Was the historical Jesus an anarchist?^143of conflict with those who were not.^178 The theme of reversal func-
tions not just to expose a number of inequitable relationships, but
also to make visible and valorise the powerless within them, and
their needs and their desires.
In addition to the theme of reversal we can see a significant
cluster of traditions in which exploitation, whether economic,^179
legal,^180 theocratic,^181 military,^182 or medical,^183 is exposed and
condemned, and responses advocated or made available that af-
firm both the agency of the oppressed and their capacity to resist
such oppression.^ An example of this is seen, for example, in the
tradition of how one should respond to being pressed into ser-
vice by the occupying forces in Judea to carry their equipment.^184
The command that the victim carry the equipment further than
was demanded, if acted upon, would have resulted in striking and
unexpected behaviour that could function not just to restore the
power of agency to the victim but also to non-violently undermine
the assumption, on the part of the soldier, that he, and the colonial
regime which he represented, had ultimate authority – a response
that could be seen to enact the command to love enemies,^185 an
idea particularly associated with Jesus in our sources.^186 The con-
cern to restore agency to those deprived of it can also be seen,
though in a rather different way, in the stories in which individu-
als gain healing from Jesus by actively demanding it from him or
even seizing it for themselves – tactics which he seems to not just
to have tolerated but to have encouraged.^187
New models of social relationship are enacted that present al-
ternative, largely egalitarian ways of living. For example, there are
a number of traditions associated with historical Jesus that con-
tain sharp criticisms of familial relationships and obligations,^188
and whilst it would be wrong to see these as part of a program-
matic attack on patriarchy (significant numbers of women were
drawn to the movement but there is no evidence of a “critical
feminist impulse” in traditions about Jesus),^189 the traditional
form of the family is eclipsed and a much more inclusive, fictive,
family, where membership is not conditional on ties of marriage
and blood, but on shared purpose, is advocated and comes into
being amongst Jesus’ followers.^190 Social relations and obliga-
tions are no longer structured according to reciprocity, whether