Catholic response to Luke 11:27-28
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It simply means that Mary is blessed not only for bearing the flesh of Christ, but most of all because she heard the word of God and obeyed it.
"Mary is more blessed in receiving the faith of Christ, than in conceiving the flesh of Christ. ... For his brothers, his relatives according to the flesh who did not believe in him, of what advantage is that relationship? Even her maternal relationship would have done Mary no good unless she had borne Christ more happily in her heart than in her flesh." (Of Holy Virginity -3 - St. Augustine).
Please note that in the preceding verse a women acclaims, "Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at which you nursed!". Jesus is correcting that women by saying that bearing Him and nursing Him is of no importance.....
In His answer He did not disgrace His mother, but showed that His birth would have profited her nothing, had she not been really fruitful in works and faith. - St. Chrysostom
...Rather the blessedness of Mary (Luke 1:48) is because of her Fiat...
She was the mother of God, and therefore indeed blessed, in that she was made the temporal minister of the Word becoming incarnate; yet therefore much more blessed that she remained the eternal keeper of the same ever to be beloved Word. - St. Bede
Upvote:1
I was considering that verse several weeks ago and thinking that it could be Jesus saying "Yes, my mom Mary IS blessed, and so are any others who emulate her in hearing God's message and submitting to it in obedience!" (Especially in view of the Annunciation and Mary's game-changing "Yes" in response). And the original languages seem to bear this out.
The Greek word "menoun", which is translated as "rather" there in the ESV, can also mean "indeed". Also, I don't think the Old(er) English usage of "rather" automatically connoted the former as strongly as it does today anyway—hence the KJV "Yea rather", perhaps. The KJV has a different Greek word underlying it, though ("menounge"). Since more recent translations tend to utilize more (and better) manuscripts, the best of the two Greek options here is almost certainly "menoun".
In any case, English translations are divided on that verse, with several more modern English versions making the affirmative sense very clear: Luke 11:28.
Upvote:2
μενοῦνγε menoun menounge broken down reveals mén, "indeed"; oún, "therefore"; and gé, "really") – therefore really indeed. Indeed in this case doesn't stand alone as an affirmation. It is truly contrary. In modern vernacular one might say, "Actually, on the contrary..."
No matter how one wants to look at it, Jesus is correcting the woman's focus and saying, "Here's the real truth. The blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep (guard) it." The 'indeed' part of the meaning is not in opposition to the 'on the contrary' part but connected to it as in, "Indeed on the contrary".
When the angel brought the message that she would bear Immanuel she heard the word and she kept it.
It wasn't the bearing of Jesus in her womb that made her blessed, but being blessed by hearing and keeping the word that made her worthy of bearing Jesus. She kept the Word in her heart before bearing the Word in her womb.
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