Luke 11:27-32 Blessed is the Mother
Format for Your Devotions
Instructions: Do not read my example devotion until you have completed your own devotional time in the scriptures. Reading my thoughts first may limit your own understanding. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you alone before looking to see what anyone else has to say, whether it is me, a Bible commentary, or a friend. Let God speak to you before you let another person speak to you. I have provided a format, but modify it to fit your needs. For example, I usually combine my application and prayer together talking to God about the application to my own life. You can go through this devotion process mentally, speaking out loud, or in writing as you wish. Don’t worry if you are not following this process exactly. Sometimes, I add extra information and sometimes I emphasize one part more than others. However, you should always think about what you learn about God from this passage.
Step 1: Pray–Ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance first of all and that God may reveal the lessons that He wants you to have that day. Request that God protect you from Satan’s distractions (and the devil will try to distract you whether it is pinching the baby or putting you to sleep). Ask to see God more clearly as you read and think about the passage.
Step 2: Read the passage–Read to get an overview of the information first. Then start looking at specific parts after the first reading. You may read a larger or smaller section than I have here because you do not have to follow my organization at all.
Step 3: Understand the passage–You can summarize, ask and answer your own questions about the passage, visualize the story, analyze the characters, and relate this passage to other scriptures and personal experiences.
Step 4: What does this reveal about God?–What do you learn about the Father, Son, and/or Holy Spirit from this passage?
Step 5: Apply this to your own life.
Step 6: Prayer
My Example Devotion: September 4, 2018 Luke 11:27-32
Note: In the devotion examples, I leave my questions and thought processes in the text because I am trying to demonstrate that a devotional time is a dialogue with God about what you are reading from His word. As such, any questions or ideas that you have should be explored by talking it out with God. These example devotions are not my attempts to teach you what the meaning of a particular scripture is. They are an attempt to teach you the process of devotions, which is a combination of prayer and Bible study where you explore ideas with God as you read His word.
As Jesus was saying this, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and told him, “How blessed is the womb that gave birth to you and the breasts that nursed you!” But he said, “Rather, how blessed are those who hear God’s word and obey it!” Now as the crowds continued to throng around Jesus, he went on to say, “This people living today are an evil generation. It craves a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah, because just as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so the Son of Man will be a sign to this generation. The queen of the south will stand up at the judgment and condemn the people living today, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon. But look, something greater than Solomon is here! The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment and condemn the people living today, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah. But look, something greater than Jonah is here!”
(Understanding the Text) Some people believe that they are blessed or cursed by being born into a position in life. The woman in the crowd believed in Jesus as the Messiah and was thinking of the Jewish women’s hope that they would be the mother of the Messiah. She was thinking about how great it would have been to be the mother herself. She called out a blessing on Jesus’ mother. Jesus responded that the blessed people were those who listened to God’s word and obeyed it. He then went on to say that the people were not listening to God’s word, instead demanding signs before they would believe. This goes back to Luke 11:16 before this where the Pharisees were demanding signs.
Jesus told them that the only sign that they would receive was the sign of Jonah. He said that Jonah became a sign to the people of Ninevah. I never thought about it before, but was the reason that Ninevah repented because of the miracle of Jonah being in the belly of the whale? Had the story of the storm and Jonah being thrown into the sea made its way to them? Did Jonah repeat the story of being in the whale? Did someone, or a group of someones, see Jonah being vomited from the whale onto shore and report the sight to the king? This miracle added to his message would have been powerful. If a whale came up onto shore in front of a large group of people and opened its gigantic mouth and a man walked out who then started telling them that God was going to destroy their city, it would make a deep impression and add power to the message.
(Revelation of God) Jesus became a sign to that generation because just as Jonah performed the impossible act of walking out of the mouth of a whale, Jesus performed the impossible act of walking out of His own tomb. He was telling people that there would be a sign, and that it would be so great that they would have to finally pay attention to it. However, He condemns those who will not listen as being worse than the people of Ninevah. He speaks of Himself as greater than Solomon or Jonah whose words were wise or had the power to change a whole city. He condemns the people who were not listening to His words and the scriptures because they were face-to-face with their Creator, and they still stubbornly refused to believe. They refused to hear the wisdom of Jesus’ words, and they refused to repent at the message that they were given.
(Understanding the Text) I think that the part where Jesus rejected the woman’s blessing and deflected it back to her is a good place to show that Mary should not be revered. Jesus pointed out that Mary was blessed, not because she had a baby, but because she was obedient to the word of God. It was Mary’s willingness to follow God’s word, not a physical act of nature that resulted in a King, that blessed her.
(Application / Prayer) My application to myself is that Jesus says that I need to listen and obey His word. I am not somehow blessed because I did something, but because of the reason that I did something. Was I obeying God’s word, or was I doing it out of selfishness or pride? Do I ask for signs and use that as an excuse not to obey? I pray that I don’t. I am blessed that I hear You when You speak to me. That is a blessing in and of itself. I need to continue to pray and listen so that I can hear You when You speak to me.