Xanga: Dec 11 – Mary, mother of all Christians?
-="Behold, your mother!"=-
WARNING: This is an entry about the Blessed Virgin Mary, particularly her role as mother of all Christians. For any curious protestants reading this, I hope I don't sound too 'heretical'. I encourage you to read the verses, otherwise will sound really boring.
When a Catholic hears those words he thinks, "ah, John's gospel...at the foot of the cross" (John 19:27). For a really long time, I never understand what that meant....it just seemed strange...but when I found the Catholic interpretation, it made me think: Catholics say that apostle John became Mary's son, and that Mary became John's mother. On top of that, they say at that very moment, Mary became a spiritual mother for all Christians.
-=What? Mary's my mommy!?=-
It might seem weird from a protestant perspective, but it really shouldn't: Christians call each other 'brother and sister'. Catholics take it further with the familial terminology by using terms like 'father and mother' (1 Tim 5:1-2). This explains how apostle Paul became a father through the gospel (1 Cor 4:15, NIV), and that would easily explain why he wrote letters to his 'true sons' (1 Tim 1:2, Titus 1:4) even though everyone knows he remained celibate. If anything it seems this Christian practice doesn't exist among protestants, except maybe a few Episcopalians and some Lutherans (?) but this is the background to understand how she is a spiritual mother of all Christians.
-=Mary? Mother of all Christians!? It's unbiblical!!=-
But someone would ask about Mary: "Where does the bible say that she's a mother to every Christian?"
The short answer is that it's implied in John 19:26-27, and that Sacred Tradition (which the Church believes is as authoritative as scripture) testifies to Mary as a mother to every Christian. But I suppose this simply isn't good enough for some....there seems to be a strict bible-only mentality among protestants, so if any one is reading on, I hope I can biblically explain how she fits in the overall picture...
-=Revelation 12=-
Rev 12:1-2 - A great and wondrous sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth
A woman with a crown? Sounds like a queen. And she's pregnant.
Rev 12:3-4 - Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his heads. His tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that he might devour her child the moment it was born.
So some red dragon shows up and it's ready to devour the child when the child is born.
Rev 12:5 - She gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter. And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne.
The woman gives birth to a child who would rule all the nations. By now I'm guessing some notice how this look like a reference to Isaiah 9:6-7 & Dan 7:27, in other words I'm saying Rev 12 is a reference to Jesus, and that Mary is the one who gives birth to him.
As for this dragon....
Rev 12:7-9 - And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down--that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.
So this dragon is the devil, the serpent...in other words the same guy from Gen 3:1...
"Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made..." (Gen 3:1)
Recap: Under my interpretation, the woman is Mary,
the child is Jesus, and the dragon is the serpent.
I guess I can just leave it at that, but I know some might still might doubt
the identity of the woman, which is why I'm not done yet 
-=Looking back at Genesis=-
After Adam and Eve sinned, God gives a prophecy about what would happen to this serpent:
"And I will put enmity
between you [the serpent] and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel." (Gen 3:15)
Ah....a prophecy about the serpent, the woman and her offspring...sounds a lot like Rev 12, so there's a clear connection between Gen 3:15 and Revelation 12.
-=Mary, the New Eve?=-
Catholics say that Eve typologically points to Mary, just as Adam typologically points to Jesus as the last Adam (1 Cor 15:45). But a last Eve?
Where Eve sins by eating the fruit (Gen 3:6), Mary chooses to obey God as she says, "be it unto me according to thy word" (Luke 1:38, KJV). Eve's act of sin mars mankind (1 Tim 2:14 ), yet Mary's act of obedience to God brings about the savior of the world who would unmar mankind (Rom 5:19)
But is she really the mother of all Christians? My answer totally depends on my interpretation of Gen 3:15 and Rev 12, because it describes how the dragon tries to attack the child, and then makes war with the rest of the woman's offspring. So who consists of the rest of her offspring?
"...those who obey God's commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus." (Rev 12:17)
My final answer: Every single Christian.
So just as Mary is the mother of all who live in Christ (Rev 12:17, Luke 20:38). We also know that Eve was called the 'mother of all living' (Gen 3:20). So typologically speaking, if Mary is the New Eve, then she would be the mother of all living in Christ.
Comments anyone?