He lived with the stigma of illegitimacy.
Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him. (Mark 6:3)
At that time, boys were known as their father’s son—not their mother’s. He was about 30 years old, but the town still judged him by it. How would that have affected him? How was he treated? What difference did it make when he was in class in the synagogue? How did it affect his business? How many times did he have to deal with them “taking offense at him.”
And did it make a difference in how he dealt with others? Could that be one reason why he touched people? He didn’t need to touch them to heal them. He could heal from a distance—like he did with a centurion’s servant.
Then the men who had been sent returned to the house and found the servant well. (Luke 7:10)
But outcasts—like lepers—he touched. They may not have been touched for years. Even those who loved them didn’t get close enough to touch them.
But Jesus did.
I wonder … could that have meant as much as the healing?