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Jesus and Women: Luke's Gospel
By Jane Kopas

"When an action, a cure, an expression of faith, or an example in parable is attributed to a man, more often than not a complementary model of a woman is given. With some exceptions, this is not done by way of comparison or contrast, but rather to suggest a measure of equality, an equality that was unexpected in the time of Jesus. "

THE sensitivity of Luke's Gospel to women has long been recognized. The number of times women are mentioned, the contribution of women to the early life of the church, the kinds of interaction Jesus allows women, and the special importance and role of Mary give ample evidence that one cannot deal with the ministry of Jesus in Luke's Gospel without giving careful attention to the dynamic role and value of women in making the Christian message come alive. In the light of growing attention to women's ministry today, this Gospel deserves more careful scrutiny and reflection to see if we can discern some new resources in the tradition to enhance our present development of a spirituality of ministry.

At the outset, it will help to identify a technique Luke uses of pairing references to men and women. When an action, a cure, an expression of faith, or an example in parable is attributed to a man, more often than not a complementary model of a woman is given. With some exceptions, this is not done by way of comparison or contrast, but rather to suggest a measure of equality, an equality that was unexpected in the time of Jesus. For one thing, this pairing, it has been suggested, indicates a substantial number of women constituting the Gospel audience.¹

In addition to the above evidence of the prominence of women that suggests some forms of equality, we find another aspect of Luke's style that suggests their unique contribution. Luke focuses often on women who are exemplars of poorness and lowliness before God that finds expression in barrenness, widowhood, spiritual or actual neediness, or

Jane Kopas is Associate Professor of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Scranton. She received her doctorate at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, and she has also taught at the College of Wooster. Dr. Kopas has published articles in the Journal of Psychology and Theology, Horizons, and Process Studies. Her article on "Jesus and Women: John's Gospel," appeared in the July 1984 issue of THEOLOGY TODAY.

¹ Constance Parvey, "The Theology and Leadership of Women in the New Testament," Religion and Sexism, ed. Rosemary R. Ruether (New York: Simon and Shuster, 1974), pp. 117-49.

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service to the poor. It is the combination of equality and neediness that will guide our search for a spirituality of discipleship today.

I

The first pairing or set of complementary male-female examples in Luke's Gospel is found in the birth announcements made to Zechariah and to Mary. Zechariah hears that his wife Elizabeth, who in old age is still barren, will give birth to a son (1:5-20, RSV passim). Mary hears that she, though a virgin, will conceive a child (1:26-38). The child of Zechariah and Elizabeth will be the last of the great prophets of the Old Law. The child of Mary will bring about a New Law or dispensation which, we discover slowly through the Gospel, will afford women a greater role that is only suggested by making her, not Joseph, the recipient of the message.

In this pairing, however, we find something else. It is one of several incidents that contrasts a female response and a male response. It is Mary who provides a better example of how discipleship works. More specifically, it is the way that Mary questions the messenger that reveals how faith is nourished by the search for understanding. Although both Zechariah and Mary question the messenger, they are answered differently because their manner of questioning is very different. Zechariah is struck dumb; Mary is blessed.

Zechariah's question is the question of a skeptic, the question of one who seeks knowledge more than understanding. His first concern is reason and certainty as he asks how he can be sure a child will be conceived in their old age. It contradicts common sense. Mary, on the other hand, asks out of wonder. She wonders how the promise of the angel can come to pass since she is a virgin. Despite a superficial similarity to Zechariah's question, Mary's question must have been rooted in a faith that was willing to be moved to a deeper level of mystery. She is equal to this man in her ability to question, but she surpasses him in her ability to live with the question and to grasp what is at stake in the invitation to faith. Elizabeth later tells Mary she is blessed because she believed, and the two of them stand together as faithful listeners and hearers.

The art of questioning is a meditative art, but one which requires considerable courage if it is to lead to the truth that heals and transforms. Its fruitfulness depends to a certain extent on the ability to live with ambiguity or uncertainty, the ability not to settle for quick solutions or easy answers. How often do we embark on a discernment process asking the wrong question or asking in the wrong way? How often do we settle for an answer that will not disrupt the agenda set for us? How often do we question life or God with some measure of spiritual insincerity, all too ready to evade the call to a deeper faith or deeper questions? Mary stands as a model from the history of women who have learned to live with ambiguity because their role in society has forced them to develop the subtle art of hearing different questions.

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Mary's subsequent encounter with Elizabeth, her kinswoman, introduces another example of a distinctive contribution of women in Luke's presentation. They identify in a special way with the lowly and oppressed. In some ways, this identification simply seems to reinforce the stereotype of women as passive, humble, and subservient. The traditional masculine assessment of the human condition as tending toward pride, self-assertion, and greed has resulted in a glorification of' the passive virtues as correctives to this condition.² It is women who have taken this most seriously and in so doing have failed to get in touch with their own root tendency toward sin. Yet, in Luke's Gospel, and in particular in the instance of Mary's song of praise, the Magnificat, the experience of lowliness and oppression is in no way passive or self deprecatory, but is rather a hymn of human solidarity both with others who have cried for deliverance and with the compassionate God (1:46-56).

The God who lifts up the lowly and casts down the proud and powerful is not the warrior God who fights against enemies who dispute his (sic) power, but the God of compassion who is known more through identification with the poor than with the powerful. "For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed…. He has filled the hungry with good things and the rich He has sent empty away. He has helped His servant Israel in remembrance of His mercy" (1:48, 53-54). Mary's song celebrates the solidarity of all who seek justice, especially the women who share her hope. Zechariah's song which follows this (1:68-79), echoes the same theme with greater emphasis on the role of John the Baptist in preparing the way for the reign of peace.

How much we can learn of prayer from the example of Mary? Our individualistic prayers for needs or fears, or even prayers for others in need, appear narrow and non-transforming in the face of a prayer that comes from the heart of a person who prays consciously as a member of humanity suffering and graced. The character of our prayers would change radically if, instead of praying for others, we prayed with them; if we left our privileged positions of freedom from certain needs to stand in solidarity with the suffering with whom we pray.

II

We find another example of pairing in the dual examples of Simeon and Anna (2:25-38). Both are in the temple when Jesus is presented shortly after his birth. Both speak their prayer of praise for what God has accomplished and allowed them to see. Both gave witness to the fulfillment of the promise, and both have shown themselves in their lives to be faithful listeners and waiters. Anna's testimony is valued no less

²Valerie Saiving, "The Human Situation: A Feminine View," Womanspirit Rising, ed. Carol P. Christ and Judith Plaskow (New York: Harper and Row, 1979), pp. 25-42.

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than Simeon's because she is a woman. In fact, she is described as a prophetess, a woman of religious stature who speaks God's word for Israel.

How often has this Gospel passage been read with little or no attention given to what it means that she is the prophetess? How often, for lack of imagination and appreciation, has the faith of our mothers as leaders been discounted? How often has their equality in faith been ignored? This lack of appreciation goes deeper than the failure to appreciate individual achievements. It extends to the failure to develop a sense of history and to recognize the richness of women's tradition in forming all of us as disciples.

As soon as Luke presents the beginning of Jesus' ministry, he introduces a pair of cures (4:33-39). The cure of the man who was a demoniac emphasizes the thoroughness and ease of the work by stating that the demon leaves without harming the man. Luke also notes the effect that the cure has on the belief of those who witness it. When the example of the cure of Peter's mother-in-law follows, the description is more sparse but the effect shows more clearly in her own life. She immediately rises and waits on the disciples. Her evidence of discipleship of service is wholehearted. Whatever Luke's reasons for describing it as he does, the impact on the reader is unmistakable. If gratitude is sincere, it gives rise to action, and the action is a way of returning the gift. The challenge of our own discipleship is to recognize the less dramatic ways we are healed and restored, healings that call us constantly to return the gift.

Luke tells another set of stories about cures that involve an expansion of compassion beyond physical curing to an enlargement of attitude toward those in need (7:1-17). The cure of the centurion's servant draws into Jesus' grace a person who is not a member of the Israelite community. The centurion's faith, apparent when he says it is not necessary for Jesus to come to his house, enables Jesus to do the works of faith in him. The centurion deserves to be considered among the anawim, the poor in spirit who have a capacity for God.

Soon afterward, Jesus meets the widow of Nain whose only son has died. She represents another example of a group of those in need, widows who are among the most oppressed or neglected of society. One would wish that she were able to attain dignity on her own without needing to be identified with a son or a husband, but that is not possible in her society. Since she has no other means that would enable her to come to fullness as a human being, her son's life is restored to her. The widow is a kind of silent witness. She doesn't speak and she doesn't act, but she stands as a model of all who are deprived of personal worth. At the same time, she is, by virtue of the loss of her son, made "barren." Here we learn again that the plight of the oppressed and needy evokes a response of compassion from Jesus and by implication from those who are disciples.

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At the end of the chapter that includes the preceding pairing is another kind of pairing that is more clearly an opportunity for comparison (7:36-50). The several versions of the story of the woman who washed the feet of Jesus have caused untold confusion regarding the exact action, the meaning of the action, and the identity of the woman (Mark 14:3-9; Matt. 26:6-13; John 12:1-8). Whether she anointed his head or his feet, whether she did it for his burial or as an act of repentance, whether she was a sinner or not, and her later unfortunate identification with Mary Magdalene are all interesting, but not the point at issue here. What we are asking is how, given Luke's perspective, she uniquely embodies his emphasis on the discipleship of love and service.

The passage contrasts the attitude of the repentant woman with the attitude of the Pharisee at whose house Jesus dined. He sees himself as righteous, and she sees herself as unworthy. The object of the contrast is not to celebrate unworthiness, but to show the relationship between forgiveness, gratitude, and love. Jesus says her sins must have been forgiven already, because she shows such great love. She has transcended the fear of appearing foolish or self-conscious, because her gratitude and repentance are strong enough to let her act in love. Her gratitude gives her the spiritual freedom that characterizes discipleship.

We find evidence of the relationship between recognition of sinfulness and grateful service in the third chapter, which describes the message of the Baptist, in the fourth chapter, by default, where the people cannot follow Jesus because they do not recognize their sinfulness, in the fifth chapter, where Peter confesses his sinfulness after the great catch of fish and also where the cure of the paralytic links a physical cure with freedom from sin, as well as in other places in the Gospel. The telling of the story of the loving service of the repentant woman is one more bit of evidence in the case that women were swift in their perception of Jesus' message and their ability to accept their humanness.

This moving account of the footwashing expresses one woman's need to find a way to speak through action what cannot be expressed adequately through words. Few of us ever find the right words to express so powerful an emotion. Most likely there are no right words. But can we grow to learn more and more freely in action profound truths that are within our relationship to God and other human beings? The repentant woman speaks to us the silent lesson of learning to speak the truth more and more freely through action.

III

Luke identifies another form of service that demonstrates the equality of women with men in a larger context (8:1-3). While the twelve accompany Jesus as he preaches the kingdom, a number of women of means exercise a discipleship that includes financial support of the others. We need not assume from this that they merely provided

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domestic service and picked up the bill, for, as we see later on in the story of Martha and Mary, the service of doing for others is rooted in attentiveness to the word, in the ability to listen. Though we do not see them preaching in word, we do see it in action. The message is illustrated a few verses later when Jesus presents the true challenge of equality.

Jesus is told that his mother and kinsfolk are looking for him (8:19-21), but they could not get through the crowd. Unlike chapter three of Mark's Gospel, where the relatives seem to think Jesus is out of his mind, Luke's Gospel omits reference to their perception of Jesus and simply states that true relationship to him is rooted in attentive listening to the will of God. Such attentive listening is the basis for a new kind of equality. It is equality not just between men and women (or slave and free, Greek and Jew, as Paul would put it), but even an intimacy with Jesus that suggests a form of equality. Those who hear the word of God and do it know him and share his blessedness.

If we allow ourselves to absorb the significance of his statement that his mother and relatives are those who hear the word of God and do it, it slowly becomes apparent that a frightening responsibility faces us. It is not so much that we accept our equality with all other human beings and then will live out the will of God. Rather, if we truly seek to live out the purposes of God, we will in the process discover our equality in solidarity with others and much more besides. Equality is not an end in itself, as women realize who seek to redress the discrimination exercised against them. Equality is one of the end-products of a search for truth and common well-being. When that truth is actively sought by women and men, it brings with it an even greater spiritual freedom.

Luke concludes the eighth chapter with another pairing of cures (8:26-56). A Gerasene is cured of possession by demons and two women are cured of physical ailments. For some reason, the people of the region were overcome with fear (perhaps because the driving out of the demons results in destruction of a herd of pigs) and want Jesus to leave the area. Jesus left, but did not invite the man to follow him because his gratitude was to be expressed in service to the people of the territory.

The two women cured do not follow him either, but their cures, which mirror the episode above, demonstrate a more far-reaching effect on society. The older woman who has been hemorrhaging for twelve years and the girl of twelve who is dying are individuals whom a Jewish man would avoid touching. One is menstruating and the other might be. While they do not suffer material deprivations such as widows or women who are barren, they do suffer another kind of deprivation-they are deprived of fully wholesome human contact simply because they are women. Jesus again demonstrates that his healing overcomes all division. While the faith of the hemorrhaging woman and the faith of the official whose daughter is ill are equally important, what is most interesting is Jesus' attitude toward the two females that completes the picture of what discipleship means. It is not just faith that makes a

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disciple, but behavior modeled on that of Jesus who approaches all in need as equals of one another whether they are men or women.

IV

In the great journey up to Jerusalem, which provides the structure for Luke's presentation of Jesus' commitment to his mission, women are mentioned in a number of episodes that are highly significant. First, there is the story of Martha and Mary, which is reported exclusively in Luke's Gospel (10:38-42). Though it stood for a long time as evidence for the superiority of the contemplative over the active life, it has more recently been understood to demonstrate Jesus' serious acceptance of' the education of women. Even beyond these possible meanings, however, when we take this story in the context of all the other stories about. women on the journey, we find that it reveals to us a fuller picture of the thoroughness of women's commitment to discipleship and Jesus' acceptance of their participation.

Martha does many things and worries about many things. She is not. faulted for this, but for failing to root her actions in a basic awareness of' why she does what she does. It seems not to be her actions, but her intentions (and her comparisons) that create her dissatisfaction. Mary, on the other hand, listens to Jesus to appreciate and develop the singlemindedness that integrates the diverse activities of life. She lays the groundwork for a spirituality of wholeness, integration, and reconciliation.

We might ask ourselves why we so often settle for the approval of doing, without understanding that the action must be worthwhile even without approval. Why do we fail to discipline ourselves to take the leisure that enables us to assimilate the various aspects of our life? Why do we so often neglect to sink deeply into the roots of our own relationship to God to be reminded that, when all is said and done, we do not need to justify our own existence by our actions? The satisfactions we derive from our productivity, as worthwhile as they are, can never substitute for the basic relationship that nourishes our truest identity, a relationship that is the foundation of discipleship.

Lest one think that Mary's attentiveness to Jesus implies passive listening, in the next chapter a brief encounter of Jesus with a woman clarifies the way discipleship is rooted in relationship. As he was speaking, a woman in the crowd cried, "Happy the womb that bore you and the breasts you sucked" (11:27-28). In response, Jesus corrects two erroneous notions. One is that mere association imparts some kind of blessedness, either through physical descent or even by virtue of being part of a group around Jesus. The other notion he corrects is that women derive their status or worth from their relationship to their husband or children. Important as these relationships may be, in the last analysis one's fidelity to the responsibility of being a child of God by acting as such confirms the value of the person and motivates discipleship.

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Another incident along the journey is the cure of the crippled woman on the sabbath (13:10-17), which may be seen as coupled with the sabbath cure of the man with dropsy (14:1-6). The cure of the woman, which takes place in the synagogue, reflects two significant things about her dignity. Jesus not only cures on the sabbath to the dismay of the synagogue official, but he cures a woman on the sabbath. This is the only place in the Gospels where this double conflict takes place. As if this were not enough, Jesus refers to her as a daughter of Abraham, and thus indicates a participation in the religious life of Israel that may be beyond their imagination.

Speaking of imagination, the remaining references to women in this section of Luke's Gospel are precisely exercises in imagination that expand his listeners' understanding of God as much as does his universalizing of salvation to the Gentiles. The parable of the yeast as descriptive of the kingdom of God shows forth a world in which the images of women are as valid as those of men (13:20-21). The kingdom of God is like the yeast a woman took and mixed with flour. God's kingdom is not one of power and glory, but hiddenness and insistent, gentle influence on people whether they know it or not. Our slowness to discover non-patriarchal images of the kingdom is itself as much a failure to recognize God's presence where it is, as it is a failure of imagination.

V

The parables of mercy, the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son open up another opportunity for visioning God (15:3-32). Each of these parables says something about God. The exclusive representation of God as male has no place in Luke's Gospel (or in the Bible as a whole, for that matter), and here the point is made by putting the feminine dimension of God side by side with the masculine, thereby opening up a fuller, more adequate representation of the God who is Spirit. The woman who searches for the lost coin and rejoices with others when it is found is no less an image of God than the shepherd who seeks the lost sheep. We may be tempted to look upon the ordinariness of the example as evidence of its comparative insignificance, but the simplicity may come closer to capturing the presence of God in Jesus than examples that are more dramatic.

The pairing of women and men as examples occurs again in the description of the last things (17:34-37), where women are expected to be prepared as men because they are as likely to be taken by surprise. "There will be two men in one bed: one will be taken and the other left; there will be two women grinding together: one will be taken and the other left." The challenge of responsibility for oneself as an individual could not be stronger.

Responsibility surfaces again in the example of the importunate widow (18:1-8). This parable succeeds perhaps better than any other in

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uniting the themes of equality and oppression. The widow who seeks to have justice done has no status compared to the judge she pleads with (and probably compared to others who plead with him). Yet, heir persistence results in her cries being heard. Despite her lowliness in society, she recognizes a deeper claim to recognition, her equality as a human being. Thus, she is raised up as an example of what can happen when one speaks up for herself. The parable concludes with the observation that God will see justice done to the chosen who cry out day and night even when there is a delay in their deliverance. Oppression and lowliness are states which call for deliverance, but the deepest liberation comes from a paradoxical combination of weakness and strength in which self-worth and equality is wedded to solidarity with others oppressed. The weakness without the strength would lead to despair and worthlessness, and the strength without weakness would lead in the end to insensitivity and oppressing others.

We are tempted to gravitate toward one or the other-to go along in confident superiority without noticing the cries of the poor, or to become so absorbed in our incapacity to effect change that we do not try. The paradox of strength in weakness and weakness in strength keeps us attuned to our unceasing need for God and our power to side with others in need.

The theme of equality surfaces again as Jesus nears Jerusalem and the Sadducees question him about the resurrection of the dead (20: 27-38). These aristocratic conservatives do not believe in the resurrection of the body, and they interrogate him about the law of Levirate marriage and how it will be fulfilled in a future heavenly state. In answering their question about who will be husband to a woman who has been widowed seven times, Jesus also undermines the ultimacy of the accepted role of women as extensions of their husbands. The children of the resurrection forego their material existence and values. Perhaps Jesus was also saying that those who are still alive forego some of their materialistic attitudes toward other human beings, including women.

Shortly after this discussion, there follows a contrast between the Pharisees who wear their religion ostentatiously while taking advantage of the plight of widows and a poor widow who herself exemplifies true religion. The poor widow contributes two small coins out of her meager resources, while the rich contribute out of their surplus. The message is clear, but its implications need to be underscored. Because of her status among the lowly and the needy, the widow is better able to understand what constitutes her dignity, as did the widow who pleaded with the judge. Her wholehearted response is a more authentic expression of a true self than the face-saving of the Pharisees.

Do our most penetrating moments of truth come when we are faced with decisions that lay claim to an area of ourselves that lies hidden in our true selves because of habits of half-heartedness and the preservation of status? Has our need for security become so comfortable that we

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can rationalize any neglect to respond to the invitation to wholeheartedness?

VI

As the Gospel draws nearer to the critical events of Jesus' last hours, three incidents with women shed light on the search for a truthful expression of spirituality and discipleship. The first is Peter's encounter with a servant woman who recognizes him as a follower of Jesus (22:55-59). His untruthfulness and her truthfulness set the stage for the hours of decision. Will those who follow Jesus do so with courage and in truth, or will they be threatened by the encounters that call for extra-ordinary truth-saying? The woman is the first to call for truth. It is not Peter or, for that matter, the other disciples who respond in truth. The woman who calls them to truth has nothing to lose because she is not a disciple, but she sets the tone, and it is the women who appear in the remainder of the Gospel who respond.

First, it is the women along the way of the cross who lament Jesus' suffering (23:28-31). Unlike Simon of Cyrene, who was forced to carry the cross, they bear Jesus' sorrow willingly. Jesus tells the women that their mourning must be a mourning over the failure of the people around him to recognize the gift of God. The daughters of Jerusalem who weep for themselves and for their children are the keepers of the vision of what might be, but at this moment they must face the truth in darkness and the darkness in truth.

Strangely, in this Gospel, which so strongly accents the role of women in the life and ministry of Jesus, they are not depicted standing under the cross as they are elsewhere. Instead, Luke notes that after the death and claiming of the body, they followed behind and observed where he was laid (23:55-56). What is perhaps more significant is their role as the first to receive the news of resurrection (24:9-11). Unlike the Gospels of John, Mark, and Matthew, Luke's Gospel does not record that it was a woman who first saw the resurrected Christ. Nevertheless, they are here the first to receive the message of resurrection and to act as disciples who spread the good news to others. The group of women consists not only of Mary, the mother of Jesus, but also Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and other women with them. Perhaps, Luke is telling us that the women who have been in need of deliverance themselves, who have accepted their own neediness and have identified with others in need to the extent of following Jesus to the tomb, have by virtue of that insight and fidelity become the first true disciples of the new dispensation. That the others to whom they bring the message greet them at first with doubt, is part of the continuing ambiguity they will live with.

VII

We cannot get away from the fact that whatever responsibilities women had in Jesus' company, they still found themselves in a male

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society. Whatever equality they did enjoy as recipients of the Christian message, this dignity still needed to be matched in social structures.

The attitude of Luke's Gospel toward women is not so much a totally revolutionary picture of their discipleship as it is an appreciation of their inner resources and ability to center themselves to receive and act upon the word of God in truth. Elisabeth Moltmann Wendel³ argues that, for Luke, women are not the favored disciples they appear to be in certain passages of other Gospels, but are functionaries in a pragmatic ecclesiastical setting where they largely serve Jesus and the disciples. Peter's mother-in-law, Martha, Joanna, and the other women support this view. But we cannot lose sight of the dimension of discipleship they exemplify again and again, even in the absence of a call to exercise power-solidarity with those in need, receptiveness to the Spirit in prayer, gratitude and service, and, above all, the ability to live with uncertainty, ambiguity, and others' lack of belief. In this exercise of discipleship, they image the God of compassion who brings good news to the poor, does not break the bruised reed or extinguish the smoking wick, and gives hope to those who wait in darkness. This remains the challenge of discipleship for women today, along with the added challenge of not losing hope in a world that still fails to recognize fully their gifts of leadership.

³ Elisabeth Moltmann Wendel, The Women Around Jesus (New York: Crossroad, 1982), pp. 142-44.