Outside the Camp
Welcome!
You can watch the sermon here:
If we haven’t met yet, my name is Karen Smith, I am a volunteer here. We hope you feel a part of this church whether today is your first day or your 5,00th day.
Now I know for some of you if you are like me, you may have walked in these doors and paused, unsure of where to sit. Maybe you didn’t know anyone when you walked through these doors. Or maybe you walked in knowing half the room but still felt nervous. It’s our hope here that you would connect with others and feel welcomed and wanted.
Have you ever felt like your not in the in crowd? Like most people, this became evident for me in junior high. I was absolutely not cool. I loved Jesus a little too much for my public school friends. I had an unfortunate hair cut that was a result of my best friend and I cutting each other’s hair…remember this is junior high, not 3 years old. My friend’s mom ran her own salon so she helped fix it when I came in with tears. She tried to even it out, and it got shorter and shorter. I knew it was bad when I heard the electric razor turn on .
We didn’t have a lot of money. One of my mom’s best friend would generously give me clothes her daughter had grown out of. In the pile I found this very sophisticated floral shirt, looking back it was probably her mother’s shirt that slipped in.
So first day to school with my new haircut I tried to mitigate the humiliation by wearing my new shirt. Now this class I walked in to that morning was the worst. Absolute Lord of the Flies. The ceiling upon first glance was popcorn ceiling, but no, it was that many spitballs stuck up, just waiting to fall down into my hair. So that day, someone’s grandma came to sub adding to the mayhem of the class. In she walks and I die a thousand twelve year old girl deaths. She is wearing the same shirt as me. Incidentally we nearly had the same haircut too.
That day changed everything. All my dreams of being accepted died in that room with the spitball ceiling, and with that, gone was my dream of ever marrying someone from New Kid on the Block.
As traumatic as that was, my life was about to really change. When I was 12, my dad died and suddenly I was dealing with grief while the girls were all talking about boys.
You may have faired better than I in middle school, but you know what it means to be an outsider. You’ve experienced it and most likely you’ve done it to others too. People are put outside because of a divorce, addictions, a career choice or partner your parents didn’t accept. Maybe it’s your race or your economic status. Maybe its rejection by loved ones or even your own faith community. We have all kinds of ways we put people outside in our faith communities don’t we. We will often let them sit with us, but we also let them know they aren’t quite enough, or that they are too much. To various degrees we have all been pushed outside the fold and we have all pushed others there too.
Today were going to look at Rahab the Prostitute, and through her story we learn two things, that
1. Jesus came for those inside the camp and outside the camp.
2. He came for the insiders AND the outsiders
I want to look at the big picture of her story and see what it means for us. I think it’s important to remember the Bible is ONE BIG story and when we look at a passage we want to see how that fits in. So for context, you may have heard of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Then Jacob got renamed to Israel and had 12 sons that became the 12 tribes of Israel. Eventually they become slaves in Egypt and Moses leads them out and they wander the wilderness. Joshua rises as their leader and they are going to the promised land but first big city they need to conquer is Jericho. Remember this is the city where they had to march around the city 7 times.
Rahab is the one who teaches us Jesus brings outsiders in. So Joshua is leading the Israelites and they are on the edge of the promised land. He sends two spies in to scope out Jericho. It says in Joshua 2:2 “they went, and entered the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab, and spent the night there.” So if you’ve heard of Rahab before she almost always has the descriptor of prostitute before her name. It was interesting to me in studying her that the famous Jewish historian Josephus notes that the Hebrew word for prostitute can also mean innkeeper. It is likely she is a prostitute, innkeeper and probably sold flax for clothing. Her occupation put her outside the camp in antiquity and likely would today too. Why would a woman in antiquity prostitute herself? What led her to this painful and shameful part of her story? What would it look like if she walked through the doors of this church today? Would you invite her to sit with you?
It’s also interesting to me that we never hear why the two male spies went straight there to spend the night. Was it the only inn in town? I have so many questions! Why did they go straight there? There’s no mention of anything physical happening but it sure seems like an odd choice for your first stop if you’re a God fearing man.
So Rahab hides these two spies in her house. The king of Jericho finds out and sends orders to her for the men to be brought out. She hides the guys up on her roof hiding them under stalks of flax. She tells the king’s men that they were there but left at dark they left the city gates. “Go quickly and you can catch them!” She lies to the king by lying to his representatives. She’s got guts!
So the king’s men leave to pursue them in the wilderness and she goes back to the roof to the two spies. Then she prophetically says, “I know that God has given you this land, we heard about the Red Sea being parted and about these other kings and land you destroyed. We are scared but I know your God is the God of heaven and earth. Since I have hid you would you spare me and my family?”
It’s fascinating to me to consider how did she know about God? Was it from traveling merchants that stayed with her? How long did she chew on this? She also declares that God is the ONE true God! That was a huge declaration in this culture.
So they agree and she lets them down her window on the outer city wall and they go into the hill country to hide for 3 days from the king’s men before they get back to the camp. They had made a plan that she would tie a red cord outside her window signaling her home and when the Israelites came they would all know which house was her and save her and her household.
So the Israelites come, remember this is the time they march around the city 7 times, Jericho falls and Rahab and her family are saved. In Joshua chapter 6 verse 23 says “so the young men who had been spies went in an brought Rahab out, along with her father, mother, brothers and all who belonged to her—they brought all her kindred out—and set them outside the camp of Israel.” They burned the city in verse 24 and Rahab and her family were spared. Verse 25. She has lived in Israel ever since.
So here is Rahab rescued with her family, outside of the camp smelling her home as it burns in the night. She risked it all on this God she heard about.
She is “outside the camp” of Israel. This term is used many times in the OT and its basically the place that all the purification practices happened, where the diseased and unclean lived. It is also where sacrificial ashes were placed. Most importantly sin offerings were burned here. Interestingly, outside the camp is where Moses set up the tent of meeting before the tabernacle. It was in here that it says God talked to Moses face to face like a friend. (EX. 33:5)
So today who do we put outside the camp? Is it the disabled? Those who we think messed up one too many times? Maybe you’ve even put yourself outside the camp, thinking you’re too far beyond his reach.
There’s good news for those outside the camp!
3. Jesus was the ultimate sin offering for those inside and outside the camp. The repetitive act of sin offerings was done forever. What does this mean for us today?
So when ever we are studying a passage it’s always a good idea to see if it is mentioned anywhere else in the Bible. Ive heard it said, the NT can be a commentary on the OT. Does the NT talk about this story?
So for Rahab the answer is yes! She’s found in James 2 “You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.
25In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? 26As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.”
She is also in Matthew’s lineage of Christ. Here we see she married an Israelite named Salmon and they had Boaz who married Ruth, which also makes her Ruth’s mother in law. Interesting when you think about her son, Boaz, having eyes to see the marginalized in his community.
The last place she is mentioned is where I want us to sit for a minute. Turn with me to Hebrews 11. Now we are newer here and I’ve walked through the main doors in the foyer probably over a 100 times now but I had never noticed this big crack in the cement floor. I never noticed it UNTIL I heard the history. So the crack represents a building expansion that happened just before we came, showing the old foundation and the new coming together. I’ve stepped over it or on it countless times but it took knowing the history of it for me to see it. The same happened for me in this story. When I studied the history of Rahab, I could more clearly see what God was doing in Hebrews.
Many of you might be familiar with Hebrews 11. It’s known as the by faith chapter and it goes through a hall of fame list of the faithful. I’m forever grateful for scholar Carl Mosser and his work I found that pointed out the crescendo found in chapter 11.
Scan with me, it starts with by faith Able, then Enoch, then Noah, then Abraham, then Isaac then Jacob, then Joseph, then Moses, then by faith the Israelites passed through the Red Sea. So far the author of Hebrews is going through chronologically the faithful lives of these patriarchs. So naturally right after the Red Sea should come Joshua leading them into the Promised Land.
But look with me at verse 30. “then by faith the walls of Jericho fell” then “by faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient because she had received the spies in peace.” “AND WHAT MORE SHOULD I SAY?” The peak of the by faith chapter is Rahab! Its patriarch after patriarch and the expectation is to hear about Joshua but instead we hear about a gentile, prostitute named Rahab and her faith. As Carl Mosseer puts it, “The great captain of the conquest has been deliberately passed over. A Canaanite prostitute stands in his place.” This is NOT who we expect to see!
Jesus LOVES to uplift the unexpected. Who do you think he would use today? Who is the last person you think he might use? Is that you? Jesus saves them too, and you. He wants you to be a part of the greater story he is telling.
How does he do this in the New Testament? What is it about her or her story that has to do with the faith of those reading Hebrews or our faith today? Why would the author have chosen her here in Hebrews?
Look at verse 39 with me, “Though they were commended for their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better so that they would not, apart from us, be made perfect.”
What makes us perfect? Jesus. The author of Hebrews begins pointing us towards Christ in chapters 12 and 13.
Hebrews, chapter 12 is full of Jesus and the gospel. Then the author warns us to remember the grace found in Jesus. We learn the blood of Jesus speaks a better word and that God is shaking the earth so that what remains is a kingdom that cannot be shaken.
I think God was shaking up their tradition by weaving Rahab into their story. God uses her to help the entire nation of Israel, and she gets grafted in despite being a Canaanite and a prostitute. It’s a glimpse into the unshakeable coming kingdom of God.
What traditions or viewpoints might he be shaking up in your life? What about those like Rahab that you think might be outsiders? What can we do to help them?
4. How do we “put his skin on” and be Jesus to those living outside the camp?
So big picture, we have learned about Rahab protecting the spies, becoming not only a part of Israel but the very lineage of Christ. Then she’s the pinnacle of the by faith chapter in Hebrews 11.
If we keep reading Hebrews with her in mind we see in, Chapter 13 goes on to talk about what to do to serve God. In verse 10 it says, “We have an altar from which those who minister at the tabernacle have no right to eat.
11 The high priest carries the blood of animals into the Most Holy Place as a sin offering, but the bodies are burned outside the camp. 12 And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood. 13 Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore. 14 For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.”
Did you catch that? Jesus is the ultimate sin offering, he literally died outside the city gate, Let us then go outside the camp where Jesus is!
For those reading Hebrews Jerusalem would have been representative of being inside the camp. Jesus literally died outside the city gate, reminding us of all the sacrifices before him. Remember his death tore the curtain, ushering in the gentiles, the women, the children, everyone invited into the holy of holies EVEN THE OUTSIDERS. Barriers were broken – from the holy of holies all the way to those living outside the camp.
The author of Hebrews is pleading with readers to see that the former structure is obsolete, Jesus himself is outside the city gate. He is the sin offering, slaughtered there to make us holy. We are called to go there too, to live among those outside the camp, knowing this won’t last, but a New Jerusalem is coming. Rahab’s story gives us a glimpse of what Christ has done for us.
So what does this mean for us today? Lets look one more time at Hebrews 13: it says “And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood. 13 Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore. 14 For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.”
The author is telling the audience and us to press on, even if it means suffering like Christ.
I used to think “suffering like Christ” meant living in a country where I might be martyred for my faith which largely took me off the hook. I do think that certainly falls in this category but I also think it can be our day to day sufferings in this world, but looking like Christ in them.
My greatest experience of suffering outside the camp was being orphaned at 16. I mentioned earlier that losing my dad when I was 12 made me feel like an outsider. Well when I was 16 I also lost my mom unexpectedly. This pushed me further into feeling like an outsider as a teenager. But it was there that I truly met Jesus. Gone were the distractions of boys, and gossip of trivial things. He was all I had left. I met Jesus outside the camp. He comforted me there, grieved with me and reminded me that we are looking for the city that is to come.
Jesus then in turn, used my story to show others his compassion and power despite our struggles. My friend Laura says it this way, “There is power in hearing the good news proclaimed by voices on the margins. When we lay down position, privilege, and power and intentionally give it away to those too long silenced we will hear a word from God we desperately need to hear. God gets bigger.”
So maybe you find yourself outside the camp today. Maybe you feel like an outsider. Or maybe you feel like you’ve lived a life inside the camp. My challenge to you today is What does it mean for you to go outside the camp and see where Jesus is? Who might be there too? When I found myself outside the came it was as if Jesus whispered “come over here Karen, your brokenness is welcome here” and together we longed for a city that is to come. We look the most like him when we can do the same for others.
So who in your life is God asking you to whisper that too? “your brokenness is welcome here” as we long together for the city that is to come.
