So do Catholics worship Mary? Well according to this article on Catholic Exchange website the answer is….??? Honestly, I’m not sure. The title 5 Facts to Ignore Before Accusing Catholics of “Mary Worship” by suggest that they don’t but his arguments, if you can call them that, didn’t seem to have much relation to the issue. He basically, in each of his five points, seems to say that Mary was important because the Bible says this or that and then seems to gloat about his interpretation. One gets the feeling he’s like, “Ha – take that — she is important!” He acts like there is no refutation to his arguments which are really not arguments but rather assertions since his exposition adds things to the biblical text that simply aren’t there.
Let’s take each point in turn:
1. God Sent The Savior Through Mary – I list this one first because it’s really tough to downplay Mary’s importance while acknowledging that the long awaiting Messiah came to earth by being born of a woman…and that woman was Mary. Out of all the ways that Jesus could have come to earth, why was Mary chosen? If Mary was important to God, shouldn’t she mean something to us?
He asks “why Mary?” and then states that since God chose Mary she must have been important to him and should therefore be important to us.(not and argument) He also states that Christ could have come to earth in many other ways but he chose Mary. To that I say – Really? No, it is not true that Christ could have come some other way because his coming had been prophesied that, he would be born of a virgin and she would have to fit many criteria so that all the criteria of the prophecies could be fulfilled . It was also necessary that he be born of a woman if he was to be a Jew born under the law as Paul says here: Gal 4:4 But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, 5.To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
The point is that Mary was blessed among women not because she was more special or sinless or anything else and it doesn’t say that; she was blessed because she was going to carry the Messiah in her womb and bring him into the world. She was also chosen because of her lineage to fulfill prophecy, not every jewish women would qualify. It was bearing the Son of God that made her blessed and nothing of herself, she “found favour” or grace with God as is indicated in Luke 1:30.
So, Point 1, that Mary was important to God means that she should therefore be important to us means what? A lot of people are important to God, in fact, I’d say the whole world, past, present and future were and are important to God and he proved it by sending his only begotten son to die for their sins and Mary is one of those people whose sins Christ died for.
“2. Jesus Performed His First Miracle At Mary’s Request – This is another good one. Oh I know, Jesus didn’t need Mary to turn the water into wine at Cana. She just happened to be there. OK, why then did St. John list Mary FIRST in his list of wedding guests?”
If Mary is not important in this saga, why is she listed BEFORE the apostles and BEFORE Jesus? St. John the Evangelist was not known for inserting extraneous details. Mary is listed first because John wants to call the readers’ attention to her presence at the wedding.
But what about “the rebuke”? You know, the argument that Jesus was telling Mary to “butt out” when He stated:
“O woman, what have you to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” (John 2:4)
Jesus was a devout Jew and an obedient follower of the Ten Commandments. Why would He publicly dishonor His mother in violation of the Fourth Commandment? Secondly, if this was such a “put down” by Jesus, why did He go ahead and perform the miracle of changing water into wine? Wouldn’t that have been the end of the request. Of course it would, unless He wasn’t putting Mary down. When His mother interceded on behalf of the couple, Our Lord decided that His time had now come. Don’t you think Jesus is trying to tell us something? Isn’t is probable that Jesus waited until Mary’s request, in order to show us her intercessory power? Doesn’t that explain why St. John listed her first among the guests?
“…another good one.” Good one what? Well of course she did not “just happened to be there.” She was obviously invited just as the next verse indicates that Jesus and his disciples were as well. Mr. Zimak makes a point of Mary being FIRST on the list but there is NO list to speak of in the text. It says there was a marriage… and Mary was there. Then it says Jesus and his disciples were “called” to the wedding. He’s then starts conjecturing things that, again, are not in the text – “Don’t you think Jesus is trying to tell us something?” he says, and then the focus goes to Mary once again making things up about why he did the miracle, conjecturing that he was showing us Mary’s “intercessory power”. This is utter nonsense, there is nothing in the text that would lead anyone to believe that that was his purpose. In fact, he was showing us Mary’s faith. Mary knew Jesus’ real identity and he rewarded her for her faith just has he later does with the gentile women from Canaan whom he referred to as a dog. He told her that he was only there for the children i.e. Israel, but because of her great faith he gave her what she asked for and her daughter was “made whole”. So even though his time had not yet come, he rewarded Mary’s faith. (Mr. Zimaks method of interpreting scripture reminds me of the way U.S. Supreme Court Justices interpret the Constitution. “Yes, that’s what it says but we say it means X.”)
Then finally, he suggests that all this is why St. John listed her first. Could it not be that she is first because that is where the story begins? It’s a very short story telling about Christ’s first miracle and the purpose is right there in the context; we don’t have to guess – Joh 2:11 This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him. As this verse says, this was the beginning of Christ’s miracles and the purpose was not to show us Mary’s intercessory power but to manifest (to make known) HIS glory and to buttress his disciples faith. How could it be any clearer?
3. Jesus Gave Mary To John From The Cross – As He suffered and died on the Cross, Jesus made a very profound statement:
When Jesus saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing near, He said to His mother, “Woman, behold your son!” Then He said to the disciple, “Behold your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home. (John 19:26-27)
Why, while struggling to speak as He hung on the Cross, would Jesus have spoken these words if they didn’t mean anything? Could He have been making small talk? Obviously, there was a reason that Our Lord did what He did. The Church has always believed that John represented each member of the Church and that, from that moment on, Mary became our spiritual mother. Scripture tells us that, on that day John accepted Jesus’ gift and “took her to his own home” (John 19:27). Shouldn’t we do the same?”
Here we go again, I guess making stuff up that isn’t there is state of the art for Mr. Zimak or maybe it’s a Catholic thing. The text means just what it says and nothing more. It’s obvious that Mary and John understood perfectly what Jesus was saying because at the end of verse 27 it tells us “And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home.” How anyone can construe all these other machinations from these two verses is beyond me. The verses interpret themselves, there’s no reason for conjecture, just believe the words on the page. If God had intended that this dialogue meant that “Mary became our spiritual mother” why didn’t he just say so.
4. Jesus’ First Graces Were Given Through Mary – This is a fact that frequently gets overlooked by those who wish to downplay Mary’s importance…and it comes straight from the Bible! After accepting God’s offer to become the Mother of the Savior, Mary traveled “in haste” to visit her relative, Elizabeth.
And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the child leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. (Luke 1:41)
According to this Bible passage, before Jesus was even born, Mary’s voice was used to deliver the graces to Elizabeth. Why? Because she’s not important? Isn’t there some other way, these graces could have been dispensed?
Not convinced? Listen to what Elizabeth had to say (also directly from the Bible)…
“For behold, when the voice of your greeting came to my ears, the child in my womb leaped for joy.” (Luke 1:44)
It’s pretty hard to deny the importance of Mary’s presence and voice in dispensing these graces to Elizabeth. Did the graces originate from Mary? No, they obviously came from Jesus. However, He chose to have Mary make the journey and use her voice to deliver them. Why? Because He wants us to realize that she is important!
With his fourth point we are now entering the Twilight Zone and NO, I am not convinced! Now he and or catholicism, makes up doctrine, whole cloth, from something that is nowhere to be found in text or in the Bible period. This is a story being conveyed; a narrative and not doctrine being taught. When you take a narrative and try to turn it into something it is not, you will end up in error and this is exactly what both, Catholicism and Protestantism have done historically.
I guess if you say “God wants us to realize she is important” enough times then we’re supposed to be convinced of something even though nothing in the text would lead the reader to come to the conclusions that Catholicism and the author of this article have come to. This idea of “Jesus’ First Graces” being delivered through Mary is another example of a made-up doctrine that comes from spiritualizing the text which when it comes down to it you Adding to the word of God. He says “According to the Bible” and then says something that is not in the text he is quoting, calling it “fact” which is “these Graces”. There’s nothing in the text whatsoever about these, so called, Graces.
5. Jesus Christ Is The Sole Mediator Between God And Man – Now, this doesn’t make sense. How does this help to support the Catholic position? This is why we Catholics “have it all wrong”, isn’t it? Sorry if I’m bursting anyone’s bubble, but Catholics absolutely believe that Jesus Christ is the sole mediator between God and man. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) clearly states this belief:
Intercession is a prayer of petition which leads us to pray as Jesus did. He is the one intercessor with the Father on behalf of all men, especially sinners. (CCC 2634)
This Catholic teaching is supported by the following Bible passage:
For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all. (1 Timothy 2:5-6)
Although Jesus Christ is the sole mediator between God and man, that doesn’t preclude others (including Mary) from being involved in a subordinate mediation, or intercession. Saint Paul, who made the above statement, is obviously aware of that fact since he several times urges his readers to pray for each other (Romans 1:9, 1 Thessalonians 5:25, 1 Timothy 2:1). The Catechism refers to this type of intercession as being a “participation in the intercession of Christ” (CCC 2635) and is put into practice each time we pray for one another. Asking Mary to intercede for us in no way takes away from Jesus’ role as mediator between God and men.
While I’m not naive enough to think that listing these 5 facts will render me immune from further accusations of “Mary worship”, I do think that they will have an effect if looked at with an open mind. Sacred Scripture does not contain a lot of words about Mary, but what’s there is powerful. Theologians have spent 2,000 years studying her Biblical appearances and will continue to do so. We can learn much by studying Mary’s role as documented in the pages of the Bible. If anyone wants to accuse me of being a “Mary worshiper”, I ask you to first look at these 5 facts. If you still want to point a finger, you’ll need to ignore these factual statements…because accepting them will seriously undermine your credibility!
Point Five is mind boggling because after stating the position of the Catholic Church of Christ being the “Sole Mediator” between God and man he immediately contradicts the position by stating that “Although Jesus Christ is the sole mediator between God and man, that doesn’t preclude others (including Mary) from being involved in a subordinate mediation, or intercession.” Is it just me or does anyone else see the problem here? If Mary is a “subordinate” mediator then Christ is NOT the SOLE mediator, it’s just a matter of degree. But that is not what the Bible teaches. “One” means ONE not other lesser intercessors. It is incredible how anyone could pull the idea of Mary being an intercessor of any kind out of scripture since it’s not there. Talk about reading between the lines!
He then tries to say that praying for one another is analogous to Mary interceding for us and that we are acting as an intercessory but is this really the same as praying TO Mary? NO! When a believer prays for another believer they are praying TO God, so once again we have made up doctrine that DEIFIES Mary since, in order to hear everyone’s prayers she would have to be omniscient which, no human being is or ever will be. Even Satan, who was the pinnacle of God’s created beings, is not omniscient. Only God is omniscient.
Conclusion:
Mr. Zimak seems to think he has actually proven that Catholicism’s super veneration of Mary is taught in Bible but nothing could be further from the truth. This article, especially point “5” proves that Catholics do indeed worship Mary whether they know it or not. With this type of biblical exegesis there is no end to the made-up doctrines that can be concocted and that’s exactly what the “Catholic Church” has been doing for centuries and the Catholic layman and protestant layman as well, must accept these doctrines based upon what? The words of men? Yes, because these men are accepted as having their authority from God but is that really true? Could they be frauds and how can we know? Israel was told that they should “test” the prophets to see if they were indeed prophets but I’m afraid that too many Christians, if they be Christians, feel that they are not to question their leaders and what they purport to be truth. In the book of Acts, it says the Bereans were more noble because they received the word and searched the scriptures to see if these things be so. The Bible is God’s word as it claims to be and believers are not expected to simply take “their” word for it. We must all follow Paul’s admonition to “rightly” divide the word of truth. There’s a word for blindly following the dictates and traditions of men – it’s called a cult.
Paul exhorts Timothy and all believers:
2Ti 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
2Ti 2:16 But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness.
While I agree that teachers are needed in the Church that doesn’t mean all believers are not responsible to study and understand the Word of God for themselves “rightly dividing the word of truth.” (See what the Bibles says about the Bereans) When you stand at the Judgment Seat of Christ (where believers are judged) you will be judged on how you handled God’s word and you’re not going to be able to blame bad teachers. You will suffer loss. We have God’s written word so that we don’t get taken in by these deceitful workers of righteousness and vain babblers. Remember this very important warning from the Apostle of the gentiles:
2Co 11:13 For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.
2Co 11:14 And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.
2Co 11:15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.
In other words, it’s not the Devil with horns and a pitchfork that we need to watch out for, it’s an “angel of light” and his “ministers of righteousness”. Satan is in the business of imitation. This is his primary way of deception and believers must be very wise and the only way of knowing a fraud is to know the real thing extremely well. If you don’t know God’s word you will be taken in by the sleight and cunning craftiness of men. Eph 4:14 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;