Twisted and confused by their inherent bent toward rebellion, humans are at the same time stamped by God as divine image bearers, his one-off work of art. To focus on one or the other exclusively either demonizes or deifies them. They’re neither demons nor divine, but lost sons and daughters––seldom as bad as they could be, but never enough good to not need a Savior.
Jesus prioritized the Rahabs of his day, the most defective individuals in Israel: the five-time divorcée from Samaria, the Canaanite widow, blind Bartimaeus, Zacchaeus the extortionist, the thankful leper, and the demonized Gadarene to name a few. He gravitated to people who needed him most, ones whose hearts were primed for his intervention. Rahab, a woman of the night and believer in Canaanite idols, was just such a person.
How fortuitous that the two scouts who are reconnoitering the impermeable city of Jericho would come to her house––her house of ill repute. Of all people, God reaches out to her, and she reaches back.
– Originally published in Reaching Rahab: Joining God In His Quest For Friends
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