A woman in the crowd calls out to Jesus: “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at which you nursed!” In the excitement of Jesus’ wise and authoritative response to those in the crowd who doubted Him, the woman poetically confesses the blessedness that Mary enjoys because Jesus is her Son. And the woman is not wrong!

Mary is, indeed, declared in Scripture to be blessed. After Mary conceived Jesus, she went to visit her relative Elizabeth. The moment Elizabeth saw Mary, the baby in Elizabeth’s womb leaped for joy and Elizabeth joyfully said to Mary: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”

In response to Elizabeth’s joyous expression, Mary sang: “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name. And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.” Mary is blessed to be the one chosen by God to bring God’s Son into the world, and she was humbled and honored to receive such a blessing.

Jesus receives the woman’s blessing of His mother. He doesn’t reject or deny it, but He does proclaim a different state of blessedness—a blessedness that every man, woman, and child may receive through Him and His Word. Christ our Lord says, “Blessed are those who hear the Word of God and keep it.” Jesus commends those who hear the Word of God and keep it.

I don’t want anyone to misunderstand the word “keep.” It’s easy for an English speaker to think keeping God’s Word only means to obey it. Not all of God’s Word is strictly commands. God’s Word isn’t just a list of—say—10,000 things you must obey. It could also be easy for an English speaker to think that keeping the Word of God means to have a copy handy—maybe a never-opened family Bible on the coffee table. That’s not what Jesus means either.

The word “keep” as it’s used in this context in Sacred Scripture has a much deeper meaning than to obey a command, and that deeper meaning is a little bit archaic to us.

You’re, no doubt, familiar with a watchtower. These are towers built along walls or atop castles so that watchmen can “keep” watch, observe, and guard what it is being protected. So, another name for a watchtower is a keep. But what is it that people keep? Valuables. A watchtower is there to be a benefit to those inside (or, if it’s a prison watchtower, those outside).

I’m sure some of you have family heirlooms, precious jewels, necklaces, earrings, bracelets, and other special objects that are kept in a special box. These cherished items are beloved for their monetary or sentimental value. It would be unwise to treat them as you would a paperclip in a junk drawer. Because they’re of a higher importance or quality they are keepsakes.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, God’s very Word is to be an even more precious, cherished, beloved keepsake. It is to be guarded and protected against any word that opposes it. The Word of God is of such value because it is a Word that is very different from any word in the world. God’s Word convicts us of sin. God’s Word proclaims and gives forgiveness of sins and eternal life in Christ Jesus. God’s Word teaches the Christian the way he or she should go through the journey of life. God’s Word guides us in all holiness and wisdom, so that we may grow in faith, hope, and love that rests in Jesus’ cleansing, saving blood.

Keeping God’s Word means obeying what He commands, and more than that it means cherishing and loving what God says—both in command and in promise. The Law of God is good and wise. We should love God’s Law, because it sets forth the good life. The world would be such a better place if everyone were keeping the Ten Commandments. God has given them for our good. But just as a person can obey speed limit laws while still hating them, so a person can strive to keep God’s Law while hating it. God calls us to more than mere obedience. He calls us to cherish His Law. He desires that even though we may not understand all aspects of His Law, He hasn’t given them too us as a mean tyrant, but as a loving Father. Therefore, the sinful nature within us that hates God’s commands and wants to disobey them needs to be daily drowned through repentance—being sorry for our sin, wanting to do better, and turning from sin.

As God’s people, we also should cherish and love what God says concerning forgiveness, eternal life, and blessed salvation in Christ Jesus. We should cherish and love that Christ Jesus has delivered us from sin, death, the devil, and hell. We ought to cherish and love that God the Father and His Son Jesus has given us the Holy Spirit so that we may believe in our hearts and confess with our lips that Jesus is Lord. We should cherish and love that Jesus has promised—through His Word and Sacraments—to always hold us in His hand and never leave or forsake us. We rejoice with Him in His kingdom now and forever.

We hold onto and receive the blessings of God’s Word as we hear, cherish, and love it. God’s Word is an ugly and yet beautifying, tragic and yet hope-filling, dark and yet light-giving, lifegiving story of the relationship of the only God that exists from whom absolutely everything exists and His creatures that He’s set out to save, including you and me.

God’s Word is full of salvation, wisdom, forgiveness, advice, cleansing, encouragement, and so much more. Paul says that “the Sacred Scriptures are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” That’s everything. We ignore God’s Word to our peril. We find it boring to our detriment.

You better believe there’s a temptation to think God’s Word and other things of God are boring. They’re not. If we find the things of God boring, we need to realize it’s because we’re boring. Are we relying on the shallow things of this world to entertain ourselves to death or are we embracing and enjoying all the blessings that God has given? I’m guilty as much as anyone. There are times I’d rather do other things. I’d like to kick myself for having memorized tv and movie quotes and song lyrics and sports stats and other things way, way more than I’ve memorized the Sacred life-giving Scripture of the Savior who died and rose for me.

The thing we need to remember about the Bible is that it’s words on the page. I don’t mean that in a disrespectful way. Those words on the page are cherished and loved when they are heard, read, marked, learned, and inwardly digested. God’s Word doesn’t make its impact by staying on the page. The blessing comes when God’s Word goes through the ear or eyes to the mind and heart.

As I always encourage, continue to be regular in Sunday morning Word and Sacrament attendance with your brothers and sisters in Christ. That’s number 1. Bible Class is number 2. Beyond that, I have tons of suggestions on daily devotions and what not. Approaches. Material to read. Material to avoid. Holy smokes there’s a lot, a lot of material to avoid. Seriously. But there’s some really good Lutheran stuff out there nowadays.

You don’t have to read devotion material. You can read Scripture by itself. By reading 15 minutes a day at an average pace, you’ll read the Bible in less than a year. You can also listen to solid, faithful Bible Study podcasts like the “Word of the Lord Endures Forever.” Pastor Will Weedon works through chunks of the Bible in daily 15-minute segments. There’s a whole treasure trove of them available online going back to the end of the year 2019. There are tons of other good, solid Lutheran podcasts out there I can point out—don’t be afraid to ask me.

Another source to cherish and love God’s Word: solid, faithful hymns. They’re not all created equal, so stick with hymns from Lutheran Service Book if you’re unsure. You can find great hymns on Spotify, Pandora, and YouTube (that’s where I go if I want to make sure we can sing a tune), etc. I have a bunch of LSB hymns downloaded on my phone. Great stuff! The easiest way God’s Word goes from the page to the mind and heart is when it’s set to music. There are a ton of fantastic hymns that give meat and potatoes, raw comfort and joy, Christ crucified and raised, how-to live-in godliness—all great doctrine in beautiful, delightful, poetic form.

Yet another enriching way for God’s Word to go from the page to the mind and heart is memorizing Scripture and the Catechism. Take your time. Don’t rush. Don’t panic. Don’t get frustrated. Take your time. Work on it daily. Work on it when you have a break. Start by memorizing the books of the Bible in order. It seems super daunting, but it’s not. Ask me if you don’t know how to pronounce a book. Then, work to memorize the parts of the Small Catechism (the actual catechism—the first 40-45 pages or so). Start small and work to bigger chunks. After memorizing that, keep on top of the books of the Bible and Catechism as you need to and add into your memorizing Scripture passages that proclaim Law and Gospel, offer hope and comfort, and contain solid doctrine. I can always offer suggestions.

Out of all of these in-exhaustive ideas for hearing and cherishing God’s Word—in your Christian freedom—feel free to experiment and find ones that fit. The types and number of things you can do may expand, contract, or change during different seasons of your lives. God has no expectations except to gather regularly with His people around Word and Sacrament and seek ways to hear and cherish His Word. 

The more we hear and cherish God’s Word, the more we’ll know the truth from lies. The more the Holy Spirit will lead us to deeper understandings of the state our minds and hearts, both how the temptations of the devil, the world, and our sinful selves affects us and how the Good News of Jesus fills us with peace, hope, and joy. We’ll hear music, see tv shows and movies, and begin to see where ideas in them agree or conflict with the Truth. We’ll better understand how worldly ideas and worldly passions stray from God’s ways. The desires of our hearts, thoughts of our minds, words from our lips, and decisions of our hands will be more and more impacted by Sacred Scripture. We’ll come to a better understanding of how to approach situations—whether or not they’ve been addressed in Scripture. We’ll more and more understand that the true treasure is not anything in this life but fellowship with our Triune God.

There’s great blessing in hearing and cherishing God’s Word. It makes this life easier. I don’t mean that in the sense that you won’t suffer any trials or afflictions or bear any crosses. Those are sure to come as they come to all people. I also believe that generally speaking the average Christian will suffer more trial and afflictions than the unbeliever, because the devil is trying to get us to reject Christ and His salvation. He doesn’t need to trip up those who already don’t believe. And yet, I do think it makes life easier, because the one who hears and cherishes God’s Word, also cherishes God and everything about God. Trial, afflictions, and crosses are better understood in the light of Christ Jesus’ trial, afflictions, and crosses. Blessedness is received despite suffering.

God’s Word internalized in the mind and heart, brings a tremendous amount of hope, comfort, and joy to suffering, sorrowing Christians. We learn to rejoice in suffering, knowing that we share in Jesus’ suffering. Through God’s Word internalized in mind and heart we learn to rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep. Through God’s Word renewing our hearts and minds, we learn to and how to love our brothers and sisters in Christ, love our enemies, and pray for those who persecute us. God’s Word leads God’s children to the blessing that no matter what happens in this life, we trust that our names are written in heaven, and this encourages us to endure and remain faithful to the end—our eternal life with God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, may God continue to fill you with a zeal to hear and cherish God’s Word. As the apostle Peter said, “Lord, to whom shall we go; you have the words of eternal life.” Amen.