Luke 11:27

27 While he was saying these things, some woman lifted her voice above the murmur of the crowd: "Blessed the womb that carried you, and the breasts at which you nursed!"

Luke 11:27 Meaning and Commentary

Luke 11:27

And it came to pass as he spoke these things
That is, as Christ spoke, or "had finished these sayings", as the Persic version expresses it, before related, in vindication of himself and his miracles, from the blasphemy of the Scribes and Pharisees to their entire confusion, and had delivered the above parable concerning the unclean spirit, which had a particular regard to them: a certain woman of the company:
observing the miracle he had wrought, in casting out a devil, and being affected with his discourse, in which he so fully cleared himself, and so strongly confuted his enemies, and set them forth in so just a light: lift up her voice, and said unto him,
aloud, in the hearing of all the people, and with great earnestness and fervour: blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast
sucked:
whether this woman personally knew Mary, the mother of Christ, is not certain; it may be that she was now present, or at least not far off; and this woman hearing that she, with the brethren of Christ, were without, and desired to speak with him, might be the occasion of her uttering these words; ( Matthew 12:46 ) though they are said not so much in praise, and to the honour of Mary, as in commendation of Christ, from whom, and for the sake of bearing and suckling so great a person, she was denominated blessed as before, both by the angel and Elisabeth, ( luke 1:28 luke 1:42 ) This was a form of blessing among the Jews: so it is said ^F19 of R. Joshuah ben Chananiah, a disciple of R. Jochanan ben Zaccai, who lived about these times, (wtdlwy yrva) , "blessed is she that bore him": and they had also a form of cursing among them, much after the same manner, as (qnyya Nkd azyb jyl) , "cursed be the paps that suckled him" ^F20. The Jews, in their blasphemous rage against Christ, and all that belong to him, say of Mary, the daughter of Eli, by whom they seem to design the mother of our Lord, that she hangs in the shades by the fibres of her paps ^F21 but this woman had a different opinion of her.

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FOOTNOTES:

F19 Pirke Abot, c. 2. sect. 8.
F20 T. Hieros. Celaim, fol. 27. 2. Bereshit Rabba, sect. 5. fol. 5. 1.
F21 T. Hieros. Chagiga, fol. 77. 4. & Sanhedrin, fol. 23. 3.

Luke 11:27 In-Context

25 On return, it finds the person swept and dusted, but vacant.

26 It then runs out and rounds up seven other spirits dirtier than itself and they all move in, whooping it up. That person ends up far worse than if he'd never gotten cleaned up in the first place."

27 While he was saying these things, some woman lifted her voice above the murmur of the crowd: "Blessed the womb that carried you, and the breasts at which you nursed!"

28 Jesus commented, "Even more blessed are those who hear God's Word and guard it with their lives!"

29 As the crowd swelled, he took a fresh tack: "The mood of this age is all wrong. Everybody's looking for proof, but you're looking for the wrong kind. All you're looking for is something to titillate your curiosity, satisfy your lust for miracles. But the only proof you're going to get is the Jonah-proof given to the Ninevites, which looks like no proof at all.