Mary is the very symbol of the Incarnation, a doctrine that Protestants seem to play down. But apart from that, there is a now a tendency for Protestants to forget that God is just, and that Jesus is our Judge. We can go directly to Jesus, you say. Well, yes, but begging for mercy, for when we die and when he shall comes again it will be as the Supreme Judge of the world. Mary does not judge us.
She became the Mother of God, in which work so many and such great good things are bestowed on her as pass man’s understanding. For on this there follows all honor, all blessedness, and her unique place in the whole of mankind, among which she has no equal, namely, that she had a child by the Father in heaven, and such a Child . . . Hence men have crowded all her glory into a single word, calling her the Mother of God . . . None can say of her nor announce to her greater things, even though he had as many tongues as the earth possesses flowers and blades of grass: the sky, stars; and the sea, grains of sand. It needs to be pondered in the heart what it means to be the Mother of God.
(Commentary on the Magnificat, 1521; in Luther’s Works, Pelikan et al, vol. 21, 326)
No he is not. He is our redeemer.
>> Well, yes, but begging for mercy, for when we die<<
What’s all this begging for mercy thing? Christ died for our sins and made us righteous if we but believe.
>> and when he shall comes again it will be as the Supreme Judge of the world.<<
Believers have already been judged to be cleansed by the blood of Christ. No judgment day for believers, only rewards day.
>> Mary does not judge us.<<
You got that right. Mary does nothing for us. Her responsibilities stopped the day she died and was buried.