Luke starts off telling the story of Elizabeth's barrenness and how God did a miracle in their lives, after all these years, they will have a son, John the Baptizer. Then we read about Mary's encounter with an angel of the Lord, and that she too will bear a child, who will be the Son of God. Mary quickly went to Elizabeth, her relative's house, and seeing the miracle in Elizabeth's life helped to encourage Mary in her faith. Some stories that are unique to Luke was "the woman who lived a sinful lifestyle," but because of her faith and anointing Jesus out of love, her sin was forgiven (7:37-50). Luke also shared about the time that Jesus and his disciples came to Martha's house (10:41), and Jesus told her to leave Mary alone, and reminded Martha about her worry about many things. Only in Luke do we read about the parable of the woman who had 10 coins, but lost one. Only in Luke do we have Jesus telling the mourning women, "Do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves." In Luke the women watched Jesus' death from afar. They followed Joseph of Arimathea when he took Jesus' body and buried it, and they watched where He was laid. It was the woman who prepared spices for burial, and it was the women who went early Sunday morning to anoint Him, but He was not there. It was the women who first announced that Jesus was alive, and that was largely do to their obedience and love for the Lord. Jesus said, "Blessed are those who hear the word of God and obey it," both women and men alike.
