Articles
Castoffs
“One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.”
In my parents’ backyard was a small white frame building my dad called his tool house. It was equipped with a workbench about 8 feet long, with scrap lumber stored underneath. Plenty of shelving held old cans of paint and miscellaneous hardware collected through the years, along with nails, screws, etc. stored in coffee cans. I recall my dad saying, “I like to take junk and turn it into something useful.”
What Jesus loved to do
During Jesus’ ministry He was denounced for spending time with people the Pharisees had no use for. He earned a reputation as “a friend of tax collectors and sinners” (Luke 7:34 NASB). This was meant as a criticism, but aren’t we thankful He is?
Many consider the story of the Prodigal Son His greatest parable. He told it in response to the complaint, “This man receives sinners and eats with them” (Luke 15:2).
On another occasion Jesus explained why He spent so much time with people like this: “It is not those who are well who need a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance” (Luke 5:31 - 32).
When He went to the home of Zacchaeus the tax collector, again His critics grumbled, “He has gone to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.”
Jesus replied, “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10).
The Master Carpenter
Jesus delighted in taking castoffs and transforming them into something beautiful, as well as useful.
He did it then. He is still doing it.
