In the United States, many Christians have a very low view of Mary. Many Protestants think of Mary as an ordinary woman, and the predominance of Protestantism has had a profound influence on the view of many. In his book Jesus and the Jewish Roots of Mary, Brant Pitre tackles many of the controversial doctrines regarding the Blessed Mother. Although the New Testament speaks about Mary subtly, many of the beliefs about her can be found by understanding the Jewish roots of the Christian faith.
However, perhaps the most important thing to know about Mary is that all the teachings about her start with Jesus (Pitre 8). The Gospel of Jesus is focused on the forgiveness of sins, but not just personal sin. Christ’s saving mission is to redeem mankind from the fall through which suffering and death entered the world. To this end, Jesus is the new Adam “whose obedience undoes the disobedience of the first Adam” (Pitre 14). The purpose of the mission is to undo the effects of the fall and restore the original righteousness of our first parents. However, Adam was not alone in this sin.
Adam’s partner, Eve, plays an essential role in the fall. Adam and Eve are tricked by the serpent, and all three suffer consequences of this action. However, in Genesis 3:15, we see the evidence of a future conflict between the serpent and the woman (Pitre 20). In this passage, the serpent’s offspring strike at the heel of the woman’s offspring, and he crushes the head of the serpent. There are many writings that identify the offspring of Eve with the Jewish Messiah (Pitre 23). In the New Testament, we find evidence that Mary is the New Eve, just as Jesus is the new Adam.
Mary appears in the Gospel of John only twice, but at the Wedding Feast of Cana, we can see several parallels between her and Eve. First, John emphasizes that the wedding took place on the third day, which seems like oddly extraneous information (John 2:1). John’s Gospel begins with the first seven days of Jesus’ ministry, which seem to correspond to the seven days of creation (Pitre 27). This would indicate that when Jesus addresses Mary as ‘woman,’ he is making an allusion to Genesis 3:15. Mary invites Jesus to perform his first sign, just as Eve invited “the first Adam to commit the first sin” (Pitre 27).
Recalling that the offspring of the woman is meant to crush the head of the serpent, in the Gospel of John, Jesus describes his death as the way to defeat the devil. At that hour, he again addresses Mary as ‘woman.’ “Implicit in the title ‘woman’ is that her full destiny is to be the ‘woman’ of Genesis 3:15” (Pitre 28). Mary invites the New Adam just as Eve invited the old, and the Offspring of Eve destroys the Serpent just as the Offspring of the New Eve, Mary, conquers the Devil.
If that were not enough, we also have the testimony of the Early Church Fathers. “In ancient times, the parallels between Eve and Mary were widely recognized... just as Eve played a unique role in the fall... so Mary plays a unique role in its redemption” (Pitre 32). Many of those in the early Church saw the clear connection between Mary and Eve, such as Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, and Ephrem the Syrian.
Old Testament types are never greater than their fulfillments. Adam prefigures Jesus, but Adam is not greater than Jesus (Pitre 35). Just as Eve was created without sin, it is reasonable to suggest that Mary was also without sin. If Mary “had committed even one sin, then the old Eve would be greater than the new Eve” (Pitre 35). This is a very controversial doctrine to many modern Christians, but we have to be careful to view both Jesus and Mary from an ancient Jewish perspective. If God creates Adam and Eve without sin, it makes sense for the new Adam and new Eve to be likewise.
Perhaps a clearer type even than Eve for Mary is the Ark of the Covenant. In the Old Testament, God instructs the people to build a portable temple for him as they wander through the wilderness. They were then to place a box, the Ark, inside this Tabernacle which “is the dwelling place of God on earth” (Pitre 44). This box contains the Ten Commandments, among several other items. It is made of incorruptible wood and covered in pure gold (Pitre 44). The glory cloud descends upon the Tabernacle as a sign that God is with his people.
When the Angel Gabriel comes to the Virgin Mary, she is overshadowed with the Holy Spirit, just as the glory cloud overshadows the Tabernacle (Pitre 55). It seems fairly clear that this is meant to indicate that Mary is the new Ark. She is now the special dwelling place of God, but this time in flesh. Further, when comparing the text of David bringing the Ark to Jerusalem to the visitation of Mary by the Archangel Gabriel, we see many indications that Luke intended to turn his readers' attention to Mary as the new Ark (Pitre 58).
In the book of Revelation, we see the “woman clothed with the sun.” There are many opinions about who she is, who the serpent is, and who the child is. "There are good reasons to conclude that the ‘woman clothed with the sun’ is both an individual figure and a symbol for the Church” (Pitre 31). Generally, the dragon is identified with Satan, and the child with Jesus. It makes sense for the woman to be an individual, Mary, also. However, it should also be noted that the ark of his covenant also appears in the heavenly temple with the woman (Pitre 61). “The Ark and the woman are dual symbols for Mary, the mother of the Messiah” (Pitre 62).
In the Old Testament, King David brings the Ark to Jerusalem to place it in the tabernacle. In a similar way, it should be expected that Jesus as the new David, would bring Mary into the heavenly Temple. This follows what many ancient Christians thought when they described Mary’s Dormition (Pitre 66). Recalling that the Ark was made of incorruptible wood and covered in pure gold, it makes sense for Mary’s body to also be incorruptible for she held within herself God incarnate.
The original Ark of the Covenant was lost, but Revelation tells us that the true Ark is in heaven. The new Ark is a true dwelling place of God and “she is the one who, through God’s grace, has been made completely holy” and is free from corruption (Pitre 68). This heavenly assumption of the new Ark foreshadows the resurrection of the body. Just as Mary shared in her son’s glory, it shows us that men can partake of the bodily resurrection of Christ (Pitre 69).
Throughout the Old Testament, types are used in many places, especially as they pertain to Messianic ideas. However, it should come as no surprise that many types are also used to describe Mary. When we look at a type such as the Ark of the Covenant, it can tell us a lot about the figure who is being described. This helps guide the Church and make her teachings more readily understandable, especially amidst the hostility that she often must navigate.
Mary is the new Ark. Just as the cloud of God’s glory dwelt among the Ark/Tabernacle, so God himself took on flesh and dwelt within the Blessed Virgin. The Ark was covered in gold to symbolize its purity, and no man could even dare touch it. Just so, Mary was preserved from the stain of sin and was touched by no man. The Ark was made from incorruptible wood, just as Mary’s body was preserved from corruption after her death.
We see that the Old Testament indicates that Mary was not to be an ordinary woman, but through the teachings of the Church, we begin to see much more clearly. We see the teachings of the Immaculate Conception, Mary’s perpetual virginity, and the Assumption. All of these teachings of the Church are subtly hinted at in the texts of the Bible and hidden from readers who do not approach the books from an ancient Jewish perspective. Mary herself is a type of the Church, as taught in *Lumen Gentium* (63). The Church receives the word of God in faith and becomes a mother to all of the faithful.
Just as Mary was without spot or blemish, each of us must strive to increase our holiness. Mary is a model for the Church and for all of us. Just as her obedience undoes the disobedience of Eve, we can trust that God gives us the grace to turn from sin, pick up our cross, and follow him. Even though it can be difficult for us to see, the Church teaches the truth which we receive in faith and is a tool that helps us persevere to the end, by the grace of God.
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