Jesus Remembered: Christianity in the Making, vol. 1

§13.7 For Whom Did Jesus Intend His Message?
practice which is inherently likely anyway and which is probably reflected in the
structure of the list of the twelve (6 x 2, or 3 x 4). 233 It would not have been possible
to conceive of women taking this role, preaching and expecting hospitality
where they went — whether as two unaccompanied women, or each with a male
companion. 234 Even if Jesus had wanted one or more women to function within
the twelve, the role given to the twelve was simply unthinkable for a woman, for
obvious social reasons. In other words, so far as our evidence takes us, the absence
of women from the twelve was determined by social custom and cultural
mores of the time, not by any theological rationale on the fitness or otherwise of
women for mission/ministry.
In short, there is no hint in the Jesus tradition that Jesus thought of women
as disadvantaged as a class in the way that the 'poor' and 'sinners' were. It was
simply taken for granted that they were part of Israel and would share in the
blessings promised to a renewedly repentant and trusting people. Hence the lack
of specifically 'good news for women'. Even so, the prominence of women
among Jesus' followers and his closeness to several, notably the two Marys, of
Magdala and Bethany, must have raised a few eyebrows in 'polite society' at the
time. And it surely indicates that Jesus saw no deficiency in their status as
women or in their innate capacity for service and ministry.
13.7. Gentiles
Given the emphasis on the Israel-focus of Jesus' mission and the subsequent expansion
of the Jesus movement into Gentile mission (Acts), we cannot fail to ask
whether Jesus' aim in mission would have included Gentiles. For those anxious
to demonstrate continuity between the mission of Jesus and that of the first
Christians, the indications are not encouraging. We have already noted that Matthew
has preserved mission instructions which forbad the missionaries going beyond
Israel — 'Do not go on the way of/towards the Gentiles, and do not enter a
Samaritan town . . .' (Matt. 10.5) — instructions which were probably given by
Jesus himself. 235 Does that imply that Jesus may have seen no place for Gentiles
233. Jeremias argues that this practice was already customary in Judaism, partly for
added protection and partly in echo of the legal requirement for two witnesses to establish a
case (Deut. 17.6; 19.15) ('Paarweise Sendung im Neuen Testament', Abba: Studien zur
neutestamentlichen Theologie und Zeitgeschichte [Göttingen: Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht,
1966] 132-39).
234. Pace Crossan, Historical Jesus 335; Birth 337; L. Schottroff, who finds hints in Q
of itinerant prophetesses who followed Jesus ('Itinerant Prophetesses: A Feminist Analysis of
the Sayings Source Q\ in Piper, ed., The Gospel behind the Gospels 347-60).
235. See again above, §12.4h and n. 266; also § 13.3c, h. Matthew has taken care to
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