Mary mentioned in the Bible

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Hi. I am Catholic and I love Mary. I know how important she is and it hurts when people disrespect her. One argument that I hear against her that “she’s not important because she’s not mentioned that much in the Bible” how do I argue that? she’s mentioned I think about 12 times by name in the New Testament. Many thanks.
J.M.J A.M.D.G B.V.M T.T
 
Ask them this:

“Is there anything in Scripture which says that something or someone must be talked about a lot for it or them to be important?”
 
Shinywooper said:
One argument that I hear against her that “she’s not important because she’s not mentioned that much in the Bible”
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That’s a horrible argument… Is St. Paul more important than Jesus Christ, then? Or how about Adam and Eve - are they not of any importance?
 
The Catholic church is not only about Scripture. It’s also about tradition and magestrium. Mary is humble the humblest creature that God has ever created and so she is quite content to remain in the background until it is her time. God was pleased to reveal her later than the Bible was written, why? We can only guess at but probably not to detract from the glory of her son nor the message of the gospel. Devotion to Mary grew in its proper time and place according to Gods will and mans need, hence all the apparitions. There are some who believe the same of St Joseph and that this time is his time and devotions to him are beginning in more recent times as they are needed due to the problems the families. This is simply put. I am not good with dates and times so I haven’t added those but read the great Marian saints St Louis de Montfort St John paul 2 Maximilian Kolbe etc. and Fr Calloway about Joseph. Remember the Church grows in Gods will as God is alive and active. God bless and good luck not an easy question… ps if they insist on the Bible there’s lots of references to Mary in the old testament as well
 
Mary was important enough for Jesus to spend 30 of His 33 years on earth living with her. He only spent 3 years with His apostles.
 
Mary’s spouse was the Holy Spirit.
Mary’s child was the second person of the Trinity.
Mary was the Ark of the New Covenant when she was pregnant.

That should blow any diminishing of Mary out of the water.

Let’s look at this scripture…

2 Samuel 6 New International Version (NIV)​

The Ark Brought to Jerusalem​

6 David again brought together all the able young men of Israel—thirty thousand. 2 He and all his men went to Baalah[a] in Judah to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the Name,[b] the name of the Lord Almighty, who is enthroned between the cherubim on the ark. 3 They set the ark of God on a new cart and brought it from the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, sons of Abinadab, were guiding the new cart 4 with the ark of God on it,[c] and Ahio was walking in front of it. 5 David and all Israel were celebrating with all their might before the Lord, with castanets,[d] harps, lyres, timbrels, sistrums and cymbals.

6 When they came to the threshing floor of Nakon, Uzzah reached out and took hold of the ark of God, because the oxen stumbled. 7 The Lord’s anger burned against Uzzah because of his irreverent act; therefore God struck him down, and he died there beside the ark of God.

At the arrival of the Ark of God, King David was rejoicing together with 30 thousand of his men. A spectacular event. This is written for us Catholics today, so we can appreciate how we should treat our Blessed Mother carrying the Christ child within her. Jesus, in such incredible humility, was so very hidden from the world. When Mary and Joseph took the bumpy ride to Bethlehem before the birth of Christ, we can imagine, from this passage, 30 thousand angels praising God as they traveled. Why? Christ is more than the Ark of the Covenant. Yet humble and hidden. That’s why this is recorded.

There is a reason it’s also recorded that the ox carrying the Ark stumbled, and Uzzah put his hand on the Ark to steady it. Boom! Lying dead on the ground. This is a holy holy holy, Lord of Hosts moment. It also points forward to Mary as the Ark of the New Covenant. Spouse of the Holy Spirit. Christ, the second person of the Trinity.
 
Because its the Gospel of Jesus Christ its not about her - you can read the Gospel of Luke quite obviously he interviewed Mary before he wrote his Gospel he could not of gotten the information from anyone else .
And there is the story of the Black Madonna which was apparently Painted by St Luke at Mary’s request when he would visit her. Its painted on a table they say Jesus made.

Thats about as close as you will get because the Gospel is testimony of Jesus life its not about Mary.

Unlike Catholics it will be hard to convince some protestants I argued with baptist - the pastor I argued with talked about her like she was Satan. Not an easy task.
 
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When a woman in Luke says kind words, Jesus corrects her from thinking of just the biological birthing of Jesus to the supernatural… Jesus himself corrects that thinking, in scripture.
Luke 11:27-28 New International Version (NIV)

27 As Jesus was saying these things, a woman in the crowd called out, “Blessed is the mother who gave you birth and nursed you.”

28 He replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.”
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Mary did give birth, and more importantly, heard the word of God and obeyed it. That is not a put down, that is a holding up.
 
As I understand it, Mary was with our Lord throughout his entire life. There is reference to her in John 2 (The wedding in Cana) after the Apostles had been chosen, as well as in Mark 3.

He taught that a man would leave his father and mother and cling to his wife, but He never married. Does it not follow that a normal single man might have his mother with him,? How much more so in the case of our Lord?

If there is some reference to Him leaving her, I am unaware of it.
 
Again in Luke, the words are so familiar, we just skim over them and miss things. Luke 1…
26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”

29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God.
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Familiar, right? Ok. Why is the greeting troubling her? Is she so familiar with angels coming and going that there is no mention that the angel scared her? Like in the scripture right before this, ‘startled and griped with fear’. That seems like the normal reaction. Unless, for Mary, angels being around were normal. I know. The scripture doesn’t actually say that. It seems implied. When we think that she was without sin her whole life, why wouldn’t she see angels. Even us sinners on occasion realize we’ve been in the company of angels.
11 Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. 12 When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. 13 But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard.
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po18guy said:
As I understand it, Mary was with our Lord throughout his entire life. There is reference to her in John 2 (The wedding in Cana) after the Apostles had been chosen, as well as in Mark 3.

He taught that a man would leave his father and mother and cling to his wife, but He never married. Does it not follow that a normal single man might have his mother with him,? How much more so in the case of our Lord?

If there is some reference to Him leaving her, I am unaware of it.
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Matthew 4:12-13 Now when he heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew into Galilee; and leaving Nazareth he went and dwelt in Caper′na-um by the sea,

The Catholic Encyclopedia mentions it as where Jesus abode " when repelled by the Nazarenes".
 
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True, but Mary was almost certainly a widow by then. Widows were reduced to begging for their subsistence. Does that sound like how He would treat His mother?

Until just recently, I have never heard a claim that Mary remained separated from Jesus for any amount of time. Remember Luke 1:38 “Behold the handmaid of the Lord” (her Son). There was no expiration date on that vow, as Jesus has no expiration date.

Then, when He died (and would soon ascend), He gave Mary to John. She was covered her entire life.
 
I’m sure Jesus would have made sure she was provided for. It’s not like He abandoned her. One can provide for another’s welfare without dwelling in the same house or town. We know Mary sometimes came to where Jesus was spreading His gospel. Eg. Mt. 13:55. And she was in Jerusalem at the time of the Jesus’ crucifixion.

I’m not sure why you never heard about Jesus not living in Nazareth with Mary during His public years. I guess it’s just not something that gets brought up that often. If you doubt the sources (Scripture and encyclopedia) I gave, you might consider asking a priest.
 
What I am trying to say, is where did this idea come from? There is zero scriptural evidence to make this conclusion, and it runs squarely against the prevailing culture. My guess is that non-Catholics, who tend to minimize references to Mary, have started it as a means of showing that she was not important to the Lord, so neither should she be to us.

I mean, it had to come from somewhere.
 
Ask them this: Mary has been known to Christians for about 2000 years, while Luther and Calvin for less than 500 years. So who is more important and who can better lead us to Jesus?
 
po18guy said:
What I am trying to say, is where did this idea come from?
…
I mean, it had to come from somewhere.
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It came from Scripture . And Matthew sees it as a fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah. (See Isaiah 9:1-7)

Matthew 4:12-16 Now when he heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew into Galilee; and leaving Nazareth He went and dwelt in Caper′na-um by the sea, in the territory of Zeb′ulun and Naph′tali, that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:
“The land of Zeb′ulun and the land of Naph′tali, toward the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned.”
 
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Are we having two parallel conversations?

I am asking where the idea that Jesus left His mother for three years came from.

She had already:
  1. Traveled from Nazareth to Ein Keren to visit Elizabeth.
  2. To Bethlehem for the birth.
  3. To Egypt and back to avoid Herod’s killing of the male children.
    She was no stranger to traveling with her divine Son.
 
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