How to read biblical Mariology?

How to read biblical Mariology: method and keys of interpretation

Here we are going to learn together how actually to read Sacred Scripture and the “Marian verses” Mariologically.

Only in recent decades have we seen rigorous studies of Biblical Mariology that allow us to rediscover the pearls contained in the verses. Of the utmost importance is the link between the fact and the meaning, for this is not a documentary describing facts but a text of theology. Interest in the events and in history is not excluded by the evangelists, but it is not the preponderant element. This distinction is very important when we think about biblical Mariology: the itinerary toward the formation of the texts of Sacred Scripture about Mary presents us with a mediation between the text and the ecclesial tradition that precedes it. Today we can say with all certainty that there is a liturgical tradition that later finds its confirmation in Sacred Scripture.

Other elements to take into consideration when we read the ‘Marian’ verses are their influences from the ancient Jewish Scriptures, whether or not present in the Old Testament, and the contemporary literature of Israel, which are illuminated by the Pasch and by the cradle of the Child of Bethlehem. In truth, a very important point is the fact that the infancy of Jesus anticipates, more than the Resurrection, the glory of the Cross and the rejection of the Son of Man on the part of those who were the Chosen People.

These parallels are so important that they open us to the understanding of the relations of the Marian verses with the whole culture of Israel, with all the newness of the Incarnation and of the Cross, and they condense the Gospels. This relationship between the infancy narratives and the rest of the Gospel is a wellspring that still surprises us today. This study of harmony and continuity among the Marian verses must dig into the language, the style, the literary and thematic peculiarities of the Gospel chapters.

Another very important element in the understanding of the Marian verses is the relationship between Tradition and redaction. We cannot ignore the redaction, but neither can we ignore the interpretative tradition of that redaction, for the new things and the old things of this treasure are interwoven (Mt 13:52).

The Hebrew element of the synagogal and rabbinic liturgical tradition has been the object of rigorous attention on the part of biblical Mariology. In fact, the folkloric and fanciful bent with which the Marian verses were viewed in recent centuries ended up degenerating into a theological inattention that today has turned into forgetfulness. Even though they inspired artistic expressions that are still masterpieces of humanity, their value in contemporary Christian theology has become uprooted to the point of being regarded as ‘optional’.

As a contribution to the understanding of the way in which the redaction of the text was built up, I want to present what is meant by ‘the influence of targumic and midrashic literature on the Marian verses’.

Targum: it means Tradition. In the Talmud it indicates the biblical texts in the Aramaic language. Thus we have the Targum of Daniel or of Ezra. Later the word Targum came to be understood as the translation of the Bible into the Aramaic language. In these translations we find encoded the profound meanings of the words and even of the targumim expressions that afterwards became part of the New Testament.

Midrash: this word means edifying narrative, interpretation. The term comes from the Hebrew word drš which means to seek, to ask, to demand, to question. Its origin, in a generic sense, takes on the meaning of seeking God in worship, in the law, in prayer. Thus, the midrash would be the fruit of such a search. Darash and Midrash indicate respectively a method of interpreting Sacred Scripture and the result of such interpretation. This method goes beyond the literal, simple and obvious sense of the text in order to scrutinize all its deeper aspects. With the help of rules, this search for the vital sense exists in order to be put into practice and adapted to the ever new demands of the community. The midrash has Sacred Scripture as its starting point, is present within the Bible, was practiced in the rabbinic schools and in the synagogues known to Jesus and Mary, transmitted orally, forming collections of midrashim that are fundamentally continuous commentaries on Sacred Scripture, or else commentaries on the Sabbath and feast-day readings, homiletic midrashim.

These were the common forms by which Mary and Jesus were instructed in Hebraism. But when the text we are commenting on cannot be illuminated by the law and the prophets, but is a person-event, a new way of reading the Scriptures opens up. Christ dead and risen is the starting point and the end point of every rereading and updating of the Sacred Scriptures. The absolute left the Law, in whose service the reflections were developed, and came to be Christ, who brings the Torah (law) to its end with His interpretations. This means that, although we attempt to grasp the scriptural context and the modes of reading and interpretation of that time, we cannot stop there as something taken for granted, for before the Marian verses we are cast into the sea of originality.

We can say that all the Marian verses, however few they may be, are present at the dominant points of the New Testament: Incarnation, Paschal Mystery and Pentecost. The verses have to be interpreted and read in the light of their proximate and at the same time remote meaning, for the gradual character of the presence of Mary in Sacred Scripture is a wellspring that does not form part of the typical witness of the apostolic preaching. But in the public and active life of Jesus, in the commitment to salvation, Mary is present at the side of the Son and of the disciples, uniting herself in the convergences, memories and traditions of the witnesses of the preaching and resurrection of Christ. Then we can say that Jesus in Scripture reveals to us who His Mother is.

The attentive reader will now recognize that reading the Marian verses requires listening simultaneously to the voice of the sacred text and to that of the living Tradition that precedes and prolongs it.

To deepen Biblical Mariology, consult the encyclical of John Paul II: Redemptoris Mater, a model of biblical and theological reading about Mary in the history of salvation.

Deepen your studies: explore Mariology, Marian Theology, Marian apparitions and the Postgraduate Program in Mariology.