The Emphasis…

Josh February 25th, 2007

Luke 10:27-28

As he said these things, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at which you nursed!” But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”

As we talked about yesterday, sometimes our emphases are own the wrong things. This is another classic example in the book of Luke of Christ having redirect folks’ attentions to the heart of the gospel, and away from emphasizing things that can become a stumbling block.

Here, Jesus has been casting out a demon, we see. Then there are those who wish to catch Him in a lie, or in some way which seeks to diminish His claims of the Gospel. They’re so livid at Christ that they sputter out inonsistent and foolish nonsense. They claim Christ has cast out a demon, by a demonic spirit Himself. Then, of course, Christ shows them their foolishness by exposing the absurdity of their assertion. 

Keeping that in mind, there is a woman who has been listening and watching. Surely she sees the authority with which Christ preaches. She recognizes the power He has over evil spirits. She sees the firmness in His response to the naysayers. Upon accounting for all this, she sees the uniqueness of the Savior and cries out, “Blessed is the womb that bore you…” She is thinking from a motherly perspective. ”Oh”, she thinks, “how proud His mother must be of Him, He speaks with much power, thought, and authority.” She is putting to much emphasis on the specialness of Mary.

Roman ism has this tendency, as well. In fact, many strains of Romanism see Mary as being a co-redemptrix of sorts, in sharing the pain and suffering of Christ’s passion. It’s ridiculous, I know, from Scripture, but has made in roads to the Church. People tend to focus on all the things which make them not think so badly about man’s condition. ”Well, here’s Mary”, some think, “a human, yet obviously specially chosen by God. And if she’s chosen by God, there must be something good about her.” This is, of course, error, as we know ”there is none righteous…no, not even one.”

Christ quickly gives a passive rebuke to the woman’s comment by showing that Mary is no more “blessed” in an eternal sense, than anyone else. He says, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!” So what does He mean? Exactly this: Blessed are those who have been regenerated and are saved by hearing the word of God and grow in grace and knowledge and obedience thereunto.

Once again, don’t get caught up…look to Christ alone by faith alone, and don’t get caught up in the hype.

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