Salvation in Jericho: Unexpected Connections in the Stories of Zacchaeus and Rahab

I love to notice subtle connections between seemingly unrelated stories. This morning, I was reflecting on a fascinating thread that weaves together the stories of two "sinners" in Jericho: Zacchaeus the tax collector and Rahab the sex worker.

Let's start with Luke's Gospel, where we find two consecutive stories about tax collectors. In Luke 18, Jesus tells the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector praying in the temple. The Pharisee proudly declares, "God, I thank you that I'm not like everyone else—crooks, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector." Meanwhile, the tax collector beats his chest in genuine remorse, pleading, "God, show mercy on me, a sinner." Jesus concludes that it was the tax collector, not the Pharisee, who went home justified.

This parable sets the stage for the remarkable encounter with Zacchaeus in Luke 19. (This is where I get on my soapbox about how chapter divides in Scripture often hinder us from noticing the intended connected threads between stories) Here we meet an actual wealthy tax collector who, after Jesus invites himself to his house, commits to radical transformation: "I will give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anyone, I will repay them four times as much." In response, Jesus proclaims, "Today, salvation has come to this household because he, too, is a son of Abraham."

The significance of this declaration deepens when we consider its location: Jericho. This is where an earlier story of unexpected salvation played out in the book of Joshua. Rahab, a sex worker living in Jericho's walls, demonstrated faithfulness by protecting Israelite spies. When Joshua (whose name is the Hebrew rendering of the same name as Jesus, meaning "Yahweh saves") led the Israelites to bring down Jericho's walls, Rahab and her family were spared because of her faith. She would later become part of David's—and therefore Jesus's—own genealogy.

The parallels are striking. In both stories, we find:

• Individuals deemed sinners by their society
• Acts of faithful response to God's presence
• Salvation coming to their houses in Jericho
• The expansion of God's family to include the unexpected

When Jesus tells Zacchaeus that "salvation has come to this house," the words carry multiple layers of meaning. Jesus himself, whose very name means salvation, has physically entered Zacchaeus's home. But more than that, this episode echoes God's pattern of extending grace to those whom society has deemed beyond redemption.

These interconnected narratives remind us that God's salvation often works through unexpected people and places. The tax collector who humbles himself, the wealthy man who makes reparation, the sex worker who protects God's people—these are the ones who experience and embody divine salvation. Their stories, linked across centuries in the streets of Jericho, testify to a God who consistently confounds our expectations about who belongs in the family of faith.

Perhaps that's why these stories still resonate today. They challenge us to examine our own assumptions about who is beyond the reach of grace and prompt us to consider how we might, like Zacchaeus, respond to salvation with concrete actions that repair harm and restore justice in our communities.

In the end, both Zacchaeus and Rahab remind us that salvation isn't just about personal redemption—it's about being grafted into a larger story of God's redemptive work in the world. Their lives, transformed in the same city centuries apart, bear witness to this enduring truth.