Sermon Joshua 2:1-14; 6:15-16,20,22-25; 2 Thessalonians 2:13-16
A Hot Mess-it’s Our Story
Our faith story is always told in ways of wonder and
excitement. Our ancestors in faith are heroes and larger than life figures. We
are in awe about who they are and how they have carried on the faith to us.
They are champions. They are people of wonder for us to look up to. They are
people of our story. It’s so important for us to get to know them. It’s so
important for us to recognize the adversities they faced, their courage to
overcome; their incredible faith; and their complete trust in the power of God
to prevail.
What we don’t need to do though, is clean up the stories. We
don’t need to sanitize them. We don’t need to embellish the nature of the characters
who God chose to be our ancestors of faith. Because when we do that we deny
ourselves from being not so perfect to carry on the faith for the next
generation. If we could share the truth of the hot mess that Abraham,
Isaac, Jacob, Rebekah, Moses, Miriam, Joshua, Rahab, the disciples, Mary,
Joseph, Peter and all the others really were; then perhaps we’d be a little
kinder, gracious, and loving to ourselves and our family as we walk this path
of life with Jesus.
Rahab was a prostitute living within the walls of the city of
Jericho. The city of Jericho still stands. Jericho and Bethlehem are within the
walls of Palestine. Many Palestinian Christians live there. Jericho is a city
that is over ten thousand years old. It is an amazing place filled with markets
selling colorful cloth, souvenirs, delicious fruits and vegetables. They have
preserved the site of the ancient walls. One can see layers upon layers of
early civilizations. Looking down upon the archaeological site we can imagine
the story of Joshua’s army marching around and tooting their trumpets until the
walls collapsed.
With all that Joshua and his army did to prevail over this
city on their way to the Land of Promise, it would not and could not have
happened had it not been for the intervention of Rahab. She was a vulnerable
woman of poverty. She was an unsuspecting woman. And yet she is the one who
took the risk of her life for the sake of her family. She lied to the
authorities about the where the spies were and where they were headed. She knew
the ramifications of her actions would lead to death is she was caught. Yet,
she knew her life and her family’s life would be in peril if she didn’t.
It begs the question, as to when is it ok to lie or to go
against the system that has the power? It begs the question when is it ok to go
against what you believe in for the sake of the safety of your family? It puts
to the test the moral fabric of our way of life to determine the future for
those who we love.
One of the essentials of our faith that states, “God alone is
Lord of the conscience.” I honestly think if we really believe this we would be
a lot better in the way we live as brothers and sisters in Jesus. We can relax
as we disagree over issues inside and outside the church. We could trust that
we all pray asking for the guidance of our Lord as we make choices and struggle
through ideas and ideals. Life is hard! Yet, as we trust the Lord to guide us
on our path, the one for our family, the one you, the one for me, the one for
the church, we’ll discover being of like mind in Jesus opens us up to a variety
of different paths.
If we think we were from an ancestral line of perfection we
got it all wrong. Our perfection is in Jesus and only in Him. Thank you God! When
the Ancestry lines became easier to research we discovered some exciting family
history. Those commercials on TV show how intriguing the stories are that
people found out. Ancestry.com has all kinds of ways to woo us into thinking that we'll discover the details of our family. Yet, those records don’t talk about the grandpa who had a hot
temper. Or the gramma who ran a moonshine business. Or…
The writers of Scripture didn’t even sugar coat the incarnation. Jesus was born into a hot mess of family turmoil. We are the ones who make his birth story so angelic. God wants us to hang on to the truths around us for all of history.
Yes, our nation’s leaders had and have flaws.
But, when we learn to look at the cultural references to those times we don’t
disregard their whole life as invaluable. Imagine if we did that to Mary the
mother of Jesus, or David the king of Israel, or Peter, the apostle? We seem to
have taken people’s lives and destroyed them over one act made 30 years prior
or 100 years prior and judged them by today’s cultural standards.
Think about the fact that in the Bible there are so many
things written that draw our frustration with war, with genocide, with
patriarchal societies, with slavery, with false leaders, with paganism, with
debauchery, with lying, cheating, stealing, and every commandment under the sun
broken. And these were done by people GOD chose. They were ALL a Hot Mess!!
Which is exactly why it’s time we recognize the saints from
whom we came. Because we are the saints from which our children and
grandchildren will come. So, if we have some fear that we are too much of a hot
mess for family to accept as a saint called by God to do the work of Jesus in
the world, we can relax. God is the one who takes us and grabs us in the grip
of grace and puts us on a path of purpose.
Neither Rahab nor the spies had any idea of how their
interaction with each other was setting the stage for the lineage of the
messiah.
The spies enter the city walls. Rahab hides them and protects
them in exchange for the protection of her family. Her story is exalted in the
New Testament in Hebrews and in James as one of a woman of faith who changed
the course of the history of Israel. It is a reminder that it is God who chooses
the most unlikely people to change the course of history. Rahab became the
mother of Boaz who later married Ruth who became the mother of Obed, who became
the father of Jesse and then David who became the ancestor of Jesus. All of us are worthy in
the sight of God to be called to the work of salvation. In Jesus Christ we have
new life, let us receive his grace and be on the move.
God chooses people who are not like us to move us in new
directions and into new opportunities and lands of promise.
The opportunities lie within us now as we embrace our
ancestors and the whole truth of their stories. Because every ounce of it is
ours. We are on the next chapter of God’s story for the ones to come. Let’s be
on the move! Blessed assurance Jesus is mine and yours and ours. Amen.
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