Trashing God’s Word
(Archive Writings of the Late Pastor Jon D. Imme)
Have you ever craved a taco filled with your favorite ingredients including a wonderful juicy tasty sauce? You’re finally at the taco place and patiently wait for turn to place your order. You then patiently wait again until your order is delivered at the drive thru window. As soon as you have it in your hands your mouth begins to water. You want to enjoy this moment so you look tenderly at the taco. It looks so delicious! Finally not wanting to wait any more you take the biggest bite that your mouth will allow. It tastes even better than anticipated. You close your eyes with supreme satisfaction until you feel the dreaded plop on your shirt! Then a second plop follows!
You open your eyes and see a large red stain on your new white shirt. The day that had begun so promisingly suddenly has turned into a mess for you both literally and emotionally.
What had happened? Two things were mixed that never should be mixed; taco sauce and new white shirt.
God mixes things that should never be mixed like an animal trough, the infant Christ child and a blood stained cross and the promised Messiah , sinful man and Holy God, a dumpster and the Holy Word of God. However instead of a literal and emotional mess resulting He creates testimonies of God’s unfathomable and powerful love.
I had ministered to William off and on or more than 25 years. William is a Navajo born and raised in Los Angeles. He developed a drinking problem and was homeless for many of those 25 years. He also was in and out of jail due to many cases of domestic violence committed when he was overcome by drunken rages.
I hadn’t seen William for more than 5 years when he suddenly appeared one morning at our church service. At first I didn’t recognize him. His head was resting on the pew in front of him and his hair was much grayer than the last time I had seen him. When I recognized him I was so happy! It was as if he and I were friends finally seeing each other after a long absence. During the sharing time in our service William told how he and another homeless man were looking through a dumpster and they found a torn bible. He remembered the section of the bible which they found; Ephesians 4.
As he was telling this story I was thinking “This is a story that has to be told. The symbolism is amazing!” The apparent oxymoron of God’s holy treasure and a dumpster filled with trash was begging for a blog or sermon!
I remembered a verse in Hebrews. It was Hebrews 13:11 tells us that the carcasses of the animals whose blood was used in Old Testament sacrifices were burned outside the Israelites camp. In Hebrews 13:12 it says that Jesus suffered outside the city to save us by His own blood The writer to Hebrews is comparing the holy precious body of Jesus with mangled, burning carcasses of animals. Should we be surprised that He would allow His Holy Word to be thrown into a dumpster in order to reach the hearts of two homeless men?
It was the humble sacrifice of Jesus which first brought William to salvation. Later it was the torn, discarded Word of God in a dumpster which brought William back to God.
Perhaps William, in many ways an outcast discarded by society, related to the crucified Messiah and trashed bible just as the thief on the cross related to the suffering King dying on the cross next, condemned and tortured by the same system that had condemned and tortured him.
May we always rejoice and wonder in His love for us. A love that is beyond understanding and beyond limits!
