As I opened my curriculum to prepare for Sunday School this week, I had to smile. We landed upon one of my favorite stories of the Old Testament: Rahab and the Spies. This, of course, must be talked about in context of Joshua and the Battle of Jericho, which meant the next thing that came to my mind after my love of the story of Rahab (I'll get to that here shortly), was a song I learned in church as a child about how "the walls [of Jericho] came tum-bling down".

Prior to this point in the biblical narrative, Moses has passed away, but God is still working to move the Israelites forward, to the Promised Land. For this task, God appoints Joshua, reminding him to be strong and courageous as he leads God's people on this leg of the journey. Joshua responds out of faithfulness by encouraging his people to prepare for the journey ahead. He also, as part of his preparations, has decided to do a little extra digging to make sure he knows what he will be getting himself into.  Joshua has decided to send some spies over to Jericho, in the land of Canaan, to scout out the people and the land.

Chapter 2 starts:

Then Joshua son of Nun sent two men secretly from Shittim as spies, saying, "Go, view the land, especially Jericho." So they went, and entered the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab, and spent the night there. 2 The king of Jericho was told, "Some Israelites have come here tonight to search out the land." 3 Then the king of Jericho sent orders to Rahab, "Bring out the men who have come to you, who entered your house, for they have come only to search out the whole land."

Now, we don't know how much actual time has passed between all of these events as they are laid out in the passage, but I do seriously have to wonder how good these spies were if in one sentence they enter the city and in the very next sentence somehow word has already gotten back to the King! Things seem to progress quickly to us readers, although if we were standing in the dirt with these folks it might have paced out a little differently.

We read in verse three that the King sends a messenger to Rahab to bring out these so-called spies. Rahab, instead of turning the men over, takes a huge risk and hides the men and lies on their behalf to the messenger of the king. Best we can tell from the scriptures she hid the spies on the roof of her house.

After the dust has settled, just before the spies bed down for the night, Rahab confronts them. She takes a bold approach, and she doesn't waste time with small talk. I am taking liberties in my interpretation here, but essentially she says, "I know what's happening here. I know who you are, I know who sent you, and I know your intentions. My people are so terrified of you that all their hearts have melted, and their courage has failed. I will have helped you and will continue to help you, but you must do something for me in return. You must promise me that you will keep my family and me safe." And so they make a pact: Rahab and her family must stay in the walls of her home and the Israelites will bring them to safety. Later the spies go back to Joshua, Joshua leads the people across the Jordan, they circle the city 1 time for 6 days, and 7 times on the 7th day, letting out a big shout at the end of the 7th round, and like the words of the song I sang as a child, "the walls came tum-bling down". The Israelites rushed in and took over the city, but Rahab and her family were kept safe (if you choose to peruse the story in your Bible, Rahab's story doesn't come full circle until the end of Chapter 6).

I have to say, I find myself struck by the character of Rahab. In terms of her culture, she was deemed inferior because of her gender and role in society. She was not considered to be a full human, and was treated and valued accordingly. And that's where her culture messed up. They seriously underestimated her. In the eyes of God, Rahab was in fact a true, real, fully embodied person, with a brain, a heart, and a soul. God saw, and we learned, that Rahab was much more than just an object to be used as a means to an end. We see that Rahab is smart, perceptive, brave, courageous, strong, and bold. We see that Rahab has a family that she deeply loves and cares for. We see that Rahab's culture has caused her great pain and strife. We see that Rahab is a real person. Enter these spies, and this word going out for them to be turned into the king... and here the three of them sit. The spies are vulnerable, relatively exposed, and in danger. They too are persons who have person-like desires (such as to not die). Rahab has now also been roped into this danger. And all of a sudden she finds herself having to report to the King--a terrifying and unfamiliar place for someone so marginalized to be in. And something happens in that moment, where, I would suggest, that the very humanity of the spies, and the very humanity of Rahab collided, and they had to figure out something to do about that. At this point, facts like her being a prostitute and them being spies had to fall to wayside, in light of the greater concern that everything that was important to these people was being threatened, and the only out they had was each other. And it is out of this moment where they all recognized and acknowledged the personhood of one other, that they all go forth willing to take counter-cultural risks for one another: her lying for them, and them advocating for her to Joshua. 

I think there is something important here for us. Because it is easy to see those around us for the function they serve in our world. It's easy to say THAT is someone who changes my lightbulbs, who won't get out of my way on the highway, who bags my groceries, who lifts the things I find too heavy, who takes me to lunch so I feel less lonely, who I spend time with to get to know their friends. The idea of seeing those around us as actual persons, though, is rather different. When we dictate relationships out of their functions, they often become self-centered and self-serving. When we find ourselves in places where we are to acknowledge the people around us as persons, we have to acknowledge that they have thoughts, opinions, feelings, emotions, sensitivities, insecurities, wonderings, dreams, secrets, and faults. And when we do this we also must acknowledge these very same things exist in us, too. And that's terrifying, but it also has the potential to be truly transformative, both in how we treat others, and how we treat ourselves.

We serve a God that was willing to take on flesh to be with us in our broken humanity, and that God calls us to go and do likewise. It is my prayer that we, as a community of Christ's follower's, can learn to love and accept the humanity in one another: the good, the bad and the truly ugly, so that we may in turn go out to love and accept the humanity of the world.