Jesus came from a backwater of a backwater; he and his mother and father, the figures at the heart of the Christmas story, were most likely considered throwaway people. The Gospels tell us little about Mary other than to say that she was a parthenon, a young woman, a virgin, most likely illiterate. Jesus worked as a tekton from roughly 12 to 30. Fully 18 years of his life would have been spent at this arduous labor — six times longer than his public ministry as a preacher and healer. Is it any surprise, then, that Jesus felt such intense compassion for the poor and marginalized?