Tuesday, October 29: “Blessed in Obedience”

Luke 11: 27b, 28: “One of the women … said to Jesus, ‘Blessed is the womb that bore You and the breasts at which You nursed.’ But He said, ‘On the contrary, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it.’”

Jesus is not disregarding or disrespecting His mother with these words. On the contrary, He is simply targeting the true reason she is blessed. It was not, as the woman in the crowd believed, Mary’s acts of giving birth and nursing that made her blessed; a surrogate could have done that. Rather, it was when she heard the words of Gabriel she believed, and responded with the words, “May it be done unto me according to your word” (Luke 1: 38), as her cousin Elizabeth made clear (Luke 1: 42, 45).