Luke's Women

Mary, Mother of Jesus, Wife of Joseph

April 15, 2015

The first two chapters of Luke's Gospel are dominated by women.  First, there is Elizabeth, the wife of Zechariah, a priest.  Elizabeth and Zechariah had no children, but the angel Gabriel appeared to Zechariah while he was on duty inside the temple to tell him that his wife would have a son.  The son to be born to them is none other than John whom we know later as John the Baptist.  The second woman to dominate the early chapters of Luke's Gospel is, of course, Mary who becomes the mother of Jesus.  The stories of these two women are intertwined by Mary's visit to Elizabeth-her "kinswoman" (1:36).  We are given only one glimpse of Elizabeth and Mary together when upon Mary's arrival at Zechariah's house Elizabeth's baby "leaped in her womb,"  a signal that Mary is "blessed among women" and that her baby would become Elizabeth's "Lord" (1:45).  Elizabeth's blessing of Mary brings forth a response from Mary in the form of a psalm praising God for doing "great things" for her.  Mary's psalm is known to biblical scholars as the Magnificat, so named because of the first word in the Latin version of the psalm.    Luke then returned to tell of the birth and naming of John and record Zechariah's psalm of praise to the Lord.  The birth of Jesus comes in chapter 2 of Luke.  Joseph is mentioned, but the central figures are Mary, Simeon and Anna and, of course, the Shepherds.  The inspired Simeon pronounced an enigmatic prophecy to Mary (2:34) about her child and her own future.  Joseph and Mary ""marveled at what was said about" their child, but it was Mary who "kept all these things, pondering them in her heart" (2:19).
These first two chapters of Luke have become so much a part of our Christmas celebration that we may not think about Mary as a woman.  In Luke's account, Mary is a very young woman--perhaps no more than twelve or thirteen years of age.  In our time, women have become very sensitive to the issues of control of their bodies and freedom to determine their own lives.  It is only natural that they would ask how it was for Mary and notice how Luke described her in his narrative.  Presumably, Mary's family had arranged a marriage to Joseph,  but this is not spelled out.  Did Mary have any choice in her marriage partner?  We don't know; but women such as Mary doubtless had much less voice in the choice of a mate than modern women.  In the Gospel, Mary recites a psalm which sounds a lot like the psalm that Hannah--Samuel's mother--offered to God when she dedicated her son at the ancient temple in Shiloh.   What does Mary's psalm tell us about this young woman and her intelligence?  How does her response to the angel's appearance compare with that of Zechariah?  Does she have a choice in being used of God to bear a son who will be in the line of David the great king?  How does Luke picture her.  These are just some of the questions that an interpreter sensitive to women's issues might address as this passage is studied.

Is Luke Friendly to Women?

"Are Luke's writings friendly or hostile to women? Can Luke be said to represent 'a vigorous feminism'?  Is he the only New Testament writer who reflects... an equality that women are presupposed to have had in early Christian communities, so that the distance or even the contradiction between [practice and preaching] that characterizes [Paul's] epistles, is abolished in [Luke's] writings?  Or does Luke represent a [male centeredness] which consciously is silent about women and makes them invisible?' Does he plead... for the subordination of women in an indirect and more subtle manner than the open admonitions in this regard of the authors of the New Testament epistles?"   As we shall see, there is some of both these dimensions in Luke's Gospel and the book of Acts as Turid Seim has made clear in the title of her book, The Double Message.  Luke preserves "strong traditions about women" and their positive roles, but he also preserves many of the "masculine preferences" apparent in the early church.
The prominence of women in the opening two chapters in the Gospel of Luke and the quotation from Joel at the beginning of Acts  that "your sons and your daughters shall prophesy" suggest that Luke is indeed friendly to women.  After this "promising start," however,  one scholar  concludes that there is a "lamentable reluctance to give women adequate voice."   Thus, one's opinion of Luke's presentation of women in his two books depends a lot on a careful reading of what Luke has written as we shall see in dealing with Mary.  Let's look at the text.

Mary’s Opportunity (Luke 1: 26-38) 

One of the things that sets Luke's writings apart from others is his tendency to create pairs of scenes often using both a man and a woman as the central figures.  This is not hard to see once it is pointed out to us, but it is not something a casual reader is likely to notice.  When Luke described the coming of the angel Gabriel to Mary he organized the story almost exactly as he had done previously in the account of Gabriel coming to Zechariah.  The angel appears, reassures both not to be afraid, announces the birth of a son, and describes in a psalm what the child will do.  Zechariah and Mary both question the angel.  "How shall I know?" says Zechariah; "How can this be?" says Mary. The answer to Mary is that the Holy Spirit will make it possible and as evidence, the angel cites the fact that Elizabeth has conceived "in her old age."  Mary submits herself to the Lord's call and goes to Elizabeth's home, perhaps at least partly to confirm what the angel said.
In the Old Testament,  it is normally men who are called by God to service and they often demur just as Zechariah did.  Few women receive calls from God, but when they do they do not object as do the men.  Their freedom to govern their lives is much more restricted than that of the men.  The few biblical women God elects for a special son-bearing vocation happily accept this role as a blessing.  "Against this pattern of women’s limited agency in the Bible, one figure stands out in relief: Mary of Nazareth, dramatically called through the archangel Gabriel to bear Jesus, “Son of the Most High” and Israel’s Messiah."
 It is interesting that Luke seems to stress Mary's thoughtfulness and reasoned response to the angel; he suggests that Mary "considered in her mind" what the angelic visit might mean whereas Zechariah was just "troubled."  "[Mary] reacts with robust emotional and intellectual engagement. No angel, even the imposing Gabriel, is going to pull one over on Mary."


Mary’s Pregnancy (Luke 1: 39-55)

In these verses we learn some about how Mary dealt with her pregnancy, but we learn a lot about her piety and her understanding of what was happening to her.  Luke focuses entirely on Mary's reaction, whereas Matthew recorded Joseph's response to Mary's pregnancy.  Joseph "resolved to divorce her quietly" (Matt 1:19) upon learning that she was pregnant but an angelic intervention told him the significance of the son she would have.  Luke's parallel to Joseph's resolve is Mary's hasty (Luke 1:39) departure from Nazareth to spend three months with Elizabeth.   "Though Luke doesn’t say this, it’s hard not to imagine Mary’s desire to leave Nazareth so she can avoid the awkward questions that will surely arise about her pregnancy. The Jerusalem audience logically surmised that Zechariah had seen a vision in the temple (1: 21), but the Nazareth community is unlikely to grant a similar experience to young Mary, certainly not as an explanation for a preposterous virginal conception! Implicitly, then, Mary’s hasty “heading for the hills” of Judea marks the Lukan counterpart to the Matthean Joseph’s decision to “put Mary away secretly” (Matt 1: 19 NKJV)."
There is no word here about the role of Mary's family in her decision.  She took matters in her own hands though surely her journey of some forty miles would not have been made alone.  Mary came to Elizabeth for acceptance and assurance--and from Luke's perspective--for confirmation that "with God nothing will be impossible" (1:37).  And Elizabeth did not dissappoint.  "Elizabeth thrice blesses Mary: first, for who she is (“ Blessed are you among women”); next, for who she bears (“ Blessed is the fruit of your womb”); and finally, for what she has done (“ Blessed is she who believed what was spoken to her by the Lord”) — a dazzling affirmation of her gender (woman), generativity (mother), and spirituality (believer)."

Both Matthew (by saying that Joseph decided to divorce Mary because she was pregnant) and Luke (by saying that Mary left Nazareth hastily after (?) she became pregnant)  hint that Mary's pregnancy was viewed as scandalous by the family and the community. In Luke's account, Mary herself is incredulous when told she would bear a child:  "How can this be..." (Luke 1:34).  She was simply saying what most would say if told that a woman would have a child without having a human sexual experience.  Thus it is only to be expected that women scholars who interpret the birth narratives would bring their own experiences of birthing to the story of Jesus.   Scholars--women as well as men--have interpreted Mary's pregnancy in several different ways.  Some assume that a man other than Joseph was the father of Jesus.   Others have assumed that the virgin birth accounts are like the many accounts of Greek gods who cohabit with human women to produce sons.   And, of course, there are many who accept the virgin birth accounts as the mysterious act of God in history as orthodox Christianity has always held.  
Mary's famous response to Elizabeth's blessing is known as "The Magnificat" (Luke 1:47-55).  The Magnificat is a psalm that has many points of contact with a similar song sung by Hannah as she dedicated the son of her old age to God at Shiloh (I Samuel 2:1-10).  Luke may well have had sources that gave him the text of the psalm, but since there were no verbatim recordings of what Mary said, Luke surely played a role in shaping the psalm.  Moreover, the psalm plays a big role in setting the theme of Luke's Gospel as the reversal of power in the coming kingdom of God.  Mary praises God for looking upon her "low estate" and doing "great things" for her.  From her own experience and reflection, Mary reaches a stunning theological conclusion: through the “Son of the Most High” she will bear, the Savior God will “lift up,” not merely “look upon,” all who are lowly like her and, indeed, topple the whole high/ low hierarchy. The new era of God’s “uplifting” reign is dawning with Mary arising as its first exemplar, prophet, and theologian. In full voice, there is no keeping Mary down now; the lowly slave girl has busted through the ceiling and opened the way for other lowly ones, female and male, to rise with her to positions of robust health and honor in God’s just and merciful realm."

Mary’s Maternity (Luke 2: 1-21)

"But as “the time comes” in Luke’s famous Christmas story “for her to deliver her child” (2: 6), Mary’s leading role appears to diminish precipitously as men dominate the narrative . The narrative begins with another journey; this one, however, Mary does not choose and she does not chart her own course.  Instead she is forced to travel at the worst possible time in her pregnancy by dominant male authorities: Emperor Augustus and Governor Quirinius ... "  but it is Mary not the men who generates all the action.  "The forces that impelled her to Bethlehem at this time have unwittingly “fulfilled” God’s plan for the true Lord’s birth in the city of David (2: 11). God orchestrates the proceedings, but at the critical “time” Mary executes them."   She gave birth;  she wrapped him in cloths;  and she laid him in a manger.   "Mary’s Magnificat still reverberates loud and clear with accents on lifting the lowly and leveling hierarchies. Nomadic herdsmen, not aristocratic nabobs, first attend this king. And while the shepherds may take the lead in broadcasting the good news of God’s visitation (2: 17-18, 20), Mary takes precedence in delivering, nurturing, and displaying the Christ child they extol."

Conclusion
Luke's magnificent portrayal of Elizabeth and Mary in the opening chapters of his Gospel stands in stark contrast to the absence of Mary from the rest of Luke and all but the very beginnings of the book of Acts.  But the tribute he pays to Mary by the way he portrays her, makes it difficult to argue that Luke's view of women was anemic.  " The Lukan Mary is not reduced simply to a womb-container that carried and delivered God’s Son; and her identity, though inextricably bound up with Jesus’, is not totally subsumed by him. Once he is born, she becomes no inert, passive mother figure merely basking in Jesus’ glory. Mary’s blessedness, from Luke’s perspective, includes how she blesses Jesus — and thereby the world which God will save through Jesus — as much as how he blesses her. And she blesses Jesus and the world throughout Luke 1– 2 as a fully embodied agent of and partner with God in her own right, freely exercising her own thoughts, feelings, and actions in probing and practicing God’s will."