Saying 79

English

A woman in the crowd said to him, ‘The womb which bore you is favored, and the breasts which nursed you.’

He said to her, ‘The people who have heard the word of the Father and have truly kept it are favored. Because there will be days when you will say, “The womb which has not conceived is favored, and the breasts which have not given milk.” ’

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Interpretation

Compare Sayings 16 and 55. Opposite a passage in Luke 1, but in agreement with a different passage in Luke 11, Jesus rejects any claim that his mother is special simply because she gave birth to him. He further implies the absurdity of such an idea by pointing to the impending eschatological crisis, a situation where being a mother has no advantage, but, if anything, will be worse on mothers because they risk seeing the deaths of their children.

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Parallels

Mark

13.17 ‘Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing infants in those days.’

Matthew

24.19 ‘Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing infants in those days.’

Luke

1.41–42 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with holy spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry, ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.’

11.27–28 While he was saying this, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, ‘Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts that nursed you!’ But he said, ‘Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it!’

21.23 ‘Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing infants in those days.’

23.27–29 A great number of the people followed him, and among them were women who were beating their breasts and wailing for him. But Jesus turned to them and said, ‘Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For the days are surely coming when they will say, “Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed.” ’