Rahab: Joshua 2 v 1-21; 6 v 22-25: ‘She tied the scarlet cord’
The journey from Jerusalem to Jericho is downhill all the way from nearly 2,500 feet above sea level to over 800 feet below. The abundance of water and the rich soil are two reasons why Jericho is believed to be one of the oldest inhabited cities in the world. It lies very close to the River Jordan and was therefore the first obstacle in the way of the Israelites as they entered the Promised Land after the death of Moses.
The story of Rahab involves an encounter between those practising what are reputed to be the two oldest professions in the world, prostitution and spying. The precise reason why Joshua’s two spies went to see a prostitute is a matter of some debate. There are those who see a certain amount of ribaldry in the account and suggest that they went there for the most obvious reason. Other suggest that Rahab was also running something akin to a bed and breakfast establishment offering the spies a place to hunker down in an altogether more innocent fashion.
It may well be that Rahab was a widow and was compelled to sell her body to keep food on the table and a roof over her head. Be that as it may she is an unlikely friend to the two Israelites, especially as they are enemy spies. She comes across as a resourceful woman capable of the quick thinking needed to get the spies well out of the way, deal with the king of Jericho’s henchmen and make absolutely sure that she and her wider family are kept safe when the city is attacked. She’s an unlikely hero.
Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan presents us with another unlikely hero, this time out of his vivid imagination. Whilst a priest and a Levite, both of them ‘good guys’, skirt around the traveller lying there naked and half dead, a passing Samaritan doesn’t just bind up his wounds but takes him to an inn and pays for his care. The antipathy between Jews and Samaritans meant that the sting in the tail for Jesus’ Jewish audience is that the one they intuitively despise and write off as ‘one of that lot’ is the one who acts with compassion and humanity. So for them to ‘go and do likewise’ (Luke 10 v 37) required a sea change in attitude as their inbred preconceptions and prejudices are profoundly challenged.
If we look at some of those we consider to be heroes of the Old Testament story we find they are also an unlikely bunch including a boaster (Joseph), a murderer (Moses), a trickster (Jacob), a bully and a liar (Samson) and a schemer (David). With this in mind we if we were to question Rahab’s motives we might find that they were somewhat mixed. Word had come to the city of the military achievements of the Israelites and perhaps helping the spies represented an insurance card for her and her family. Yet she took an enormous risk in fobbing off the king’s messengers; if she had been found out she would certainly have had to pay the ultimate price (as would her guests). That is why, even taking account of the undeniable fact that she lied to save her and their skins, the book of Hebrews celebrates her as an exemplar of faith (Heb 11 v 31) and the book of James declares her righteous (James 2 v 25).
The German industrialist Oscar Schindler is named on the ‘Righteous Among the Nations’ database held at Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial, on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem. He also makes for an unlikely hero. He was a philanderer who after the war abandoned his wife in South America and a member of the Nazi Party who spent much of his working life trying to make as much money as he possibly could by fair means or foul. Yet at great personal risk he rescued and protected well over a thousand Jews employed in his factories who would otherwise have been sent to concentration camps and certain death. In the film ‘Schindler’s List’, which vividly brings the extraordinary story to life, he is given a ring by those whose lives he saved bearing a quote from the Jewish Talmud, ‘he who saves a life saves the world entire’.
I wonder how many unlikely heroes are woven into the fabric of our life stories. People who we perhaps found challenging, who we fundamentally disagreed with, found we had little in common with, were tempted to dismiss yet who, in some way, gave us something precious. These might include a preacher who we didn’t necessarily warm to yet who said something in a sermon that fundamentally changed the shape of our Christian lives or the most argumentative member of our bible study group who comes up with an insight that was exactly what we needed to hear at that moment in our Christian journey. It might be somebody whose beliefs are very different to our own or whose lifestyle is morally questionable who offers us a kind word, some wise advice or genuine care and concern through which we recognise God’s voice. We write people off at our peril!
Which brings us to another important aspect of this - Christians do not have a monopoly on guiding us, inspiring us or witnessing to what is true. All my life I have loved the music of the English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams. Although he wrote quite a bit of church music and edited the English Hymnal he was an atheist in his youth and then settled into a ‘cheerful agnosticism’. At no point was he a professing Christian. However I find, for example, listening to his Pastoral Symphony, written as an elegy to the fallen in World War One (in which he had been a medical orderly on the Western Front) a spiritually enriching experience which brings me close to the one who suffered and died on the cross for me and for all.
Whilst it must be said that this not something in the conscious mind of the composer it is something I find in the beauty of the music. I think it is evidence of our having been created in the image of God to reflect a creative love that is written into the DNA of the universe. The thread that ties Rahab, Oscar Schindler and Ralph Vaughan Williams together is common humanity. God’s love is visible in all sorts of unexpected ways and through some pretty unlikely people (which we might feel includes ourselves) which means we need to keep open eyes and attentive hearts. There was plenty that was awry in Rahab’s life yet she was able to make the right call at the right time and recognise that the God of Israel is, ‘God in heaven above and on earth below’ (2 v 11). We may be tempted to write people off, God never does.
Questions: What difference do you think the insight that everyone, of all faiths and none, is made in the image of God makes to the way we treat other people? How can we make God’s love visible?
Prayer: Lord you are the Lord of heaven and earth; help us to be open to your love even when it seems to come from unexpected people and places. Amen.