Rahab

Texts: Joshua 2:1-16, Matthew 21:28-32

Pastor Phil Hughes, American Fork Presbyterian Church, Utah

February 25, 2024   Second Sunday in Lent

This sermon series during Lent is called “No Perfect People Allowed” because throughout the Bible we find God gathering very imperfect people to be part of his story and people. God came searching for imperfect people. Jesus said he came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. During Lent we acknowledge our own sinfulness and imperfection.  We also acknowledge God’s redemption and grace. And each of the people we hear about in these sermons were broken, but nevertheless, part of the circle of God’s people.

Have you ever met a prostitute? I’ll tell you about one time I did. But first, let’s understand who and what we are dealing with here. Yes, Rahab is listed as a champion of faith in Hebrews 11 which is kind of a Hall of Fame for people of faith in the Bible.[1] Yes, James also uses her as an example of real faith in his New Testament letter.[2]

And so we tend to pretty Rahab up. But prostitution is not pretty. Maybe we are even uncomfortable hearing this in church, for gosh sakes. What her life was about was not pretty. In the eyes of God it is immoral. To be with a prostitute is unequivocally condemned in the Bible.

In the New Testament we read, “Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself?  Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute?  Never!”[3] The issue is adultery.

In the Old Testament prostitution is used as an image for evil. Israel is called the offspring of adulterers and prostitutes because of its unfaithfulness to God.[4] The Lord accuses Israel of living like a prostitute and harlot.[5] Go to the New Testament and in Revelation, the great, blood-drunk, enemy of God– Babylon – who sits on the beast and is responsible for killing those associated with Jesus is portrayed as a harlot.[6] The image is always a bad one.

Prostitution is not endorsed by God. Yet, Rahab becomes a hero of faith. Some ancient interpreters tried to tone down the word “prostitute” by called her a “landlord” or “innkeeper” or “dealer of goods.” But Rahab was most likely a common prostitute.

She may not have chosen this life.  She may have been forced into this profession to pay debts.  Some women had no opportunities to earn a living and were on the edge of life.  Slavery or prostitution were their only options. In the ancient Near East women couldn’t get an education. They often could not get employment.[7] They had no way to support themselves. The business wasn’t outlawed but these women were certainly outcasts.[8] . And sadly, many women in our world today have to do the same.

My first pastorate was in the inner city of Philadelphia. It was a very beaten down and poor area, riddled with crime and drugs and many problems.  And it still is today.

When I would drive around the neighborhood the hookers along Kensington Avenue, under the elevated train, would try to wave me down and anyone else they could find. These women were not attractive.  They often emaciated and doing what they did for drug money.

One cold, winter day a knock came at the church door. The pastor’s study was very near the door and I was the only one in the building that day. I opened it and in came a young woman. She said she needed help. It wasn’t uncommon for people to come to our church for help given the area.

The church building was an old, big church, and to save money we turned the heat way down in the winter and heated just essential rooms with space heaters. My study was the only heated room this winter day so I invited her in there to sit down. She had no jacket. She was dressed very poorly for the winter. I could tell she was in sad shape.

I asked her what kind of help she needed. She went on to tell me about her need for food and clothes and that she had turned to prostitution in order to survive. She was an addict. She showed me marks on her arm where she had “highballed” which is to inject a mixture of hard drugs. Her arms were bruised and dark.

We talked for awhile and then she became restless.  She asked if I had any clothes.  I didn’t but I ended up giving her my winter gloves which were sitting right there on my desk. She left. I never saw her again.

Rahab’s house was at the wall of the city of Jericho. Jericho was a Canaanite city. Canaanites were at odds with Israel.  The people and armies of Israel, led by Joshua, are camped just outside of Jericho. It strikes terror into the city because the people of Jericho know Israel has been on the march.  Israel has been conquering any king in their way and a possible invasion of their city is coming.

Joshua sends two spies in to Jericho to look over the city. A harlot’s house is a good place for strangers to go if they don’t want to be questioned or really noticed. A lot of men were going in and out of such a place. But the spies are seen. When the local police come looking for the men Rahab hides the spies on her roof. A Canaanite helping Israelites.

She lies to the police and gets them off of the track of the Israelite spies. This prostitute is helping the cause of the God of Israel. Why does she do this? Why not turn them into the Jericho authorities? Why risk her own life?

This is what Rahab says to the spies: “I know that the Lord has given you this land.”

She says, “I know” When we say, “I know” we are stating what we believe, our convictions, our assurance. Rahab has heard what God has done, how he brought Israel out of Egypt across the Red Sea, how he has defeated two of the most feared kings in the Near East.

She says, “the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below.” Whatever Rahab’s life has been like and though she is a Canaanite, she believes that the God of Israel is over all. She has faith.  And she acts out that faith by helping the Israelite spies escape.

Folks, if you are going to walk with God get ready to live with contradictions. Things aren’t always going to add up. God is not mathematically correct. God doesn’t always draw inside the lines. And I have come to learn that there are many people outside of church walls – in bars, on the streets, in jails – who have faith in the living God.

And – this is a contradiction – sometimes they are the ones living the life of faith more closely than those inside churches. There are people in lifestyles that I can’t condone and I don’t think God does either, but God works his purposes through them. They have a sense for God.

Rahab has three biblical strikes against her: 1) she is a Canaanite, 2) she is a woman, 3) and then her business. We can only imagine where Rahab may have come from.  Raised amidst the religion of Canaanite gods, possibly forced into this life, or maybe just willing to make the moral concession for the sake of business. But God will not be limited by social respectability or power.[9] He can even bring prostitutes into the kingdom.

God had commanded Israel to destroy all Canaanites.[10] The spies are the first Israelites who have an encounter with a Canaanite being Rahab. And they find that this Canaanite professes faith in the Lord God of Israel.

Israel was forbidden from making any treaties with those living in the land of Canaan. Yet, the oath that Rahab gets from the spies to spare her life and the life of her family if she helps them, is nothing less than a covenant. Joshua upholds it later on.

Israel does attack Jericho. The city is destroyed. But true to their word, the Israelites spare Rahab and her family. It isn’t until the end of Joshua chapter 6 that we get the point of this story.  It says: “But Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, with her family and all who belonged to her, because she hid the men Joshua had sent as spies to Jericho – and she lives among the Israelites to this day.”[11] Rahab, the Canaanite, becomes part of the people of the LORD.

One of the reasons for this story in Joshua 2 is to explain why not all Canaanites were destroyed. It helps explain why Rahab’s people continued to live among the Israelites when Israel had been commanded to obliterate the people.[12]

Rahab became a part of another people and another life than she had previously lived. Rahab turned her life to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Jewish tradition said that from Rahab’s lineage came eight prophets and priests. And that she was the ancestral mother to the Old Testament prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel.

The gospel of Matthew begins with a genealogy of Jesus and lists Rahab as part of Jesus’ family line.[13] A prostitute in the family heritage of Christ.  (Are you reading your Bibles?)

Jesus told a parable to the Jewish religious leaders of his day about two sons who were sent by their father to work in the vineyard. The first originally refused to go, but later changed his mind and went out and did what his father asked. The second son originally said he would go and work, but did not. Jesus asked, “which of the two did what their father wanted?” The religious leaders answered, “The first one.”

And Jesus said this, “Yes, and I tell you that crooks and whores are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you.  John came to you showing you the right road.  You turned up your noses at him, but the crooks and whores believed him.  Even when you saw their changed lives, you didn’t care enough to change and believe John.”[14]

When John the Baptist came and announced for people to get ready for the coming of God in Jesus it was the crooks and prostitutes who believed him. They took God’s message seriously. They changed. They found the kingdom. Not the religious people. The lead pastors and elders were sure that the tax collectors and prostitutes would not enter the kingdom, while being quite sure that they, themselves, would. They thought they were perfect and only perfect people were admitted into God’s kingdom. The crooks and prostitutes were like that first son. At first they rejected God’s ways, but they changed and turned back to their father.

The parable of the two sons is Jesus saying, “Doesn’t matter who you are or where you’ve been.  You can always change.  The kingdom isn’t about being perfect and all cleaned up.  It is about doing what God wants.”

Rahab served God. God is not searching for perfect people because from the very beginning no one is. God doesn’t want people who just give him lip service. He wants people who practice faith. Who make decisions that reflect life in God. Who live lives that seek to be what Jesus wants us to be.

There are people who sit in church Sunday by Sunday and consider themselves very moral but don’t do anything for God. Or they live very differently Monday through Saturday. They are like that second son. They may say they believe but their lives don’t have the obedience to show it. That is why James uses Rahab as an example of faith that isn’t just words, but faith that is lived.

James writes, “Rahab was considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies…so faith without deeds is dead.”[15]

Maybe there are people around us who feel they are beyond and out of the reach of God. Maybe there are people who come into this church and think that. Maybe we think that about ourselves. We think we are too damaged.  What we have done is too bad for us to be one of God’s own. Rahab’s story tells us otherwise.

Rahab and Jesus tell us that despite our sins, our broken pieces, our imperfections, we can still be part of the kingdom of God. Rahab’s example shows us that we don’t have to be morally perfect.

God’s love is for us.  God’s forgiveness is offered to any who will accept it. God is about redemption. It says in Romans, “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”[16] Not while we had it all together and had cleaned ourselves up.  No. God knows what we are.  Yet he died for us.

He takes us at our worst and uses us for his best. Don’t take yourself out of the game because you think you’ve crossed too many lines. We all need to turn back to the Lord in some way which is what Lent is about. God’s righteousness can overcome anyone’s unrighteousness. Even a prostitute.

Thomas Merton said, “God loves you, is present in you, lives in you, dwells in you, calls you, saves you and offers you an understanding and compassion which are like nothing you have ever found in a book or heard in a sermon.”[17]

God loves who we really are – whether we like it or not. He sees us as we are. No amount of spiritual makeup can make us more presentable to him.[18]

We are all imperfect in some way. And if the only people God will accept and welcome are morally perfect people, this place is going to be empty real fast. The story of God in the Bible is people acknowledging who he is and responding with their lives. That’s what Rahab did.

The main thing is that when God calls we need to answer.  When the Lord knocks we need to open.  When the chance to put faith into action comes we need to act.  When grace is extended we need to repent and change. For Jesus came to call and seek out the lost and to save the sinful by his grace.

Prayer: Lord God we are deeply thankful that you are the God who comes with mercy.  Thank you that you are always about redeeming people, changing us from who we were to new creations in Christ. We praise you for the cross and we bow down before it, placing our lives before you as sinners in need of grace. Rahab left the gods, culture, and ways of Canaan and a broken life and turned to you. May we leave whatever is not of you and turn back toward you in repentance and faith.  Amen.

[1] 11:30

[2] 2:25

[3] 1 Corinthians 6:15-16

[4] Isaiah 57:3-5

[5] Jeremiah 3:1

[6] Revelation 17:1ff

[7] Interpretation Commentary on Joshua, Jerome F.D. Creach, p.33

[8] Carolyn Pressler, Westminster Bible Commentary, Joshua, pp. 24-25

[9] Pressler, p. 26

[10] Deuteronomy 20:16-18

[11] Joshua 6:25

[12] Deut. 20:10-20

[13] Matthew 1:5

[14] The Message with a minor change.

[15] James 2:25-26

[16] Romans 5:8

[17] Quoted by Brennan Manning in Abba’s Child, p. 22

[18] manning