Rahab Was More Than a Label
** Dottie Oleson **
On Sunday we reflected on the story of Rahab, an amazingly brave woman who is a part of Jesus’ matriarchal lineage. Rahab’s story is dynamic, colorful, and complex. She is brave and takes risks. There is so much about Rahab’s story that we don’t know. I wish we could’ve heard this story from her perspective. What was she feeling? There are gaps in the story that we have to fill in. From what we are given, we know that Rahab is a brave and faithful woman. We also know, that with the little information we have about her, she is called, “Rahab, the prostitute.”
The author of Joshua 2 introduces Rahab as a prostitute, “So they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there.” It’s an odd way to introduce someone and I’m sure many power dynamics are wrapped up in an introduction like that. I also imagine Rahab wouldn’t have felt good hearing a story be told about her where she is reduced to “the prostitute.” When we remember the story, we see Rahab is so much more than this label. And yet, often in the Christian tradition, when we have retold this story we have taken the bait of shallow thinking - we have reduced her to “Rahab, the prostitute.” We’ve missed associating her with her bravery and faithfulness and reduced her to the click bait label with the most negative connotations.
Isn’t it odd how we do this? We take the societal bait that boxes people into labels, labels of shaming and "other." Our brains love to oversimplify people's identities to that they are the outsider, not me.
Here are two big elements to reflect on:
When we study the Bible, it’s easy to retell the story and oversimplify the characters. When we go into texts, let’s be mindfully humanizing to the characters. How would the person in this story feel if they heard it told this way? What has been emphasized in the past? Is that harmful? How can I help reimagine this person’s story?
In society, we like to box people into labels. We lack nuanced and humanzing thinking. How can we bring empathy, mystery, openness, and curiosity into our views of people, especially those different from us? Let’s continue to ask God for the eyes to see.