A leper came to him begging him, and kneeling he said to him, ‘If you choose, you can make me clean.’ Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, ‘I do choose. Be made clean!’ Mark 1:40-1

In Jesus Wants to Save Christians, Rob Bell talks about Eucharist as ‘the good gift,’ poured out by God for the life of the world — and he clarifies further that “Jesus is God’s good gift for the healing of the world. The church is Jesus’ body, a good gift for the healing of the world” (165).

When we ask ourselves ‘what is the church for?,’ the only legitimate answer is ‘to serve God’s mission of healing the world.’ And we learn what that healing work looks like by watching Jesus in action in stories like the one for this Sunday.