Karlo Broussard, Catholic Answers apologist, addresses a question about how to explain Mary’s role as intercessor to a caller’s Lutheran wife. He draws on biblical references to the Queen Mother in the Davidic kingdom and connects them to Mary’s role as the Queen Mother in Christ’s kingdom, the Church.
Transcript:
I just have a quick question because my wife is actually Lutheran, but since we’ve got Mary, she comes to Catholic Mass. She actually enjoys it very much. But she just can’t wrap her head around, you know, not praying to Mary, but praying through Mary and the saints. And we actually at our church, there’s like a grotto with a giant Mary statue and a tiny Jesus statue. I don’t know why, but she feels like a talk to. That’s Catholic.
I just don’t know how to best explain it to her because I know it’s just like if I ask my wife to pray for me, we’re asking those that are closest to God to pray for us. But I just don’t know where like in scripture, how I can best get around to her in a very relaxed way where she can wrap around it and grow in faith through it. Yeah, well, first of all, Brandon, with regard to the second point about the big Mary statue and the little Jesus statue, I would actually have a little problem with that as well. I mean, I would be like, come on, man, you know, you can’t be this in Jesus like that. All right. So I would I would have some sympathy with that. But put that off to the side. And if we talk about the theology of Mary and her intercessory prayer, how do we go about that? Well, Brandon, I suppose you could take the path of articulating for her that Mary is our queen mother within this new and transfigured kingdom of Jesus. The Old Testament backdrop to that is that the queen of the Davidic kingdom was the mother, not the wife, because there were too many wives for the kings within the Davidic kingdom. And a biblical example of this is in First Kings chapter two, Brandon, you might want to check that out, where in chapter one, Bathsheba was the wife of King David.
But then in chapter two, she becomes the mother of the king because David dies, Solomon becomes king. And there’s a whole different sort of response to her. Whenever King Queen, whenever Bathsheba comes into the presence of King Solomon, King Solomon gets up off his throne and prostrates himself in in front of his mother, Bathsheba. And then we’re told he sets up a throne on his right side for Bathsheba. And there are other texts in the Old Testament that hint to the queen mother of the Davidic kingdom and the role that she actually played. She actually had a role of governance within the kingdom and was an advocate, exercised forms of intercession for citizens in the kingdom on their behalf to the king. And that’s even present and articulated and explained in First Kings chapter two. So given that Jesus is the true son of David, legitimate king, he’s restoring and transfiguring the Davidic kingdom in his kingdom, namely the church. It follows that his mother, Mary, would be the queen within that kingdom. And of course, this is described, Brandon, in Revelation chapter 12, when John has his heavenly vision and describes this woman clothed with the sun, which signifies being in God’s glory. And there’s a crown of 12 stars upon her head. And that woman gives birth to the male child to rule with the rod of iron, which is a quote from Psalm two, which is a messianic text and prophecy of the messianic king. It’s King Jesus.
And this woman has given birth to the King Jesus, thereby revealing to us, this woman, Mary is the mother of the king, and she is described in royal with royal dignity, having the crown of 12 stars, revealing to us, Mary is the queen mother within the messianic kingdom. Given that Mary is the queen mother, Brandon, you can explain to, um, he was, I think it was your fiance, if my memory serves me correctly, you can explain to your fiance, Hey, look, you know, given the biblical revelation of Mary as our queen mother, that means she’s an intercessor for her. She intercedes on our behalf to King Jesus. God doesn’t need that, but that’s how God has set it up. Jesus has willed to use his queen, the queen mother of his kingdom, his mother, to be our intercessor, uh, to help us in our lives. And that through her prayers, God will administer many blessings. So you could take that path and then further compliment that with revelation chapter 12 verse 17, where John describes that very woman, Mary, the queen mother as having spiritual children offspring and the offspring of the queen mother are those who keep the commandments of Jesus, i.e. Christians. So there’s biblical confirmation that Mary as queen mother is also our spiritual mother. And so that involves an appropriate honor that we give to her as our mother. And then of course, looking to her for her motherly help. I’ve found that in talking to Protestants, Brandon, for many looking at Mary through the lens of the queen mother can be extremely helpful for them to kind of be at peace and be able to relate to Mary in a way that doesn’t seem threatening to Jesus. And I think ultimately that’s what’s going on, but nothing could be further from the truth.