Male and Female in Luke's Gospel

Our adult Sunday School class is taking off the summer months and will resume in the fall. But yesterday morning, on the spur of the moment, I announced that if anyone wanted to get together to discuss the Bible lessons read during worship that day, I would meet with folks in the Mission Outreach Center between services. A few folks showed up and our discussion centered around Luke 10:25-37, yesterday’s Gospel lesson.

In our discussion, I mentioned that Luke, the writer of the Gospel bearing his name, had a habit of pairing women and men in his narration. He does this sometimes to show the faith of a woman in comparison to the skepticism of a man in similar situations. (Mary and Zechariah)

More commonly, he pairs men and women to affirm a truth observed or experienced by the people involved, underscoring God’s faithfulness and that, in God’s Kingdom brought into the world by Jesus, to borrow a phrase from Luke’s mentor, Paul, “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:28)

Below are some of the male/female pairings found in the Gospel of Luke.

Pairing	Citation
Zechariah and Mary	Both told of birth of children (Zechariah: John the Baptizer; Mary: Jesus, the Son of God. Luke 1:5ff; Luke 1:26ff
Mary and Zechariah	Both respond to their children as gifts from God (Mary: Luke 1:46-55; Luke 1:67-79)
Simeon and Anna	On the day of Jesus’ dedication at the temple, both affirm Jesus’ identity as Messiah (Simeon: Luke 2:23ff; Anna: Luke 2:36ff)
Man filled with unclean demon and Simon Peter’s mother-in-law	(Luke 4:33ff; Luke 4:38-39)
Centurion and widow	Jesus responds to the centurion’s plea on behalf of his sick servant and to the prayer of a widow for her son (Luke 7:1ff; Luke 7:11ff)
Disabled woman and man with dropsy	On different sabbath days, Jesus heals first, a crippled woman and then, a crippled man (Luke 13:10ff; Luke 14:1-6)

The conclusion I think we can draw from this is that God in Jesus, Who created both males and females in His image (Genesis 1:27), came to redeem us all, male and female.

[This is an ancient image of Jesus' dedication at the temple when the Holy Family was met by Simeon and Anna.]