Day Two Talk from Camp…
When I think of a “hero,” I like to think of someone big and strong…someone who can do special things. I really like the story of Spiderman because Peter Parker–for those of you who don’t know, Peter Parker is Spiderman–Peter Parker was just this ordinary guy who all of the sudden was given the opportunity to change the world (or at least his part of the world). An ordinary guy who was given a not-so-ordinary opportunity to be a hero. No one else could do what he did.
You know, I remember one time several years ago when I was on my way up into the mountains to kayak. One section of the dirt road on the way to the river was steep and had an abundance of sharp curves. This particular day there was a young kid who had rolled his jeep and was blocking the road. We were the third or fourth car on scene when we learned that a bus full of kids was going to be coming down the road any minute and once they turned onto the dirt road there would be no way for them to get turned around.
We took immediate action and drove back to the turn-off, parked in the middle of the road and warned travelers of blockage. I know that it sounds silly but I feel that I was a hero that day for a bus full of kids and many other people.
This reminds me of a story which happened a thousand years ago to a woman named Rahab. Let me tell you that story…
The day was coming to an end. The gates to the city were about to close so no one could get in or out, and Rahab heard the pounding of fists on her door.
“Where are they?” the king’s men demanded.
“Where are who?” she replied.
“The two men we saw enter your home, they are spies! Bring them out and give them to us so we can deal with them.”
“If I had only known!” Rahab answered. “Two men did come here, but when it was time to shut the city gate, they left. If you hurry, you can still catch them.”
Rahab lived more than 3,000 years ago in a city named Jericho. Rahab was a prostitute. Someone most people did not love or respect. In fact, she was someone most people probably avoided…people didn’t want to be around her…to be seen with her…she was a prostitute in Jericho!
One day, two strangers rented a room from her. She probably knew who they were. The whole city was talking about these people…millions of people who called themselves God’s chosen people…Jews. They had lived in the desert for the past 40 years, and now they were headed toward Jericho! Everyone had heard how God had protected them and taken care of them in ways that could only be described as miracles. Everyone knew that their God was strong and powerful. And Rahab knew that the two men at her door were Jewish spies.
I imagine her thinking, “Why did they come to me for a room? I mean, these people are supposed to be close to God. I’m a prostitute! I live completely different from what God wants. It’s not like their God would want to have anything to do with me.” I wonder if that’s why they went to her…because of who she was and how she lived. Maybe God wanted to use Rahab, a woman who thought she was too bad for God to love her…who had done so many “bad things” that most people didn’t love her. I don’t know…but I wonder.
So these two spies spent time checking out the city. Were the walls really impossible to break through? What about the army of Jericho?
But, as I said, everyone in Jericho knew that God’s people were coming to Jericho. When they heard two Jews were staying at Rahab’s house, they knew these men must be spies! The king of Jericho ordered men to go to Rahab’s house and get these spies. Rahab heard the king’s men were coming, so she hid the spies on the roof of her house and told the king’s men that they had already left the city.
What could she do now? Rahab, a prostitute, had lied to the king’s men to save two men who wanted to destroy her city. If she was caught in her lie, she would be severely punished, maybe even killed, by the king! Surely, the king’s men would realize she had lied.
Jericho was a city completely surrounded by a wall so thick there was no way for any army to break through it. The only way in or out of the city was through the city’s gate. They felt completely safe. When the gate was closed, Jericho could not be conquered. Rahab’s home was in the thick wall surrounding the city, and she had a window, high above the ground, facing the outside of the wall.
She offered the spies a rope they could use to climb out her window to freedom.
Rahab had heard about their God’s power, how He has protected and led His people. “He is the one true God,” she said.
She asked them to be kind to her when they attacked the city…to let her and her family live. The men agreed, but told her to keep her whole family in her house, and to tie a dark red rope and put it in her window.
The people of Jericho were right—no army could break through the wall surrounding the city. God told his people to march silently around the wall one time each day for six days. On the seventh day, they marched silently around Jericho six times, then on the seventh lap around the Jericho, they blew trumpets and yelled as loud as they could! God made the whole wall that was protecting Jericho fall…the whole wall, that is, except where Rahabs house was, filled with Rahab and her whole family. That part of the wall was undamaged.
Rahab, the prostitute, the woman no one loved…the one who had lived a life completely against what God wants…she believed in God and saved two of God’s people. She was a hero! Because of her faith and her actions, God saved Rahab and her family. It wasn’t men who knocked down that wall…it wasn’t an army…that was impossible! God knocked over the wall, and it was God who protected Rahab and her family.
Imagine that! A prostitute had faith in God…so God saved her and her family! Rahab was redeemed by God…she was forgiven for her life as a prostitute.
It’s more than 3,000 years later, and how do we remember Rahab? Rahab the prostitute? Rahab the hated woman? No…today we remember her as one of Jesus’ relatives. We remember her as Rahab the hero—Rahab the redeemed!
