps 110). Elizabeth was not just stating some intellectual fact but “exclaimed and shouts” regarding Mary’s new role again as the Mother of God and the Queen of Israel, the Queen of David kingdom. Elizabeths greeting is a greeting of respect, honor and royalty. Again Christians miss so much because they fail to remember that Jesus and Christianity is a fulfillment of Judaism, you cannot understand Christianity at all apart from Judaism. If Christians recognized that the God they say they worship is the true King of Israel of all people with a real kingdom then they would treat Mary with so much more love, respect and honor than they currently do.
We will see later that this passage shows Mary to be the “new Ark of the Covenant” when we see the similarities between Elizabeth greeting and David’s when the ark arrives to David in hill country of Judea.
Until you study the Davidic Kingdom you will have a hard time seeing importance or even the position of Queen, the concept of prime minister who holds the keys to the kingdom which is tied with Jesus commission to Peter and office of the Pope and so many other concepts.
Gospel of John 19:25-27
Here we turn to the crucifixion of Jesus to see Mary as mother of all Christ disciples. You may be asking the death of Jesus , Mary the mother of us all? Yes actually. Again lets pay close attention to the text and Jewish understanding or customs. At the foot of the cross there was Mary and the “beloved disciple”. Everyone says that it’s John himself but the text never explicitly says that, that comes from early tradition.
The vague title disciple of the Lord is vague for a few reasons but most importantly it is that it refers to you and me, all who follow Christ. Anyone who truly follows Christ is his disciple. Christ gave the great commission in the end of Mathews Gospel to make disciples of all nations.
Now when Jesus was dying on the cross many forget the torture it was to be on the cross. We should recall that Jesus had fasted before, he was beaten or scourged which left most people dead back then, the blood loss left him dehydrated and weak beyond belief. Then he had to carry the cross few miles to where they crucified him. Once on the cross you would become weak and to breath and to speak you would have to push yourself up while your feet were nailed to the cross to do so. This is important more than most think. The fact is Jesus didn’t waste any words on the cross in fact they are literally killing him every time he speaks and it lessens his life on cross.
Now, we see the beloved disciple (John as a representative of all christians) and Mary at the foot of the cross. Jesus then makes an interesting statement when he says:
“Woman, behold thy son! then he said to the disciple “behold thy mother, and from that hour the disciple took her to his own home”.
Now a few things need to be said and more elaborated on. First if Jesus had older siblings Jesus would of entrusted Mary to their care as by Jewish custom but he didn’t. This points towards Mary’s perpetual virginity (for another page) but what it shows is that Mary is being given to (John obviously) all “disciples” (You and me) as our Mother. Remember that John was not Marys child so her being given as the Mother should alert us to a deeper meaning, also the disciple is now called the Son!
Again Jesus saying this on the cross should cause us to ask what is so important here what is going on that Jesus waits to be on the cross to make such a bizarre statement. Also we again should harken back to Genesis when God promised that a “seed” and “women” would defeat Satan. Here again we see Mary being called “woman” for she is the “woman” who gave birth to the “seed” prophesied that would crush the serpents head.
Revelation 12:17
**Before we proceed to the text at hand we need to remember a few important points regarding the book of Revelation. First despite all the end of the world religious leaders who use this book to make money and gain followers the book was written by John to the seven churches which are no longer around because of as Rev 1:1 says “Must soon take place“. This book is mostly talking about events that would affect the christians at the time not us two thousand years later. It is true that some references the future but the beast and dragon are references to Roman Empire and its leaders. Also we need to remember that there was no periods or chapter verse numbering in the original text all that was added by monks later on to make the books of the New Testament easier to read.
So when John appears in heaven he says he sees the real Ark of the Covenant:
“Then God’s temple was opened and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple” (Rev 11:19)
What does it look like? He then says regarding the ark (remember there was no chapters or verse numbering in original text):
“a Woman clothed with the sun, the moon under her feet and on her head a crown of 12 stars, she was with child and she cried out in labor pains of birth” (Rev 12:1-2).
What women gave birth to the male child who was long awaited messiah ? Mary did with Jesus. As a side note it is true that Mary also symbolize’s Israel but never the less its Mary the Mother of the redeemer who is described as the Ark of the Covenant (see Ark of Covenant on other page for more).
Then the scripture says regarding the Woman:
“Then the dragon was angry with the Woman, and he went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and bear testimony to Jesus” Rev 12:17.
This cannot get much clearer. Obviously the Woman who gives birth to the male child who is to rule all the nations is Mary giving birth to Jesus. It then says the Dragon is angry at the woman for he cannot touch her or her seed so he goes to make war with “her” children who are those who follow Christ. Recall we mentioned that in Genesis that the “Woman” who was at enmity with the devil had to be free of any connection with the devil even sin or else one could not be truly in opposition. This points again to her sinlessness but as the text clearly shows she is our mother!
