[13] The notion that the crucified Jesus had been sent by God, or that he was the promised Messiah, was no doubt offensive to Jews who had found his ministry objectionable or puzzling to those who could not see the basis for such a notion. But I suggest that it was the practice of according Jesus a place in the cultic activities of early Christian groups, together with the underlying conviction that he held a heavenly and divine status, which must have appeared to ancient Jews as an even more problematical