As Jesus was saying these things, a woman in the crowd called out, “Blessed is the mother who gave you birth and nursed you.” He replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.”

–Luke 11:27-28 (TNIV)

When I was a young man, I remember reading this passage and thinking that being blessed meant that I would have lots of girlfriends, money, fame, and fortune.

Oops.

No, to obey the word of God means to deny ourselves, to take up our cross every day, and follow Jesus. It means being persecuted for your faith and obedience because the world has no interest in having us follow Jesus. In our culture today it means to face ridicule and scorn, to be labeled a bigot, a fundamentalist, ignorant, and intolerant (all in the name of tolerance). Don’t believe me? Check out any of Bill Maher’s stuff. Or stand up for traditional Christian values in certain quarters and see what that gets you.

So what is so “blessed” about all this Christian obedience? Just this. When we listen and obey God’s word–Jesus, the Word made flesh–we acknowledge that we do not have life in us or have what it takes to live happy, meaningful lives. Obeying God’s word means that we acknowledge God is God and we are not. It means being humble enough to admit we don’t have all of the answers (or even most of them) to life’s most perplexing problems but that God does. It means we understand life as having a relationship with the Source and Author of all life, and not mere physical existence.

Do you want to live life with meaning and purpose? Do you want to have a real hope to sustain you during the darkest hours of your life? Listen to and obey the Word of God–Jesus. On the cross, he has overcome the world (John 16:33) and invites you to help him in his creative and redemptive work in restoring his broken and fallen creation. If you will acknowledge that you are the creature and God is the Creator you will find a joy and purpose that nothing in this world will ever be able to defeat.

But to keep you from supposing that being slandered of itself makes people blessed, he has added two qualifications: first, that it happens for Christ’s sake, and second, that what is said be false. Do not expect to be blessed if you are being reviled for something evil, and what is being said is true.

–Chrysostom, The Gospcl of Matthew, Homily 15.4

Mercifully regard, O Lord, the prayers of your family, and while we submit ourselves to you with our whole heart, prosper, support and encompass us, that, relying on you as our guide, we may be entangled in no evils and replenished with all good through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

–The Leonine Sacramentary

The kind of compassion referred to here [in the Beatitudes] is not simply giving alms to the poor or orphan or widow. This kind of compassion is often found even among those who hardly know God. But that person is truly compassioniate who shows compassion even to his own enemy and treats the enemy well. For it is written, “Love your enemies, and treat well those who hate you.” Remember that God too sends his rain and asks his sun to rise not only over the grateful but also over the ungrateful. So Jesus calls us to “be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate.” Such a person is truly blessed, for if in fact he hasn’t sinned, which is difficult for us all, God’s grace helps him along in increasing his sense of justice. So he prays, “Forgive me my debts, just as I too forgive my debtors.”

–Anonymous, Incomplete Works on Matthew, Homily 9