His wife had misplaced her new iPod
that he had bought her for Christmas last year. He asked if she had
looked in the cushions of the chair. She told him it wasn't there.
He asked her if she had looked in the bedroom. She told him it
wasn't there either. “What about your purse,” he asked. “I
already checked there,” she told him, exasperated. She said she
thought she dropped it into the trash. He was about to ask if she
had looked there as well when he realized he had brought the trash
out to the dumpster.
He could not believe what he was doing.
The things that his wife had him do sometimes. He drove over and
proceeded rummage through the dumpster, removing every bag and
ripping them open. This went on for some time and with each bag, the
mess became larger and larger. “This is revolting,” he thought
as little bits of food stuck to his arms and hands. As someone with
a mild case of OCD, he wanted so badly to wipe the grime and filth
off of himself, but he knew that he would merely get dirty all over
again, so he pierced a new bag and plunged in.
Suddenly, a car drove up and a man got
out to ask for directions; and here he was standing amidst a strewn
pile of trash and debris, looking like a lunatic. He told him how to
get to wherever it was that he was going and the man went on his way,
probably wondering if he could trust a guy who probably looked
homeless, and apparently, very interested in that dumpster.
Just when he thought things couldn't
get worse, he got a phone call. He took his phone out with his goop
covered hands and answered with a frustrated, “What?”
“Jim,” his wife said on the other
line.
“Yes dear.”
“I found it.”
Relieved, but furious at the same time
he asked, “Where was it?”
“Just like you said,” she responded
with a lovingly tone. “It was in my purse, way down at the
bottom.”
The pastor just shook his head.
Frustrated, but knowing this would make a great story to tell, he
began to throw the mounds of trash back where it came from.
“How can I fit this into Sunday's
message?”
They key to the story to me is not greed, but anger, which, if you follow Catholic teaching, is one of the seven deadly sins--and for good reason. But if you're looking for Bible texts to support a sermon... this tale reminds me of Job, fighting to keep his faith and struggling against anger and despair while his world is turning to a living hell around him. I bet the pastor could find some appropriate verses in Job!
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