Well, consider this: When Christ was crucified, where was the Church? For the most part, the "Church" -- all of Jesus' select men, His right-hand men ---- had high-tailed it and headed for the tall grass. Everyone had betrayed, denied, or abandoned Jesus in His hour of need.
Th tiny remnant--- the faithful Church --- consisted of those at the foot of the Cross.
And how is this moment of attachment and fidelity pictured in the Gospel of John?
(John 19:26-28) When Jesus then saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said to His mother, "Woman, behold, your son!" Then He said to the disciple, "Behold, your mother!" From that hour the disciple took her into his own household. |
In that moment, Jesus gave His mother a son; and gave His Church a mother.
This is reiterated, in a sense, at Pentecost, when the Eleven and Mary are in the Upper Room and receive the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit had overshadowed Mary thirty-three years before, and empowered her to bring Christ "the Word made Flesh" into the world; that same Holy Spirit was now overshadowing not just Mary, but this little Church with Mary in their midst --- empowering them to carry forth Christ into the whole world --- through the power of that same Spirit. Annunciation multiplied!
The mothering relationship is reiterated very strongly in Revelation 12, when the Lady of the Sign, the Great Sign in the Heavens, is revealed to be none other than the Mother of the Savior (v.5) and the Mother of the Church (v.17):
"Then the dragon became angry with the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring, those who keep God’s commandments and bear witness to Jesus."
So there's all the faithful described as being "the rest of her (Mary's) offspring: those who keep God's commandments and bear witness to Jesus." She, Mary, the Lady of the Sign, is the very image of the faithful Church: Lady Ecclesia.
As early as the end of the first century (before the death of St.John) and into the first half of the second century, Mary is depicted in frescos in the Roman catacombs both with and without her divine Son. Mary is depicted as a model of virginity with her Son; at the Annunciation; at the adoration of the Magi; and as the orans, the "praying one," the woman of prayer.
A very significant fresco in the catacombs of St. Agnes depicts Mary situated between St. Peter and St. Paul with her arms outstretched to both. This fresco reflects, in the language of Christian frescoes, the earliest symbol of Mary as "Mother of the Church." Whenever St. Peter and St. Paul are shown together, it is symbolic of the one Church of Christ, a Church of authority and evangelization, a Church for both Jew and Gentile. Mary's prominent position between Sts. Peter and Paul illustrates the recognition of her maternal role in the midst of the Apostolic Church.
Well, consider this: When Christ was crucified, where was the Church? For the most part, the "Church" -- all of Jesus' select men, His right-hand men ---- had high-tailed it and headed for the tall grass. Everyone had betrayed, denied, or abandoned Jesus in His hour of need.
The church consists of believers regardless of where they are.
Th tiny remnant--- the faithful Church --- consisted of those at the foot of the Cross.
And how is this moment of attachment and fidelity pictured in the Gospel of John?
(John 19:26-28) When Jesus then saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said to His mother, "Woman, behold, your son!" Then He said to the disciple, "Behold, your mother!" From that hour the disciple took her into his own household.
In that moment, Jesus gave His mother a son; and gave His Church a mother.
Good grief.....I've seen wilder projections from Obama's economists on how the economy is doing.
There is nothing in the text to indicate Jesus was giving the church to His mom. He was simply placing Mary under the care of John as He trusted John more than the rest.
The catholic idolatry of Mary seems to cloud every verse the catholic reads.
DANG!!
I missed that part!
**Well, consider this: When Christ was crucified, where was the Church? For the most part, the “Church” — all of Jesus’ select men, His right-hand men —— had high-tailed it and headed for the tall grass. Everyone had betrayed, denied, or abandoned Jesus in His hour of need.
Th tiny remnant-— the faithful Church -— consisted of those at the foot of the Cross.**
NOT ONE, NOT MARY, NOT JOHN, NONE of them was SIDE BY SIDE with Jesus Christ as he was led from the garden, and into the interrogations from Annas, Caiaphas, Pilate, Herod, then Pilate again, and whipped and beaten, and mocked, and crowned with thorns, and given the cross to bear.
THEY...were...not...beside him......until his death was assured.
They weren’t heroic. They were just weak in the flesh, fulfilling the prophecy as well.
**The mothering relationship is reiterated very strongly in Revelation 12, when the Lady of the Sign, the Great Sign in the Heavens, is revealed to be none other than the Mother of the Savior (v.5) and the Mother of the Church (v.17):**
STILL skipping verse 6.
So there's all the faithful described as being "the rest of her (Mary's) offspring: those who keep God's commandments and bear witness to Jesus." She, Mary, the Lady of the Sign, is the very image of the faithful Church: Lady Ecclesia.So well put. We forget.. the moment at the foot of the cross..
>>In that moment, Jesus gave His mother a son; and gave His Church a mother.<<
There is nothing in scripture to support that supposition. Mary is never once described as "mother of the church". The "Jerusalem which is above is the mother of us all" is the only reference and that surely is NOT Mary.
>>This is reiterated, in a sense, at Pentecost, when the Eleven and Mary are in the Upper Room and receive the Holy Spirit.<<
Eleven and Mary?
Acts 1:13 And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room, where abode both Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James. 14 These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers. 15 And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples, and said, (the number of names together were about an hundred and twenty,)
Multiple women, Jesus brothers, the eleven, and all told one hundred and twenty people. That's the last time Mary is mentioned of or spoken about in any writing whether religious our secular until the pagan influence.
>>The mothering relationship is reiterated very strongly in Revelation 12<<
No, it is not. In no way is Revelation 12 referencing Mary. It's the nation of Israel as it was prophesied in Isaiah 66.
Isaiah 66:7 Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man child. 8 Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children. 9 Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth? saith the LORD: shall I cause to bring forth, and shut the womb? saith thy God. 10 Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all ye that love her: rejoice for joy with her, all ye that mourn for her:
It's Zion, the nation of Israel who is represented by the sign of the woman in Revelation 12 NOT Mary.
>>She, Mary, the Lady of the Sign, is the very image of the faithful Church: Lady Ecclesia.<<
So Mary is "lady ecclesia" the bride of Jesus? You can't be serious. So now Catholics have Mary as the mother of Jesus, the mother of the church which is the bride of Christ, and the bride herself?