Mary as the Blessed Woman: Lesson from the Gospel of Luke

How can we best understand these words of the Lord Jesus in reaction to a woman who made a positive remarks about Mary, the mother of the Savior? For some people, this is a disparaging statement Jesus made against anyone who might have in mind the intention to look with admiration to the blessed mother of our savior. If you are still not sure of what I am talking about, then please read this conversation as recorded by St. Luke:

"And it happened as He [Jesus] spoke these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice and said to Him, Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts which You have sucked. But He said, No; rather, blessed are they who hear the Word of God and keep it." Luke 11:27-28 (Modern King James Version)

If you read this version of the King James, you are left with the impression that Jesus is matter of fact correcting the woman who spoke favorably of the Blessed mother of the Savior, Mary. However, when we read another version of the same King James, the tone of the savior is different and we may venture to say the whole emphasis of the text becomes different if not positive:

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!” Luke 11:27-28- (New King James Version)

Is Jesus saying 'no my mother is not blessed but rather are blessed those who hear and keep my words' like the Modern Version of the King James Version seems to infer or is Jesus saying 'it is more than that, it is not limited to my mother, blessed are those who hear and keep my word' like the New King James version seem to insist? It all depends on which version you pick up. What is true of these two King James version can be found equally in other translations.

So how do we resolve this seemingly opposite messaging with one being adversarial in tone while the other being non-adversarial in tone?

May I suggest we find the solution of it from the original Greek texts. Instead of choosing the source material from another biblical translation, I will use the Greek text sources used by the King James Version itself as rendered by the eStrong Greek and Hebrew Dictionary. The word used in one version as "No rather" and by the other version as "More than that" is the Greek word: Menounge.

Definition: 

menounge

men-oon'-geh
From G3303 and G3767 and G1065; so then at least: - nay but, yea doubtless (rather, verily).

Now we know why the King James Version uses different formulation of the same verse, it is because menounge could mean 'no but' or 'yes without doubt' or 'rather' or even 'verily (indeed)'. Given this wide diversity of words, translators have different preferences. They can choose one word with a tendency for adversity while another translator might choose a word with a positive connotation.

Nevertheless, I will argue here that Luke used the word, 'menounge' in a rather positive form and not in any negative way as this will become obvious shortly. Before I show you why this is the case from within the very Gospel of Luke itself, allow me to show you the other three other instances where this very word, 'menounge', is used in the New Testament beside Luke 11:28.

The Word 'Menounge' is used also in Romans 9:20, Romans 10:18: and Philippians 3:8.

1) Menounge: Positive Case from Romans 9

This chapter is known for its treatise on divine election. St. Paul approach to the Romans in discussing divine election is to point in anticipation of what his readers might be thinking by saying this:

(19)You will say to me then, “Why does He [God] still find fault? For who has resisted His will?” (20) But indeed [menounge], O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, “Why have you made me like this?”

Paul uses menounge to mean to the Romans that it is more than what they were wondering with regards to 'who can resist God's will if God decides to do what He wants?', he says, matter of fact, who are the Romans thinking they are to even question God in the first place. Here menounge doesn't means that what has been said before is not true but rather that it didn't go far enough. Not only can God do what he wants as the Romans may be wondering but we, as humans, can't even dare to challenge him. St. Paul uses menounge to expand his argument and not to deny the initial statement which says 'For who has resisted His will?'. Clearly Paul is responding to this by emphasizing in the positive that indeed none can resist the divine election of Israel and more than this no one can reply or challenge God's choice.

Hence in Romans 9, the word menounge doesn't cancel the former proposition in verse 19 but rather makes it even more harder by expanding the consequence in verse 20.

2) Menounge: Positive Case from Romans 10

St. Paul makes a long argument in chapter 10 with regard to the efficacy of the gospel and its capacity to reach people's heart. And through his explanation he makes use of the word, menounge, as seen in the verses below:

(16) But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?” (17) So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.(18) But I say, have they not heard? Yes indeed [menounge]: “Their sound has gone out to all the earth, And their words to the ends of the world.” 19 But I say, did Israel not know? First Moses says: “I will provoke you to jealousy by those who are not a nation, I will move you to anger by a foolish nation.”

The argument is rather clear in this passage, St. Paul quotes the Jewish prophet Isaiah complaining about his uncertainty on the limited number of people in Israel who might have believed in his 'gospel' message (aka report), and Paul said, menounge - it is more than Israel, the message has gone beyond Israel and has reached all the earth and the ends of the world. Clearly, menounge, is not being used in a negative sense here as if it was negating the previous verse, but rather it is used to affirm the first one while expanding its meaning beyond Israel (verse 16, 19) to the rest of the world (verse 18). St. Paul is saying not only did the report reach Israel but it also went beyond Israel to the ends of the earth so to speak. It is not a negation of the first proposition but an expansion of it to include other lands beyond Israel.

3) Menounge: Positive Case of Philippians 3

In this epistle starting from verse 4 to verse 7, St. Paul tells of his credentials as a righteous man from the perspective of his Jewish heritage according to the Mosaic Law. In the middle of it, he uses the word, menounge:

(4) though I also might have confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so: (5) circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee; (6) concerning zeal, persecuting the church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. (7) But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. (8) Yet indeed [menounge] I also count ALL things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ

Here again, St. Paul doesn't negate what he said in verse 7 when he said, 'these I have counted loss for Christ', rather when he uses menounge in verse 8, he affirmed such loss and goes even further, he expands the category of what he considered lost (see the list from verse 4-7). He also considered now 'ALL things loss' and not only 'these things' from his Jewish heritage.

NB: In summarizing the use of 'menounge' by St. Paul, we see that St. Paul doesn't use it to denigrate or cancel former statements, but rather he uses it to show that there is much more than what was said. He uses menounge to include the former statement into a larger narrative. In Rom 9, he meant not only you can't resist God's Will in election but you can't even question him. In Rom 10, he informed that not only Israel believed the report but also the rest of the world. And in Phil 3, he points out that not only those things he mentioned about his Jewish heritage he considered as loss for Christ but also ALL the rest too.

This leads us to the question we started with as we ponder this question, 'what are the chances that St. Luke who was a companion of St. Paul through out his ministry would use menounge to negate previous statement instead of affirming and expanding it just as St. Paul did?' I believe there is no chance he will use it differently than Paul did. And let me show you why.

4) FINALLY, Menounge: Positive Case in Luke 11

If we have learned anything from this word, menounge, in the reflection above, it is that it doesn't negate what is said before but rather takes former proposition in account and expands it. The Lord Jesus is not denying that his mother is blessed, he is expanding the category of the blessed as not to limit it to only his mother:

(27) And it happened, as He [Jesus] 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 [menounge], blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!” Luke 11:27-28- (New King James Version)

Clearly, St. Luke is reporting Jesus words to show that what made Mary, the mother of our Lord, blessed is exactly what makes those who were in that audience blessed, namely the hearing of the word of God and the keeping of those words.

The Context of Luke Gospel About Mary

If we remember how St. Luke started his gospel, he started by informing us that he investigated the content of this gospel from the eye-witnesses of those events:

"... they were passed down to us by those who had been eyewitnesses ... I, too, have carefully investigated everything from the beginning and have decided to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus" - Luke 1:3 

Since he referred to eyewitness from the beginning, let us remember that among those who were there at the beginning of the Lord Jesus birth, his circumcision, his presentation at the temple, his visit at the temple at age 12 and the angelic visitation during the Annunciation event that kick-started the virginal pregnancy is ... well ... Mary, the mother of the Lord. She was an eye-witness of all these events Luke informed us.

One specific thing that we are told by St. Luke about these events is that Mary heard and kept the words from the Lord:

Example 1: Mary received the word of God and accepted it from the Archangel Gabriel:

"Then Mary said, 'Truly I am the Lord's servant. Let everything you have said happen to me.' Then the angel left her.'' - Gospel Luke 1:38  

Example 2: Mary is a blessed woman for she received the word of God according to the Holy Spirit:

''When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby jumped in her womb. Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and she loudly exclaimed, "How blessed are you among women, and how blessed is the infant in your womb! Why should this happen to me, to have the mother of my Lord visit me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb jumped for joy. How blessed is this woman for believing that what was spoken to her by the Lord would be fulfilled!" -  Gospel of Luke 1:41-45

Example 3: Mary kept the words from the Lord as received by the Shepherd in her heart:

''When they saw this, they [the shepherds] repeated what they had been told about this child. All who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. However, Mary continued to treasure all these things in her heart and to ponder them.'' - Gospel of Luke 2:17-19

Example 4: Mary kept the words of Jesus in her heart even when she didn't understand it:

''And He [Jesus] said to them, Why did you look for Me? Do you not know that I must be about My Father's business? And they did not understand the word which He spoke to them. And He went with them and came to Nazareth, and He was subject to them. But His mother kept all these sayings in her heart.'' - Gospel Luke 2:49-51


IN CONCLUSION, St. Luke was inviting us to understand that what made a blessed woman of Mary, the mother of the Lord Jesus, the Woman on which breast the Baby-Christ suckled in his infancy was the fact that she heard the word of the God and kept it. The exhortation and lesson to be learned here is that Lord expects as much from every single one of us: Hear and Keep His Words like the Blessed Virgin did.

The Lord Jesus was not correcting the woman who spoke these words, 'Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts which nursed You!', He was rather [menounge] expanding the category of those who are regarded blessed by telling her that 'you too can become blessed if you hear the Word of God and Keep It just like the Blessed Virgin Mary did countless time'.

Post Script
Allow me to end by quoting an ex-Protestant now turned Catholic apologist James Akin:

... the Greek word here translated 'rather' (menoun) does not have anything like the adversive force in Greek that 'rather' does in English. It is simply an emphatic particle normally rendered 'and'. Thus, if Bibles had italics for emphasis, the passage would be better translated: 'He said, and blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!' He i snot denying what she said, he is emphatically adding something to what she said. (Internet Question Box, 4/26/99).