I spoke on May 21, 2016 on how to be blessed at a local luncheon of the Lutheran Women in Missions League (LWML).
Here are my remarks based on Luke 11:27-28:
“Blessed is the mother who gave you birth and nursed you. He [Jesus] replied,’blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.'”
Context: In the verses preceding this passage, Luke 11: 14-26, Jesus responded to those accusing him of being in league with Satan.
He talked about a “house divided cannot stand,” and described what happens when a demon was ejected from a house but no one filled the house with good things. When the demon returned with demon friends,the household ended up worse off than before the evil was cleaned out the first time.
Jesus’ words of truth inspired a woman in the crowd to shout, “blessed is the mother who gave you birth and nursed you,”– a traditional form of blessing among Jews.
God is not a respecter of persons and while Jesus loved his mother, he replied with what was most important to him:
“Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.”
Let’s look at a couple other verses to get to the heart of Jesus’ message—hearing and obeying the word of God.
Acting on what God has said is more important than who you are (in this case, his mother). Matthew 12:46-50:
While Jesus was still talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to him. Someone told him, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you.”
He replied to him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” Pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”
Again, Jesus stressed it wasn’t who they were that was important to him so much as what they did: obeyed the will of God.
Mary, of course, is the epitome of obedience to God, as noted in Luke 1:43-45. As soon as Mary learned she was pregnant with the Messiah, she journeyed to see her cousin Elizabeth. Elizabeth’s response:
“But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!”
Elizabeth praised God because of Mary’s obedience to believe what God has done in her womb.
St. Mary Church Gdansk
Mary was blessed because she heard the word of God from an angel and submitted to it—obeyed it.
The personal application to us?
We cannot all be Jesus’ mother—he had only one—but we all can choose the second half of that blessedness: we all can be women who hear the word of God and obey it. “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.”
How do you do that?
The best way to know Jesus? The best way to obey the word of God?
By hearing the Word of God and taking the Word of God to heart.
The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.
Jesus is the Word of God. Studying his Word, applying his Word, obeying his Word, loving his Word–are the keys to being blessed.
How does all this apply to the Lutheran Women’s Missionary League?
For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile [between Mary the mother of God and you]—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent?”
This month’s initiative with the LWML, “The LCMS Global Seminary Initiative,” aims to provide scholarships so pastors from emerging countries can attend seminary and return to their communities to teach—to share the Word of God in a way that people can obey it.
The mission statement of the LWML is “to assist each woman in the LCMS in affirming her relationship with the Triune God so that she is enabled to use her gifts in ministry to the people of the world.”
The LWML aims to assist those seeking to know Jesus and to act.
Mary was blessed because she obeyed God and gave birth to Jesus seemingly without complaint.
But that’s not all she did.
She nursed her child.
To nurse, obviously, is to feed the baby—but it was more than giving the baby her breast.
She nurtured her child, just as any of us can nurture the gifts, talents and abilities of those within our own church body—particularly those who would go out to preach the Word of God, whether in a church or on the mission field.
We all can be part of that nurturing within our own homes and our own church community. The Body of Christ has many members, and we all have been giving certain skills.
Matteo Pagano [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
As part of the Body of Christ, and in obedience to God, we should stir up one another to love and good works—and among those good works are nurturing others in the faith—whether by leading a Bible study, praying, contributing to missions work or just standing by to help in times of need.
Mary was Jesus’ mother, but she also was his sister in the faith. She pondered things in her heart about the precocious child in her midst.
She made sure Jesus participated in the rituals of our faith.
She may have gotten impatient with him when he tarried in Jerusalem and missed the family trip home, but when she realized he was about his Father’s business Mary knew her teenager had paid close attention to the most important thing: knowing the Word of God and obeying it.
(We can talk about obeying your father and mother later!)
Are you blessed?
My charge to you all today is to give serious thought to two questions:
1. How am I hearing the Word of God and obeying it?
2. How can I encourage others to hear (and thus obey) the Word of God?
Because, according to Jesus, it’s not who you are, but how you listen to and obey the Word of God that enables you to be blessed.
Tweetables
The key to being blessed by God. Click to Tweet
Jesus on who is more blessed than Mary. Click to Tweet
How to be blessed. Click to Tweet
Thank you, Michelle, for sharing your inspired teaching. Your ladies were blessed to hear your message.