King. The outcome is that he succeeds in derailing Jesus’ whole strategy (1:45). He no longer enters the towns: instead, the people come out to him. Jesus did not come to give people normal life; he came to give people eternal life! This is what the healings point to. For a start, Jesus’ actions show that the ceremonial rules about ‘clean and unclean’ and ‘touching and not touching’ are finished with. He is not concerned to obey those rules any more. But, more than that, as Jesus touches the man,