Luke 11: 27 – 32
Hey, Who U Looking At?
27 And it happened, as He spoke these things, that a certain woman from the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, “Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts which nursed You!” 28 But He said, “More than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!” 29 And while the crowds were thickly gathered together, He began to say, “This is an evil generation. It seeks a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah the prophet 30 For as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so also the Son of Man will be to this generation. 31 The queen of the South will rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and indeed a greater than Solomon is here. 32 The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here.
Part of today’s message is also listed in the Gospel of Matthew chapter 12, “38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.” 39 But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 41 The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here. 42 The queen of the South will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and indeed a greater than Solomon is here.
The first two verses in today’s study are unique to the Gospel of Luke. I do not know about you but I find it very interesting that three men who penned a Gospel and were with our Lord Jesus Christ, that is Matthew, Peter [Mark], and John did not feel led to write down this comment by the woman who had called out in the crowd.
27 And it happened, as He spoke these things, that a certain woman from the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, “Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts which nursed You!”
Please remember that Luke had come to Jerusalem many years after our Master and Ruler, our Lord Jesus Christ, was back in Heaven. Mary was still around. You have to note that our greatest information relative to celebrating Christmas comes from Luke’s report. He had opportunity to speak with Mary. You can imagine that she was gaining respect and notoriety from many people. Here was the very woman who bore the Messiah. Would you have a lot of questions to ask of her? I know I would.
Our Precious Holy Spirit had directed Luke to discover this remark by a woman and urged him to write it down. Why do you think He did so? I believe our Wonderful Holy Ghost covered this remark because it would in the future be a huge stumbling block. Can you guess what problems would arise from people having the tendency to give Mary more attention and credit then should be?
Mary has had the problem over the centuries of either being to highly lifted up or hammered. Why do I say this? For one thing Mary is “Blessed’ above all women. For she was selected by God. Now just think about this for a moment. Of all the women who ever lived this young woman was personally selected by Jehovah Elyon – The Lord Most High – to be the one who would give birth to the ‘Promised’ Son. She however, was and is not deity. In chapter 1 of Luke’s Gospel she gave Luke her comments that she was also a human in need of a ‘Savior’.
“ 46 And Mary said: “My soul magnifies the Lord, 47 And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. 48 For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant; For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed. 49 For He who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is His name. 50 And His mercy is on those who fear Him from generation to generation. 51 He has shown strength with His arm; He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. 52 He has put down the mighty from their thrones, and exalted the lowly. 53 He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He has sent away empty. 54 He has helped His servant Israel,
In remembrance of His mercy, 55 As He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed forever.”
I was pondering how unique it must have been to Mary to realize that the baby that she carried in her womb was her God and Savior. Our Lord, King, and Savior threw the same thought at supposedly scholars and shut them up as we read in the Gospel of Matthew chapter 22, “ 41 While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, 42 saying, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose Son is He?” They said to Him, “The Son of David.” 43 He said to them, “How then does David in the Spirit call Him ‘Lord,’ saying: 44 ‘The LORD said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool”’? 45 If David then calls Him ‘Lord,’ how is He his Son?” 46 And no one was able to answer Him a word, nor from that day on did anyone dare question Him anymore.”
Mary is special but she is a human like you and me. What has gone wrong is that a denomination that calls itself the true Christian church has elevated Mary to a position that as we have read she did not subscribe to. In today’s world a little change in words may seem innocent, but in reality leads to the evil that was behind the change. For example, there use to be the groups, ‘Pro-Abortion’ and Anti-Abortion.’ What has the media changed to make one group less offensive? What are the names today? Really, there is only one played up and it is now ‘Pro-choice’. The Roman Catholic did the same thing with a little re-arranging of words. For if you call Mary, ‘The mother of Jesus’ you identify her as the ‘blessed’ woman selected by El Shaddai – God Almighty to give birth to the Messiah. Now, if you say Mary is, the Holy Mother of God.’ They have now done a magic trick and elevated her to being God also. For to be the Mother of God she had to be eternal. Now there was, is, ever shall be one God. And our Holy God Is Three equal but separate Holy Ones, our Adoni Yeshua, The Father; our Adoni Yeshua, our Lord Jesus Christ; and our Adoni Holy Spirit. Can you see the differences? Now, some may say that this point is making a big deal out of nothing. Oh, really?
There are in the world something like 89 special shrine locations, like Fatima, that Catholics are encouraged to go and worship at? Take a guess at how many of these are dedicated to our Lord Jesus Christ? Try 1!
Now I can see why our Great Holy Ghost inspired Luke to pen these words. He wants it on record that we should only trust His Holy Word for truth and direction.
28 But He said, “More than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it
We have just read about the attempt of someone to divert attention from the Holy One Who came to earth to redeem us from sins. I can just see the enemy try here as he has throughout the generations of diverting attention from the One that deserves all our Love and Worship. Here we see sadly that He has to redirect the people’s thoughts back to Himself.
29 And while the crowds were thickly gathered together, He began to say, “This is an evil generation. It seeks a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah the prophet 30 For as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so also the Son of Man will be to this generation. 31 The queen of the South will rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and indeed a greater than Solomon is here. 32 The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here.
It is hared for me to say this, but as I see our Great Master having to divert the people’s thoughts back on Himself, is that He Is has no ego. He Is not seeking the people at this time and saying, ‘Hey everyone, its all about Me.’ No, He knows that He alone Is The Way, The Truth, and The Life. He knows that no one can come to the Father but through Him. In his remarks He in truth Is caring for the people. And here is a truth, for if the enemy of our souls can divert our attention to the Holy One Who gave His life and shed His Blood to save us from our sins and the grant us eternal life. Forgive me please Lord Jesus. Forgive us Lord Jesus for not giving You the Honor, The Glory, The Praise, The Worship, that You deserve.
The people were now so confused by the woman’s call from the crowd, that they missed the Holy King’s promised signs? They should have started thinking. He said that His sign would be like Jonah? In Matthew’s version our Lord explained that as - . ‘40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.’
The people would not gain the significance of this point until after the Resurrection.
In addition, our Lord remarked that a person from a foreign country who had heard of the wisdom granted to the king of Israel made the long pilgrimage to just come and hear him. The very one Who had given Solomon that Wisdom was in their midst. You want a sign? How about the very Creator and Sustainer of all lives Is in the flesh and they can see and hear Him. Hello?
Lord please grant us eyes to see and ears to hear.
