Adam and Eve, Jesus and Mary

Yesterday was the second of the three-part “Shameless Popery” live apologetics series. It was entitled “The Priesthood of Christ & Adam and Eve, Jesus and Mary.”  The second of those two topics, on the parallels between Adam and Eve with Jesus and Mary, is something that's been covered before on this blog, but I wanted to share a few new things. First, this helpful chart that we prepared for the talk:

Adam & Eve	Jesus & Mary
“In the Beginning” (Genesis 1:1)	“In the Beginning” (John 1:1)
Seven Days (Genesis 1:1-2:3)	Seven Days  (John 1:29-2:1)
Two sinless virgins (Genesis 2:25; Genesis 4:1)	Two sinless Virgins (Isaiah 7:14; Luke 1:34; Hebrews 4:15)
Man is called “Adam” (Genesis 2:20)	Man is called “the New Adam” (1 Corinthians 15:45)
Woman called “Woman” (Genesis 2:23)	Woman called “Woman” (John 2:4; John 19:25-27)
Woman formed from Man (Genesis 2:22-23)	Man formed from Woman (Luke 1:34-35)
Woman Tempted by Fallen Angel (Genesis 3:1)	Woman Greeted by angel (Luke 1:26-28)
Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:8)	Garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:46)
Tree of Knowledge of Good & Evil (Genesis 2:8)	The “Tree” of the Cross (Galatians 3:13)
Sinful Fruit of the Tree (Genesis 3:6)	Sinless Fruit of Mary’s Woman (Luke 1:42)
War Between Serpent & Woman (Genesis 3:15)	War Between Serpent & Woman (Revelation 12:1-5, 15-17)
Renaming from “Woman” to “Mother of the Living” (Genesis 3:20)	Renaming from “Woman” to “Mother” (John 19:25-27)

Second, the accompanying packet talked about how Adam and Eve prefigure both the relationship between Jesus and Mary, and the relationship between Jesus and the Church:

Hermann Schadeberg (?),
Crucifixion with a Dominican friar (1415)

Now, with that in mind, we sometimes see Mary and the Church fulfill this Genesis imagery in unique ways. For example, there are only two people ever described in Scripture as having a single parent; Eve, whose body is taken completely from Adam, while he slumbered (Gen. 2:22-23); and Jesus, who takes on Flesh through the Virgin Mary (Luke 1:34-35). So there, we see a very neat parallel between Adam & Eve and Jesus & Mary.

But this passage is fulfilled in a different way for Jesus & the Church. As mentioned earlier, after His Death on the Cross, a soldier lances Jesus' side, and Blood and water flow out (John 19:34), which the Church Fathers saw as representing Baptism and the Eucharist. It’s through these Sacraments that Christ forms His Church. That is, while Jesus is “sleeping” in Death, His Bride comes forth from His Side, through the saving waters and life-giving Blood. There’s no need to choose one or the other: both of these events are prophetic fulfillments of Genesis 2:22-23.

This is all part of a much larger picture painted in Scripture of Jesus bringing about a New Genesis through His Death and Resurrection. But to get the full picture, you need to understand the role played by the New Eve, which means understanding the role of Mary, icon of the Church.

Enjoy!