"Tight lines" is a blessing fishermen offer each other, a wish for lines taut with the weight of good fish. May God grant that the lines written here be taut with His blessings.
Tuesday, 05 January 2010 | |||
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Behind Enemy Lines | |||
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"People there are fascinated by blonde hair," said our
daughter about her trip to China this past summer. She had ample opportunity to
reflect on what it was like to be completely different in appearance from the
people around her, and how it felt to be on the outside of a culture looking
in. That "outside looking in" feeling shows up in more than one direction in our text for this Sunday from Joshua 2, where we find two young Israelite spies hiding out in Rahab's house in Jericho. We read both the experience of the young men who were found out and desperate in the midst of the foreign and hostile Jerichoites, and the experience of Rahab who sought sanctuary for herself and her family among the foreign and hostile Israelites. The story of Rahab reminds us that God is in the business of pushing people behind "enemy" or at least foreign or alien lines in more than one direction. We as Christians may find ourselves led like my daughter into the midst of a culture and people who are strange to us. At the very same time we are called, like the ancient Israelites saved and incorporated Rahab, to welcome and incorporate strangers behind our own cultural and social lines. As we "fight for survival," whether its economically as individuals or against terrorism as a nation or as a church against declining numbers, we remember that in the midst of its struggle for a place in the land Israel had room to welcome outsiders and bring them into their lives. Rahab shows up two or three times in the New Testament, most interestingly in the lineage of Jesus in Matthew 1. The Israelite welcome and redemption of a foreign prostitute was ultimately part of God's plan for their own redemption. Let us keep crossing the lines and finding those God wants to save, and in the process we will reclaim our own salvation. | |||
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I am the pastor of Valley Covenant Church in Eugene, Oregon. I love to flyfish and hike along the beautiful rivers in our area. I welcome your comments as I share sermon work in progress and occasional other thoughts.
Thank you for visiting this blog. I invite you also to visit my web page.
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