156 Hanna Stettler In his lament over Jerusalem (Matt 23,7-39 par. Luke 13,34-35) Jesus compares himself to a “hen gathering her brood under her wings”. This image of the mother bird can be understood if we think of the wings of the cherubs above the ark of the covenant as the place of God’s indwelling and of atonement in the priestly code. Jesus thus identifies with the divine shekhinah dwelling in the Temple at Jerusalem (9). Matthew especially emphasizes that Jesus takes the place of the Temple as a place of meeting with God by introducing him as “Immanuel” in the first chapter of his gospel (1,23). In him, “something greater than the Temple is here” (Matt 12,6). In him the very holiness of God has come to his people. In the Synoptics then, Jesus figures as the Messiah who has been sanctified by and for God, the Holy One par excellence (cf. Mark 1,24; Luke 1,35; Acts 3,14; 4,27.30; using hosios: 3,11; 5,7). He is filled with the Holy Spirit, and in him God’s holiness is at work among his people. This is in keeping with Ezekiel 37, where a new David will be God’s agent in sanctifying his people (cf. 37,24 to 37,28). 2. The Beginning of the Gathering of the People of God As God’s Messiah Jesus has “to gather a holy people, whom he will lead in righteousness” (PsSol 17,26). The fact that he called a circle of 12 disciples (Mark 3,13-19 par; cf. Acts 1,26; 1 Cor 15,5) is to be interpreted as an expression of his claim to restitute the twelve tribes of Israel. In the gospel of Luke, even the hymns in the opening chapters point to the restitution of Israel through Jesus. In an elaborate composition of Old Testament quotations, the Magnificat depicts his mission as the fulfilment of the promises to Israel (cf. especially 1,54) (10). The Benedictus shows how the Messiah gathers a people who will serve God “without fear, in holiness and righteousness” (1,74-75). According to Luke 12,32, Jesus called his disciples the “little flock” to whom God will give the kingdom, thus designating them as the core of the eschatological people of “the holy ones of the Most High”, to whom the kingdom is given in Dan 7,18.27. According to Luke 22,28-30, he appointed them as judges over the 12 tribes of Israel, which again is in keeping with Dan 7,22 (LXX). (9) H. GESE, Alttestamentliche Studien (Tübingen 1990) 237. (10) For a detailed exegesis of the Magnificat and the Benedictus, see U. MITTMANN-RICHERT, Magnifikat und Benedictus (WUNT 90; Tübingen 1996).