Blessed is womb/ breasts that nursed you?

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HabemusFrancis

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Hey everyone. I just would like to call attention to a bible verse ( I forget where its located) where a crowd is gathered around jesus. In short the crowd says to him, “blessed are breasts that nursed you, and womb that bore you.” Jesus in response says " Don’t say that, rather say blessed is the one who hears the word of god and follows it."

On face value, it seems that Jesus is saying his mother is not all that important, and if one were reading literally, would infer that saying “hail mary” or venerating mary and giving her all sorts of titles is wrong and unscriptural. I am not one of those people, and understand marys important role quite well.

That being said, what is one to make of this verse? How would one explain it to an aggressive, evenangelical christian? More importantly what is Jesus really trying to say here 🤷? I would be curious to know.
 
Mary heard the word of God more than any and followed it more closely than any.

Genealogy was very important in semitic culture. The Pharisees and many Jews believed that they were blessed or righteous simply because they were Jews, because they were “children of Abraham.” Jesus is refuting this. Jesus is teaching that it is not your hereditary status as a Hebrew which makes you blessed, but hearing the word of God and doing it.

John the Baptist had the same message.

Bear fruit that befits repentance, and do not presume to say to yourselves, `We have Abraham as our father’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. (Matthew 3:8-9)

No one bore more fruit than Mary. No one heard the word of God better than Mary - her ear was tuned to God like an experienced musician. No one followed the word of God more closely than Mary.

***And Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” *(Luke 1:38)

It is not a rejection of Mary but a warning against triumphalism. Just because they were Hebrews didn’t mean they were blessed. And it is a warning for us as well - just because we are Catholic doesn’t mean that we are automatically going to Heaven.

-Tim-
 
HabemusFrancis said:
Hey everyone. I just would like to call attention to a bible verse ( I forget where its located) where a crowd is gathered around jesus. In short the crowd says to him, “blessed are breasts that nursed you, and womb that bore you.” Jesus in response says " Don’t say that, rather say blessed is the one who hears the word of god and follows it."

On face value, it seems that Jesus is saying his mother is not all that important, and if one were reading literally, would infer that saying “hail mary” or venerating mary and giving her all sorts of titles is wrong and unscriptural. I am not one of those people, and understand marys important role quite well.

That being said, what is one to make of this verse? How would one explain it to an aggressive, evenangelical christian? More importantly what is Jesus really trying to say here 🤷? I would be curious to know.
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Great question! One that I dealt with recently, at length, on my blog - DOES JESUS DISRESPECT MARY IN LUKE 11? - Give it a read and let me know if you have any questions! You hit a favorite verse of Evangelical “Mary-bashers”. God bless.
 
HabemusFrancis said:
Hey everyone. I just would like to call attention to a bible verse ( I forget where its located) where a crowd is gathered around jesus. In short the crowd says to him, “blessed are breasts that nursed you, and womb that bore you.” Jesus in response says " Don’t say that, rather say blessed is the one who hears the word of god and follows it."

On face value, it seems that Jesus is saying his mother is not all that important, and if one were reading literally, would infer that saying “hail mary” or venerating mary and giving her all sorts of titles is wrong and unscriptural. I am not one of those people, and understand marys important role quite well.

That being said, what is one to make of this verse? How would one explain it to an aggressive, evenangelical christian? More importantly what is Jesus really trying to say here 🤷? I would be curious to know.
Click to expand...
I have always felt that meant to love God above all. We are to love others as we love ourselves. God first, God always. Yes, we love our mother, but we love God and His ways more.

As Mary is the Mother of God we ask for her intercession. Through the Mother to the Son, through the Son to the Father. Ave Maria
 
TimothyH said:
Mary heard the word of God more than any and followed it more closely than any.

Genealogy was very important in semitic culture. The Pharisees and many Jews believed that they were blessed or righteous simply because they were Jews, because they were “children of Abraham.” Jesus is refuting this. Jesus is teaching that it is not your hereditary status as a Hebrew which makes you blessed, but hearing the word of God and doing it.

John the Baptist had the same message.

Bear fruit that befits repentance, and do not presume to say to yourselves, `We have Abraham as our father’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. (Matthew 3:8-9)

No one bore more fruit than Mary. No one heard the word of God better than Mary - her ear was tuned to God like an experienced musician. No one followed the word of God more closely than Mary.

***And Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” ***(Luke 1:38)

It is not a rejection of Mary but a warning against triumphalism. Just because they were Hebrews didn’t mean they were blessed. And it is a warning for us as well - just because we are Catholic doesn’t mean that we are automatically going to Heaven.

-Tim-
Click to expand...
AMEN, God Bless, Memaw
 
HabemusFrancis said:
Hey everyone. I just would like to call attention to a bible verse ( I forget where its located) where a crowd is gathered around jesus. In short the crowd says to him, “blessed are breasts that nursed you, and womb that bore you.” Jesus in response says " Don’t say that, rather say blessed is the one who hears the word of god and follows it."

On face value, it seems that Jesus is saying his mother is not all that important, and if one were reading literally, would infer that saying “hail mary” or venerating mary and giving her all sorts of titles is wrong and unscriptural. I am not one of those people, and understand marys important role quite well.

That being said, what is one to make of this verse? How would one explain it to an aggressive, evenangelical christian? More importantly what is Jesus really trying to say here 🤷? I would be curious to know.
Click to expand...
Jesus is very clear that:
1.* I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.* (Jn 3,3)
2. Whoever loves his father or mother more than he loves me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than he loves me is not worthy of me. (Matt 10,37)

The relations of heavenly nature are more important then earthly ones. We do love our mother and father, siblings and relatives, but this love cannot be equal or greater then the love of God. And Mary is Blessed, because she did hear and follow the word of God: May it be done to me according to your word. (Lk 1,38) Without her acceptance of the will of God we would have no Savior.
 
HabemusFrancis said:
Hey everyone. I just would like to call attention to a bible verse ( I forget where its located) where a crowd is gathered around jesus. In short the crowd says to him, “blessed are breasts that nursed you, and womb that bore you.” Jesus in response says " Don’t say that, rather say blessed is the one who hears the word of god and follows it."

On face value, it seems that Jesus is saying his mother is not all that important, and if one were reading literally, would infer that saying “hail mary” or venerating mary and giving her all sorts of titles is wrong and unscriptural. I am not one of those people, and understand marys important role quite well.

That being said, what is one to make of this verse? How would one explain it to an aggressive, evenangelical christian? More importantly what is Jesus really trying to say here 🤷? I would be curious to know.
Click to expand...
I would say “That is why we as Catholics read the whole bible and don’t just pick out the parts that make it look like the bible says what “I” think.”

There is plenty in the bible that gives glory and honor to Mary… Her cousin Elizabeth, the angel Gabriel, Jesus dying on the cross.

Read the whole bible.

👍

God Bless.
 
CONTINUATION: the relationship we have with Mary is of heavenly nature. She is our Mother, because she gave her to be the Mother of the Church at the feet of the Cross. The scripture does say that John, the apostle, took her in to his house. (Jn 19 25-27)
It is in no way a refuting of Mary in the verse that you cited, but of ordering, which comes first. Love of God is before and greater than the love for our Mother Mary. The Church always acknowledged this and warned about the dangers of adoration towards Mary. We venerate her, for she is the Mother of our Savior.
These guys need to look at the bigger picture. Most of the things they cite are easily confronted. The only real roadblock is the mentality.
 
HabemusFrancis said:
Hey everyone. I just would like to call attention to a bible verse ( I forget where its located) where a crowd is gathered around jesus. In short the crowd says to him, “blessed are breasts that nursed you, and womb that bore you.” Jesus in response says " Don’t say that, rather say blessed is the one who hears the word of god and follows it."

On face value, it seems that Jesus is saying his mother is not all that important, and if one were reading literally, would infer that saying “hail mary” or venerating mary and giving her all sorts of titles is wrong and unscriptural. I am not one of those people, and understand marys important role quite well.

That being said, what is one to make of this verse? How would one explain it to an aggressive, evenangelical christian? More importantly what is Jesus really trying to say here 🤷? I would be curious to know.
Click to expand...
I would say that Jesus is saying just what it appears that Jesus is saying and who do you think heard the Word of God and followed it probably better than anyone?

In other words, I would say that Jesus is saying that being chosen by God means just that being chosen by God, it does not mean that someone is better than someone else just because they have been chosen by God for some reason or another.
 
We see a further example of this in Christ’s response to the flattering salutation of the Rich Young Man: our Lord asks "Why do you call Me good? There is no one good but God alone’ when referred to as ‘Good Master’. Certainly this is not a revelation that the Second Person of The Blessed Trinity is not good, but rather it is an admonition against vain adulation and the characterization of righteousness as anything other than true holiness.
 
As coicidnece, I happened to recently read *Mulieris Dignitatem *by Saint Pope JPII in which he speaks directly about this verse. (I recommend the entire Apostolic Letter, but the specific verse is brought up in part 19 under the heading “Motherhood in Relation to the Covenant”:

"Motherhood has been introduced into the order of the Covenant that God made with humanity in Jesus Christ. Each and every time that motherhood is repeated in human history, it is always related to the Covenant which God established with the human race through the motherhood of the Mother of God.

Does not Jesus bear witness to this reality when he answers the exclamation of that woman in the crowd who blessed him for Mary’s motherhood: “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts that you sucked!”? Jesus replies: “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it” (Lk 11:27-28). Jesus confirms the meaning of motherhood in reference to the body, but at the same time he indicates an even deeper meaning, which is connected with the order of the spirit: it is a sign of the Covenant with God who “is spirit” (Jn 4: 24). This is true above all for the motherhood of the Mother of God. The motherhood of every woman, understood in the light of the Gospel, is similarly not only “of flesh and blood”: it expresses a profound “listening to the word of the living God” and a readiness to “safeguard” this Word, which is “the word of eternal life” (cf. Jn 6:68). For it is precisely those born of earthly mothers, the sons and daughters of the human race, who receive from the Son of God the power to become “children of God” (Jn 1:12). A dimension of the New Covenant in Christ’s blood enters into human parenthood, making it a reality and a task for “new creatures” (cf. 2 Cor 5: 17). The history of every human being passes through the threshold of a woman’s motherhood; crossing it conditions “the revelation of the children of God” (cf. Rom 8: 19)." (JPII, MD, 19)

vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_letters/documents/hf_jp-ii_apl_15081988_mulieris-dignitatem_en.html
 
He [JPII] also speaks directly to this in the Encyclical Redemptoris Mater"
  1. Behold your mother
  2. The Gospel of Luke records the moment when “a woman in the crowd raised her voice” and said to Jesus: “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts that you sucked!” (Lk. 11:27) These words were an expression of praise of Mary as Jesus’ mother according to the flesh. Probably the Mother of Jesus was not personally known to this woman; in fact, when Jesus began his messianic activity Mary did not accompany him but continued to remain at Nazareth. One could say that the words of that unknown woman in a way brought Mary out of her hiddenness.
Through these words, there flashed out in the midst of the crowd, at least for an instant, the gospel of Jesus’ infancy. This is the gospel in which Mary is present as the mother who conceives Jesus in her womb, gives him birth and nurses him: the nursing mother referred to by the woman in the crowd. Thanks to this motherhood, Jesus, the Son of the Most High (cf. Lk. 1:32), is a true son of man. He is “flesh,” like every other man: he is “the Word (who) became flesh” (cf. Jn. 1:14). He is of the flesh and blood of Mary!43

But to the blessing uttered by that woman upon her who was his mother according to the flesh, Jesus replies in a significant way: “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it” (Lk. 11:28). He wishes to divert attention from motherhood understood only as a fleshly bond, in order to direct it towards those mysterious bonds of the spirit which develop from hearing and keeping God’s word.

This same shift into the sphere of spiritual values is seen even more clearly in another response of Jesus reported by all the Synoptics. When Jesus is told that “his mother and brothers are standing outside and wish to see him,” he replies: “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it” (cf. Lk. 8:20-21). This he said “looking around on those who sat about him,” as we read in Mark (3:34) or, according to Matthew (12:49), “stretching out his hand towards his disciples.”
(JPII, RM, 20)
vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_25031987_redemptoris-mater_en.html
 
Hello Habemus.
HabemusFrancis said:
Hey everyone. I just would like to call attention to a bible verse ( I forget where its located) where a crowd is gathered around jesus. In short the crowd says to him, “blessed are breasts that nursed you, and womb that bore you.” Jesus in response says " Don’t say that, rather say blessed is the one who hears the word of god and follows it."

On face value, it seems that Jesus is saying his mother is not all that important, and if one were reading literally, would infer that saying “hail mary” or venerating mary and giving her all sorts of titles is wrong and unscriptural. I am not one of those people, and understand marys important role quite well.

That being said, what is one to make of this verse? How would one explain it to an aggressive, evenangelical christian? More importantly what is Jesus really trying to say here 🤷? I would be curious to know.
Click to expand...
No, Jesus isn’t disrespecting His Mother. He wouldn’t do that for He was sinless and to do so would break the Commandment to Honor your Father and Mother.

I think people read this verse and see in it what they’d like to see and it reveals the feelings some have toward the Church. Mary kept the Word of God in her heart and then it was manifest in her flesh. Remember the conversation she had with the Archangel Gabriel came before the Incarnation. His Word was spoken by the Angel and to God, that kind of trust is holds first place over the rendering in our flesh. The Promise of Redemption to mankind is greater than the flesh that held it, even though that flesh was Mary’s.

Jesus was reading the hearts of the women who made that proclamation that day. They were trying to do her justice by complementing her to her Son’s face and in the presence of others. It is still a great compliment and honor to tell someone to their face that their mom’s are great and should be honored. You visit the King and tell Him what a wonderful woman His Mother is and it will go well with you. Those women were wise in their choice of words and were in fact, asking for a Blessing from God for honoring His Mother in their public witness to her blessedness. We tend to get the same when we do so even to this day.

Glenda
 
glendab

You wrote, “Remember the conversation she had with the Archangel Gabriel came before the Incarnation.”

It had too, Mary could not be forced into doing this, that would have violated Mary’s free will and made Mary merely a “puppet” rather than an active participant in God’s Plan, actually this “conversation she had with the Archangel Gabriel” was God asking Mary’s permission thru Gabriel.

And Mary said, “YES”.
 
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