Jesus Remembered: Christianity in the Making, vol. 1

§13.3 For Whom Did Jesus Intend His Message?
the twelve tribes of Israel (Matt. 19.28/Luke 22.30). 104 At the same time, we
should note that no attempt is made to choose each of the twelve from each of the
twelve tribes, even symbolically; the symbolism was not dependent on any genealogy.
And the note of restoration is also ambivalent, since the only role attributed
to the twelve is that of dispensing judgment on Israel. 105 Nonetheless, the
significance of the twelve as somehow symbolizing Israel in its (restored) wholeness
is clear enough. 106
c. The Flock of Yahweh
Notable also are the sheep and shepherd metaphors within the Jesus tradition —
notable because they clearly evoked the popular image of Israel as Yahweh's
flock. 107 The allusions are rather diverse and more weakly attested than most of
the evidence reviewed thus far. But Jesus is remembered as drawing on this imagery
on several occasions: the parable of the lost sheep, used differently by Matthew
and Luke (Matt. 18.12/Luke 15.4), 108 the commission to go to 'the lost
sheep of the house of Israel' (only in Matt. 10.6; 15.24), 109 and the quotation of
Zech. 13.7 in Mark 14.27/Matt. 26.31. n0 Luke 12.32 also has Jesus encouraging
104. See also above, chapter 12 nn. 178, 205. W. Horbury, 'The Twelve and the
Phylarchs', NTS 32 (1986) has reservations at this point.
105. See further above, chapter 12 n. 205. Again, as several have pointed out, it would
be odd that a saying was subsequently attributed to Jesus which numbered Judas as one of Israel's
judges (e.g., V. Hampel, Menschensohn und historischer Jesus: Ein Rätselwort als
Schlüssel zum messianischen Selbstverständnis Jesu [Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener, 1990]
151; Meier, 'Circle of Twelve' 656).
106. Witherington justifiably warns against a simple identification of 'the twelve' with
(all) 'the disciples'; 'Apparently the Twelve was formed not to be Israel, but rather to free Israel
in light of what was to come' {Christology 127-28, 131).
107. Gen. 49.24; Pss. 28.9; 74.1; 77.20; 78.52; 79.13; 80.1; 100.3; Isa. 40.11; 49.9-10;
Jer. 13.17, 20; Ezek. 34; Mic. 2.12; 5.4; 7.14; Zech. 10.2-3; 11.7, 15-17; Sir. 18.13; Pss. Sol.
17.40.
108. But also attested by GTh 107; Gos. Truth 31-32. For comparison of the four versions
see Hultgren, Parables 49-52. The parable is regarded as probably going back to Jesus by
both the Jesus Seminar (Funk, Five Gospels 214-15) and Lüdemann (Jesus 363), in both cases
because such 'exaggerations' (leaving ninety-nine to look for one) are typical of Jesus; cf. also
Becker, Jesus 139-40. The parable was also probably the basis for the Fourth Evangelist's more
elaborate treatment of the theme (John 10.1-18). Note also Luke 19.10.
109. See above, chapter 12 n. 266.
110. On the text form see Davies and Allison, Matthew 3.485-86. As with most of the
OT allusions in the Passion narrative, the reference to Zech. 13.7 here is usually seen as evidence
of subsequent Christian reflection, though we can say that a Jesus who reflected on the
sheep/shepherd imagery of Jewish thought might well have seen in Zech. 13.7 some foreshad-
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