“While he was saying this, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts that nursed you!” ²⁸ But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it!”²⁹ When the crowds were increasing, he began to say, “This generation is an evil generation; it asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah. ³⁰ For just as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so the Son of Man will be to this generation. ³¹ The queen of the South will rise at the judgment with the people of this generation and condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to listen to the wisdom of Solomon, and see, something greater than Solomon is here! ³² The people of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the proclamation of Jonah…” Luke 11:27-32

“Blessed are those who hear the word of God and obey it.”  Sounds easy enough, doesn’t it? I find it interesting here that Jesus does not accept the compliment, but deflects it away from himself to G-d. Jesus will go on to heal many and still he is criticized for his actions. As such, there will be a lot of people who will hear the word and yet will not allow it to penetrate their very being. But, can we blame them? Someone like Jesus does not come along often – and so when he does, it is hard to know whether we should believe or not. And yet, one woman raises her voice above the din of voices and calls him blessed. Will we be the lone voice calling him blessed – among the other voices around us? This is the word that we hear, to be a witness for Jesus Christ, and we are to share the love of G-d through Jesus Christ with others.  Will we obey?

Pastor Dave