Acts 8:12

Philip was one of the early followers of Jesus who had been scattered from Jerusalem due to violent persecution. He traveled to Samaria — a region that Jewish people of his day typically avoided, because Samaritans were considered cultural and religious outsiders. Despite this cultural barrier, Philip preached about Jesus Christ and the kingdom of God, and the people believed and responded. Both men and women were baptized — a detail worth pausing on, because in that culture, women were rarely counted as full participants in religious life. The gospel was crossing social boundaries from the very beginning.

Lord, forgive me for the borders I draw around your grace. You went to Samaria. Stretch my imagination about who you're pursuing and give me the courage to go where you're already at work. Amen.

The detail that both men and women were baptized might seem unremarkable to modern ears — until you place it back into the world it was written in. Women in first-century culture were not counted in religious census rolls, not called as witnesses in court, and were rarely considered full participants in public religious life. Philip didn't offer them a side entrance or a modified version. The same water. The same declaration. The same name. The gospel has always had this stubborn habit of going where it isn't expected and including who isn't supposed to be included. Who do you quietly — maybe even unconsciously — consider on the edges of God's reach? The addict three weeks out of rehab. The skeptic who mocks faith online. The person whose politics make your jaw tighten. Philip didn't go to the respectable neighborhood. He crossed the border. The question isn't just whether you believe this story. It's whether you'd have been surprised by it.