twelve-tribe covenant people. Mark does not make explicit precisely what these associations are: does Jesus constitute the Twelve as the nucleus of the eschatologically renewed people of God, or does he appoint them as missionaries to Israel? The Twelve and the “apostles” were different, overlapping groups in early Christianity (cf. 1 Cor 15:5–7). Mark does not use “apostle” in the official sense, but only in its functional sense as “missionary” (6:30). Unlike later tradition, he never speaks of