Part 4 – Women in the Gospel of Luke

Class Date: October 12, 2022 I

n Luke’s version of the story of Jesus, women play a much larger role than they do in the other gospels. The main reason for this is that Luke includes more stories related to women, and adds details concerning the role they played in his everyday life. Luke’s gospel opens with the stories of the birth of John the Baptist and the story of the birth of Jesus. Both are told from the point of view of their mothers. That the birth narratives of John and Jesus are told largely from the point of view of their mothers is unusual for this time in history. Matters of salvation or God was not considered something women were to be involved with. These roles were reserved for men. So the fact that these two women play such an important role in Luke’s version would have been seen as entirely inappropriate. In Luke, it is clear that Jesus will bring some significant changes to the social order.

Another place that this social change is apparent is in the story of Jesus’ visit with Mary and Martha. While Martha is busy doing what is expected of her – making dinner for the guests, Mary is at Jesus’ feet listening to everything he has to say. Jesus’ praises Mary’s choice to hear him tach about God’s love for her. Through this we learn that the gospel is for everyone and is much more important than worrying about everyday matters.

Mary from the town of Magdalene also had an important role to play in Jesus’ life. We are told that she, along with several other women of wealth, travelled with Jesus and his disciples. This is totally out of cultural bounds. No man was to be seen with a woman in public who was not his relative. Apparently Jesus didn’t care for these forbidden customs. Once again, Luke makes it clear that these cultural norms have no importance when it comes to spreading the good news.

In chapter 7, Luke shares another story that suggests that Jesus did not worry about cultural norms. While having dinner with a Pharisee named Simon, Jesus welcomes a “women who was a sinner”. Jesus offers this as a lesson for Simon. Luke tells us that the proud are scattered and the lowly are lifted up. For Jesus, this applied to women as much as it did to men.