"What is this wisdom that has been granted him, and these miracles that are worked through him?" (Mark 6:2)
Our lectionary’s translation of Sunday’s Gospel leaves out a detail: the people of Nazareth specify that "these miracles are worked through his hands" not simply "through him".
St Mark repeats this detail a few verses later: "he could work no miracle there, though he cured a few sick people by laying his hands on them." (6:5)
What is the reason for this focus on the hands of Jesus? His fellow countryman knew him as "the carpenter" (6:3), whose hands had made their tables, doors, roofs, etc. They could not believe that these same hands, so normal, just like theirs, were now working miracles.
