Christianity grew out of Judaism, but from very early on, also understood itself as something different, something new — the fulfillment of what had come before. So the task of the first Christians was essentially to find a way to integrate the Old Testament Scriptures into their lives in light of the Resurrection and to differentiate themselves appropriately from those in the Jewish community, who did not believe that Jesus was the Messiah.

Scholar and historian Jaroslav Pelikan points to the role Mary played in this process. In his book Mary Through the Ages, he wrote: “Because Mary was … ‘Of the House and lineage of David,' she represented an unbreakable link between Jewish and Christian history, between the First Covenant within which she was born and the Second Covenant to which she gave birth.”

Mary's role as bridge between the Old and New Testaments is also expressed in her lineage. It is widely believed that she, like her husband Joseph, was a descendant of King David. A recently published book called Mary's Message to the World offers an interesting anecdote. The book features a woman named Annie, who experienced multiple visions of the Virgin Mary. When she first encountered Mary she said, “You can't appear to me because I'm not Catholic.” The Virgin Mary replied, “Nor am I.”

It may not be something one thinks about everyday, but Mary was raised Jewish, not Christian. She was spiritually and culturally deeply connected to Judaism.

According to extra-Biblical accounts, Mary was raised in the temple and very much lived according to the laws of Judaism, or the Old Covenant. Yet she was chosen, in a sense, to give birth to the person who was to become the New Covenant. As much as her life, her lineage, and her spiritual witness expressed her heritage and past, her willingness to become Theotokos or to become “the one who gave birth to the one who was God,” helped her to bridge the gap between the Old and New Covenants.