The Queen Mother: The New Covenant

Is Jesus the Successor of David?

We know that Israel’s Old Testament kings had queen mothers. The exceptions were when a king started a new dynastic line, such as Saul and David. That’s why both Saul and David did not have queen mothers.

So, the question before us is this: Did our Lord start a new dynastic line (thus, with no Queen mother) or was He the successor of David (and so had a Queen mother)? To get the answer we must turn to the New Testament.

Matthew 1:1: This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David …

Matthew 9:27: As Jesus departed, two blind men followed him, crying out, “Have mercy on us, Son of David.”

Matthew 20:31: Now the crowd scolded them, telling them to be quiet. But they shouted even louder, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!”

Luke 20:41: Then Jesus said to them, “Why do they say that the Messiah is David’s son?”

– How does the New Testament refer to Jesus?

Even the genealogy of Jesus shows that He is the rightful heir of King David. But to see this, we need to understand how the Hebrew language denoted numbers. Hebrew did not have numbers like we do in English. The Hebrew language used letters to signify numerical value.

Knowing that, what seems, at first glance, to be just a genealogy turns out to be a masterpiece of literary craft. Matthew separates the genealogy of Jesus into three groups of 14 generations.

Matthew 1:17: So there were 14 generations from Abraham to David, 14 generations from David to the exile to Babylon, and 14 generations from the exile to Babylon to the Messiah.

By arranging the genealogy that way, Matthew draws our attention to the number 14. Remembering that Hebrew doesn’t have vowels, the three Hebrew letters in David’s name (D W D) is the number for 14! So each genealogy is repeating to the first readers and hearers of Matthew (who were Jews) that Jesus is the real heir of David’s throne!

– If 14 states that Jesus is the real heir of David, what does that mean?

But why three lists of 14? Was Matthew trying to say anything by that? To make sense of this, we need to have the Old Testament shape us in our understanding of number groupings (we’ll delve much deeper into this when we study Revelation).

The Old Testament rings out with three as the primary symbol for God in number, image, and its use of words and phrases. The examples are numerous! Here are only a few examples to show that someone steeped in the Old Testament had this understanding of three being related to God.

Deuteronomy 10:8: At that time the Lord set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the covenant of the Lord to stand before the Lord to minister to him and to bless in his name, to this day.

This verse is separated into three repetitions of God’s name. We find 34 such examples in the Old Testament, not counting the Apocrypha.

Exodus 3:6: And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”

This phrase and its variations (God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob) appear in the Bible at least 28 times in the Old Testament.

Many other examples abound, but this is simply to make the point that three is biblical number for God.

With Matthew’s genealogy, we see 14 repeated three times. Besides explicitly calling Jesus “son of David” and “the Messiah,” Matthew’s use of literary genre also highlights Jesus as the rightful heir to King David’s throne (14) who is also God (3)!

Jesus is our King. Is Mary our Queen Mother?

Jesus did not start a new dynasty. That’s the whole point of Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus. Jesus is the Son of David, born into David’s family, and the successor to David’s throne. So, like the other successors, and the fulfillment of the Old Covenant, Jesus also had a Queen mother.

But now imagine the opposite. If Jesus did not have a Queen Mother, what would that imply? It would imply that Jesus started new dynastic line and was not in the dynastic line of David. That is why Mary, by God’s design, is also the Queen mother for us in the New Covenant. For when we have a Queen Mother, it is an affirmation that Jesus is our King, and not some imposter.

How Do Understand the Reality of Mary as our Queen Mother?

As with the Queen Mothers in ancient times, the honor someone gives to the Queen Mother honors the King, for she affirms the King’s right to the throne. No king would be angry with his subjects for honoring his mother, for such honor affirmed him as the rightful king. However, he could be angry with his subjects if they ignored or disparaged the Queen Mother, since such treatment would speak unfavorably to his right to be king. The same is true for Mary as our Queen Mother.

When Christians honor Mary, they are simply magnifying their honor of Christ because of what God has done through her. As the early Christian Epiphanius once wrote, “He who honors the Lord, also honors the holy [mother]; he who dishonors the holy [mother], dishonors his own Master as well” (Panarion, Heresy 78, 21,5). This is especially true with Mary as Queen Mother, for she becomes the tangible, public recognition that Jesus is truly the Son of David, Our King and Lord.

There is no competition between Mary and Jesus anymore than there is a competition between a righteous King and Queen mother. The King is the sovereign Lord and the Queen mother is a servant of the King and His kingdom.

How Then Do We Honor Mary?

We now enter an unclear area. This we do know: We are to honor Mary, for she is our Queen Mother. What we don’t know is exactly how. For how people honored Queen Mothers in the Old Covenant does not directly apply to us for two reasons:

The Old Covenant foreshadowed what was to take place in the New. The Old Testament foreshadowings have value in that they point us to what is to take place, in its fulfilled way, in the New Covenant. So, we are to honor Mary as our Queen Mother, but the New Covenant (New Testament) does not tell us how, except that all generations are to call her blessed, that is, to praise and honor her!
The honoring of Queen Mothers in the Old Covenant does not directly correlate to what we are to do in the New. Old Covenant Queen Mothers were here on earth; Mary is in eternity.

So, the difference is not only translating Old Covenant actions into the New, but also relating to a Queen Mother in eternity, in the Church Triumphant, instead here in the Church Militant. This doubly complicates what we are to do.

What then are we to do and not to do? We can make these statements with certainty!

We are to honor and remember Mary, recognizing that she is our Queen Mother (even though we can’t say for certain how that reality is to be lived out among us in the New Covenant). Yet, because she is our Queen Mother, we should honor and remember her more that any other saint in eternity. Why? Because Jesus is our King and so Mary is still our Queen Mother. She is the only saint in all of eternity who is our Queen Mother. This is a present-tense reality.
We are to honor and remember her in the Church. Not to do so would violate Scripture itself. Mary sang in the Magnificat, “For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed” (Luke 1:48). We are still to do this, for we are part of “all generations.”
We do not ignore her and treat her in a way that denies or belittles her role as Queen Mother. To do so is to dishonor Christ and imply that He is not our rightful King.

So, How Have Lutherans Chosen to Honor Mary?

Knowing that we are in a somewhat ambiguous area, our Apology [Defense] to the Augsburg Confession answers that question.

Our Confession approves honoring the saints in three ways.

The first is thanksgiving. We should thank God because He has shown examples of mercy, because He wishes to save people, and because He has given teachers, and other gifts to the Church. These gifts, since they are the greatest, should be amplified. The saints themselves, who have faithfully used these gifts, should be praised just as Christ praises faithful businessmen (Matthew 25:21, 23).
The second service is the strengthening of our faith. When we see Peter’s denial forgiven, we are also encouraged to believe all the more that grace truly superabounds over sin (Romans 5:20).
The third honor is the imitation, first of faith, and then other virtues. Everyone should imitate the saints according to his calling. The adversaries [that is, the Roman Catholic Church] do not require these true honors. They argue only about invocation, which even if it were not dangerous, still is not necessary. (AP XXI, 4-7)

– Discussion: How can we live out these three areas, specifically concerning Mary, both as a congregation and in our private lives?

Why Don’t We “Pray” to Mary Like the Roman Catholics Do?

Our Apology answers that, as well. It reads:

Furthermore, even if the saints do pray for the Church [which our Confessions say they do, including Mary], that does not mean they should be invoked. Our Confession affirms only this: Scripture does not teach the invocation of saints, or that we are to ask the saints for aid. Since neither a command nor a promise nor an example can be produced from the Scriptures about the invocation of saints, it makes sense that conscience remains uncertain about this invocation. Without the testimony of Scripture, how do we know that the saints know about the prayers of each one? (AP XXI, 10)

– Is invoking the saints in eternity forbidden? Is it commanded?

– What term do we use for something that is neither commanded nor forbidden?

– Why then do we not teach such a practice?

Homework