“Now then, please swear to me by the Lord that you will show kindness to my family, because I have shown kindness to you.” (Joshua 2:12 NIV)
Rahab’s words stand stark against her Canaanite culture. We don’t know why the spies chose to stay at her house, scripture is silent on the issue. But we do know she showed the Israelites extreme kindness when the rest of her community was ready to kill them.
Kindness is our most persuasive quality. We dismiss this and too often opt for boldness or righteous indignation or straight up exasperation, but kindness gets the job done. Rahab did not rely on her more feminine wiles, though by her profession, she certainly had them. Instead she plied the spies with kindness and they responded in kind.
Kindness changes the story entirely. This was true three thousand years ago and it’s still true today. Our country is coming apart at the seems; what is universally missing from our interactions, both online and in person? Kindness.
Kindness: the quality of being friendly, generous and considerate.
The first place I noticed the this total breakdown of kindness was MySpace. Fifteen years ago my husband had a trending video: it was clean and it was funny and the comments from total strangers were atrocious. Foul, mean, and grossly inappropriate. It grieved me to think that there were people who thought these things and spent the time typing them out for the world to see. The internet affords an anonymity that seems to bring the worst out in people.
Of course, the online world has only exploded since then and probably more than half of it is what southerners would call ‘being ugly‘. People tear one another apart on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. We see this ugliness from elementary students all the way up the national ladder, to elected officials in the highest offices of our country. It’s certainly not limited to social media, no it’s long spilled out into city streets and quiet suburbs. Watching the evening news makes one feel like the entire country has abandoned any sense of civility.
What can help us in the face of total destruction? Rahab reminds us that kindness can make all the difference. Kindness unravels the intentions of a potential enemy and repositions us to start a friendship.
“Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as in Christ, God forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:32 NIV)
Lord, we see how Rahab’s kindness turned the hearts of the Israelite spies and ultimately saved her family. Help us, amidst the current breakers of ugliness, exercise kindness even though it feels extinct. Please save our people from the coming destruction as we choose to live out Your Kingdom values. Amen.
“When I was young, I admired clever people.
Now that I am old, I admire kind people.”
(Abraham Joshua Heschel)