Shane Clairbourne, who describes himself as an ordinary radical (an ordinary person wanting to get at the root of what it means to love), spent time serving lepers at the Home for the Destitute and Dying in Calcutta; the first home started by Mother Teresa. Here he helped people eat, massaged muscles, gave baths. Each day people would die, and each day, they would go out onto the streets and bring in new people. He explains that the goal was not to keep them alive (they had very few supplies for doing that) but to allow people to die with dignity, with someone loving them, singing, laughing, so they were not alone. Over and over, the dying and the lepers would whisper the word namaste in his ear. They explained that namaste means, "I honour the Holy One who lives in you." Shane recalls dressing a man’s wounds and hearing him whisper to him namaste. He whispered back, Jesus.

Dying lepers in Calcutta, through the practical love and mercy they were being shown were able to see through the person helping them to the Holy One who was alive inside. And Shane was able to provide them the name of the Holy One they saw.

Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.

In John 14:12 Jesus makes a startling assertion; "Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father."

What an astonishing thing for Jesus to say – that we will do greater works than Him! What are we to make of this? I certainly haven't calmed any storms or raised anyone from the dead recently. I take this to mean that following his death and resurrection, Jesus as the exalted King with all authority in heaven and earth would be at work in the world through the Spirit and His church in a greater, more powerful way than he was when he walked the earth himself.

The era of the church would be the era of lives transformed by the power of the gospel and the Spirit – and through his church. But it doesn't come through the church only by her speaking words, or only by her doing deeds. Jesus came both proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and demonstrating that his kingdom had indeed come through his compassion, love and healing of every affliction among the people (Matthew 4:23-25).

Jesus' ministry methodology was not either/or, it was a weaving together of both. And it has not been superseded. He is at work in a very similar way through his people today. The redemptive reign of God comes upon broken people as we both proclaim the good news with our mouths, and as we embody (put flesh on) the love of Christ to our neighbours – perhaps particularly to the poorest, most vulnerable and marginalised among us.

Some of the people we see in our cities each day are in many ways our society's refuse. We get embarrassed by them, want to look away and certainly don't want to befriend and touch them (I guess they're a bit like the lepers and prostitutes that Jesus was scandalously seen with). And yet God has a way of choosing the foolish, the weak and the low in order to shame the wise, the strong and the high. And now He bids his church to come join with Him in his mission; to be his hands and feet and mouth in loving, caring and speaking his good news to all the broken people He died to heal.