Jesus’ final words to his disciples were to baptize, and he empowers his followers to immerse the world in his Spirit. But we can only do this by first being immersed in the love of God ourselves.

In this week’s scripture, we watch Jesus heal ten lepers. All but one, a Samaritan, go on about their lives after being healed. The Samaritan returns out of gratitude to Jesus and receives an even deeper healing.

In today’s passage, Mark paints a portrait of a woman’s extravagant love & fierce devotion to Jesus. Jesus silences her critics, affirms the beauty of her gift, then curiously declares that “wherever the gospel is preached...what she has done will also be told...”

In today’s passage, we see Jesus stepping between a woman experiencing condemnation because of her sin, and those condemning her. In doing so, Jesus invites the woman, her accusers, and us into the ultimate freedom—freedom from the sin that binds us; freedom in Christ.