In his social contacts, Jesus went out of his way to embrace the unloved and unworthy, the folks who matter little to the rest of society but matter infinitely to God. People with leprosy quarantined outside the city wall, Jesus touched, even as his disciples shrank back in disgust. A ‘half-breed’ woman who had gone through five husbands already and was no doubt the center of the town’s gossip industry, Jesus tapped as his first missionary. Another woman, too full of shame over her embarrassing condition to approach Jesus face to face, grabbed his robe, hoping he would not notice. He did notice. She learned, like so many other ‘nobodies,’ that you can’t easily escape Jesus’ gaze. We matter too much.