As I read it, the rope Rahab draped out her window and used to scale down Jericho’s wall was the very same red rope that the scouts put to use for their escape some days before. The rope was meant for both Jewish scouts and pagan prostitutes; for insiders and outsiders.
As the scouts were in no way superior to the town prostitute, we have a common need of redemption with the people we attempt to bring to Jesus. We’re the same as the lostest of the lost––trashed by our sin and yet treasured by the Savior. We can only share as much of Jesus as we’re clutching onto for ourselves. Thus, our message is: “Join us at the cross!”
Remember it’s the rope that saves, not how well we comprehend it. We don’t have to grasp it perfectly, to climb down the rope or to encourage others to join us. Its strength is bound up in what it is, not in how well we understand it or how well we communicate it to others. As with any of Jesus’ miracles––walking on water, turning water to wine, or healing the blind––his miracle of salvation is as high above our thoughts “as the heavens are above the earth.”
It’s not for us to fortify the rope, just trust the rope and preach the rope and nothing but the rope so help us God!
– Originally published in Reaching Rahab: Joining God In His Quest For Friends
barney wiget 