Rehab’s Inclusion – Joy
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Matthew’s Gospel starts out with a long genealogy that, if we’re honest, puts most of us to sleep. Why didn’t Matthew just get to the good stuff?!? Well, for Matthew and his original readers, that genealogy is the good stuff! It connects back to what God promised through Isiah about the shoot from the stump of Jesse. It connects Jesus back to David and demonstrates that he is the rightful king and the long-promised Messiah. It sets the stage for everything that will unfold in his Gospel account. Even more beautifully, Matthew includes three women in the genealogy (Tamar, Bathsheba, and Rahab). This was highly uncommon but would reinforce the inclusion of the gospel, that it is good news for all people, and that Jesus would save his people from their sins (Matt. 1:21).
Some people seem like they might never find Jesus. We wonder why bother to pray for someone who so adamantly refuses belief in God or lives a life that shouts to everyone: “I make my own rules! I know what’s best!” There are still people in remote parts of the world, with no written language that seem impossible to reach with the hope of Christ. Still others yet, that their religion puts them at war with God. Is it feasible that His peace could lay claim on their lives and change them forever?
For us, it might seem impossible that the dead could rise. But God did that, too.
We see in the testimonies of countless believers where the most impossible characters come to a saving relationship with their Creator God. One of those stories is Rahab.
In Rahab’s story, we see that God’s redemption is limitless and that when faithless people choose righteousness, not only are they saved from destruction but they are saved for glory. Rahab was an unlikely character to be in the lineage of Jesus. Yet she would play a pivotal role in the defeat of Jericho and save her family. This victory for the Israelites would mean the survival of their nation, all hinged on the courageous decision of faith made by a prostitute. Though not even an Israelite herself she would also become a direct ancestor of Jesus by marrying Salmon, who was the father of Boaz, who married Ruth, who gave birth to Obed, who’s son was Jesse, the father of King David. Her unexpected and bold act of faith led her to become the great grandmother of one of the greatest kings in Israel’s history and the ancestor of the King of the World.
If in the story of Tamar we see the depth of God’s salvation, in Rahab’s we see its breadth. Salvation can come to anyone and salvation is for everyone, even the most unlikely characters. Rahab’s name means “He enlarges” or “He widens.” While she would not see the incredible outcome of her salvation, Matthew saw it in part in the life of Christ and just had to list her! Through Rahab and ultimately through Jesus we see the Kingdom of God enlarged and no one is too impossible to enter it.