I went to church twice this past Sunday, an event more rare since I have joined churches outside of the CRC. I suppose that fact is really irrelevant, but since this post is titled Random...
I went to Covenant Sunday morning, a church I used to call home. And Pastor Herm, someone I think is comfortable with areas of gray, preached on Rahab. And he surprised me. He described Rahab as someone we might dislike because she lies and is deceptive. But my opinion of Rahab couldn't be more opposite. I've always really liked her. I love the idea of a lying prostitute being the one to protect God's spies.
The idea of disliking her never really crossed my mind...if she were perfect, it wouldn't really be so miraculous that she hid Joshua's spies. It would be mundane, boring, and very "Christian." The way it really happened though, I love it...a woman of ill repute, acccomplishing God's purposes regardless of her perhaps selfish intentions. It's what David Plotz calls the messy Bible. Totally messed up, Flannery O'Conner-esque people, working out redemption. What's not to like?
5 hours ago
2 comments:
I agree. And equally shocking is that Rahab is King David's great-great-grandmother. And there she is—the kind of embarrassing branch that the tidy Pharisaical mind would want to erase from the family tree—taking her place in the Messianic line at the beginning of Matthew. Beautiful.
i agree with you in theory, but let's be honest - i haven't seen you hanging out with too many prostitutes... there's a difference between it being beautiful in a story that you're reading and it being beautiful in real life... and i wonder a bit whether you'd really like her in real life or if there'd be a slight bit of disliking going on???
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