The Collector

The Pharisees saw this and said to his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?" Matthew 9:10

We are collectors.

My daughter Praise collects brain stuff. She loves them. She reads and feeds her brain. She startles me at the family table when she would ask about a word or two on their meaning and usage. She has not stopped collecting.

My daughter Bless keeps dollars. For a child of eight years on earth, she is bent on saving up to last cent. She finds her way to get the most out of her parents and sister. She has not stopped collecting.

Billie, my wife of ten plus something years, collects family pictures. She bugs me to take pictures. She even overloaded her Flicker account that they asked her to pay up. She didn't pay but we have the pictures. She has not stopped collecting.

I just bought a DVD of the Chicago Bulls championship run in the 90s from the NBA store. Yeah, you guess it. I collect somethings in basketball. I keep a box of basketball cards including an unopened Lebron James rookies cards and KB24's high school tag. I have not stopped collecting.

Matthew collects taxes. He might have cherished gathering money for this is his work. But when he collects, he has regrets. People looks into his job as a sin. People looks at him as a sinner. He has stopped collecting for Matthew was collected. By Jesus.

Jesus collects sinners. He collects society's outcasts and private wrongdoers. He came to call them to be with Him. He came to bring them fullness. When He collects, He gives life to the ones He has gathered. Jesus gathers them to bring them His unconditional love. He looks at them as precious children not as profitable things. He looks at them as friends not as collector's items. He keeps them not to gather dust but to flourish by His grace and mercy. Jesus has not stopped collecting.

We are collected. Jesus is the Collector.