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The Blessed Virgin Mary has caused many tensions between Protestant and Catholics – many Protestants accusing Catholics of worshipping Mary. But we do not worship her, we honor her. One of the Ten Commandment is “Honor your father and mother”. Jesus, being God in the flesh, was completely without sin. That means that Jesus perfectly obeyed all the commands. So He obeyed the command to “Honor thy father and mother” perfectly. No one ever honored his mother more than He did. And we are called to follow Him. We are called to imitate Him. So if He honored Mary more than anyone ever honored his mother than He did. It was Jesus Himself who put Mary on the pedestal, and He expects us to honor His mother.
Even Martin Luther, the father of Protestantism, saw the need to venerate Mary.
The veneration of Mary is inscribed in the very depths of the human heart. (Sermon, September 1, 1522).
One should honor Mary as she herself wished and as she expressed it in the Magnificat. She praised God for his deeds. How then can we praise her? The true honor of Mary is the honor of God, the praise of God's grace . . . Mary is nothing for the sake of herself, but for the sake of Christ . . . Mary does not wish that we come to her, but through her to God. (Explanation of the Magnificat, 1521).
Is Christ only to be adored? Or is the holy Mother of God rather not to be honoured? This is the woman who crushed the Serpent's head. Hear us. For your Son denies you nothing.
See http://www.davidmacd.com/catholic/martin_luther_on_mary.htm
http://www.mariology.com/sections/reformers.html
John Calvin also had a very high view of Mary
It cannot be denied that God in choosing and destining Mary to be the Mother of his Son, granted her the highest honor.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_(mother_of_Jesus)
To this day we cannot enjoy the blessing brought to us in Christ without thinking at the same time of that which God gave as adornment and honour to Mary, in willing her to be the mother of his only-begotten Son.
The same can be said of another Protestant Reformer, Urlich Zwingli:
I esteem immensely the Mother of God, the ever chaste, immaculate Virgin Mary.
The more the honor and love of Christ increases among men, so much the esteem and honor given to Mary should grow
See again http://www.mariology.com/sections/reformers.html
So even the first Protestants saw the importance of venerating the Blessed Vigin Mary.
