Smackdown. Jesus nipped the Mary worship (veneration, honor, whatever they call it) in the bud here. Why the Catholic church persisted in developing that teaching and attitude in spite of it is beyond me.
If they really wrote the Scripture as they claim and people were venerating her even in those days, it sure isn't reflected in the Greek manuscripts. You'd think if the Catholic church really believed that then, they would have not only not included that but they would have had more Mary admiration included.
Relying on Scripturally unsupported doctrine developed hundreds of years after the fact is playing with spiritual fire. Literally.
It can and will lead you astray.
You are still avoiding answering this original question from the current discussion:
To: metmom
“Let’s stay on the current question, shall we?
I showed you where your snippet of Luke doesn’t mean what you imply about the Blessed Mother.
What does your snippet say about your belief in Christ?
To: metmom; GCC Catholic; Cronos; Natural Law
“There is none greater among those born of women than John the Baptist.”
So you now imply that John is greater than Jesus Christ.
Or are you implying that Jesus and Christ are separate beings?
Or are you implying that Jesus Christ is God only.
Or are you implying that Jesus Christ is not God.
Or are you implying that Jesus Christ becomes God.
Or maybe, just maybe you are implying that John is a greater prophet than Christ.
Which is it?
You haven’t answered.
But to answer you next one, since you refuse, this is what the passage means:
“27
8 While he was speaking, a woman from the crowd called out and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that carried you and the breasts at which you nursed.”
28
He replied, “Rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it.”
Christ is speaking of the Beatitudes in this Chapter, not simply as you would have it, a dismissal of His Mother. Ome must perform the Beatitudes.
[27-28] The beatitude in Luke 11:28 should not be interpreted as a rebuke of the mother of Jesus; see the note on Luke 8:21. Rather, it emphasizes (like Luke 2:35) that attentiveness to God’s word is more important than biological relationship to Jesus.
Luke 8
Then his mother and his brothers 6 came to him but were unable to join him because of the crowd.
20
He was told, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside and they wish to see you.”
21
He said to them in reply, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and act on it.”
[21] The family of Jesus is not constituted by physical relationship with him but by obedience to the word of God. In this, Luke agrees with the Marcan parallel (Mark 3:31-35), although by omitting Mark 3:33 and especially Mark 3:20-21 Luke has softened the Marcan picture of Jesus’ natural family. Probably he did this because Mary has already been presented in Luke 1:38 as the obedient handmaid of the Lord who fulfills the requirement for belonging to the eschatological family of Jesus; cf also Luke 11:27-28
Luke 1
38
Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.”
Luke 1
28
And coming to her, he said, “Hail, favored one! The Lord is with you.”
29
But she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.
30
Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.
31
Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus.
32
He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, 11 and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father,
33
and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
34
But Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?” 12
35
And the angel said to her in reply, “The holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.
36
And behold, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived 13 a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren;
37
for nothing will be impossible for God.”
38
Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.
39
During those days Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah,
40
where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth.
41
When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the holy Spirit,
42
cried out in a loud voice and said, “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
43
And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord 14 should come to me?
44
For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy.
Catholics believe and follow the Word of God.
Now you can answer my question about your believe in Christ from your snippet:
“There is none greater among those born of women than John the Baptist.”
She became the Mother of God, in which work so many and such great good things are bestowed on her as pass man’s understanding. For on this there follows all honor, all blessedness, and her unique place in the whole of mankind, among which she has no equal, namely, that she had a child by the Father in heaven, and such a Child . . . Hence men have crowded all her glory into a single word, calling her the Mother of God . . . None can say of her nor announce to her greater things, even though he had as many tongues as the earth possesses flowers and blades of grass: the sky, stars; and the sea, grains of sand. It needs to be pondered in the heart what it means to be the Mother of God.