My God, the Dumpster Diver

Luke 19:10. “For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.”

It’s true: your father and I are dumpster divers!

When Dad and I were newly married we used to take a walk almost every night. It was our favorite part of the day and we would stroll all around Lake Hiawatha, New Jersey, while we dreamed about the rest of our lives. Often on the weekly garbage night, we would find special treasures hidden in other people’s trash.One Saturday evening we came upon the dumpster in our apartment complex and saw that someone must have had a garage sale and discarded all that hadn’t sold. We started our search and found several fun and useful items that we took home. Today we still have the Trivial Pursuit game that we pulled from the dumpster that night. Somebody else’s trash became our treasure.

In Jesus’ time as well as today people tend to put other human beings in categories. “Those people are wealthy and important. Those people are talented and influential. Those people are beautiful and famous. Those people are worthless and ‘trash.’”

The Pharisees were considered to be the rich and famous of Bible times. They also were very influential in all areas of politics and religion, yet they did not recognize Jesus for who He was, the Son of God. They despised Him and sought a way to get rid of Him. They did not want to relinquish their power and prestige to anyone, not even the Creator of the universe. They thumbed their noses at every person they deemed unworthy and discarded anyone whom they considered “trash.”

Jesus is not like this at all. He sees all people as what they are – sinners loved greatly by God. When confronted with those who despised and found fault with Him for spending time with loose women, tax collectors, and other society cast-a-ways, His response was, “the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.” He did not come to save those who feel they are special and worthy. He came for those who recognize their sinfulness and their need for His saving grace. The Pharisees ‘“trash” became Jesus’ “treasures.”

If you ever feel like you’ve been treated badly and discarded by the proud of this world, or if you believe your sin is too great to be forgiven, just remember – our God is a dumpster diver . . . and you are the treasure He is seeking.

Love,

Mama