Jesus made no distinction between men and women disciples, but what about “the Twelve?”  First of all they were set apart from all the other disciples, female or male.  But they were all male, so doesn’t that mean that church leadership should be all men?  Well, if they are to be our only example then the vast majority of churches are out of compliance unless their leadership is all Jewish and they’ve all been circumcised, unless several are professional fishermen, they’re all uneducated, one is a cheater, another has repeatedly denied the Lord, and another is a betrayer and thief–and let’s not forget the two hot-headed-me-firster “Sons of Thunder.” We don’t know why Jesus chose men for The Twelve (the Bible doesn’t say but he was likely drawing a comparison to the twelve tribes of Israel, since the twelve will “sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.  Matthew 19:28) but he chose “the Three” out of those twelve, on several occasions leaving the other nine behind.