Sermon 133
FRAGMENTS
John 6:1-14
“Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost”Jn 6:12
Pesky things, fragments, scraps of food. Messy….
Though all four Gospels tell this story,it is only in John's account that we read that
Jesus himself directed the disciples togather the bread fragments so thatnothing
would be lost. There isalways a special reason for pointedlyemphasized details
in Scripture.
Often it is a profound reason with deepspiritual significance, and often it takes
a while to discern the significance. Usually there is an explanatory link to be found
in the same chapter. The meaning of the carefully gleaned fragments of bread is
made clear much later in the chapter when Jesus refers to himself as the Living
Bread sent into the world by God to draw tohimself all those who thirst, hunger,
and hurt. "Everything thatthe Father gives me will come to me, and anyone who
comes tome I will never drive away ... this is the will of him who sent
me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me..." (John
6:37, 39).
Are we those bread fragments, poignantly referred to as "broken pieces" in the
other Gospels? What better symbol for ourthrowaway abandoned people; our
broken, fragmented humanity; our own individual shattered dreams, hopes,
trust; all theshards of lives which have never been realized or fulfilled inwholeness .
“….. so that nothing may be lost," Jesus said.
We all have dreams that have not been fulfilled, or have been shattered. Or that have been fulfilled at the cost of ruining other precious things neglected along the way in the pursuit of the ‘dream’. Yes, even those ‘fragments’ that we try to hide from others … even those are gathered up by the Spirit of Christ!
Flora Wuellner[1]tells of one of her early memories is watching her grandfather sitting
at his desk with a pot of glue and a large box filled withsmall broken porcelain bits.
In the early part of the twentiethcentury he travelled in India. Overwhelmed by the
radiance of the Taj Mahal, he bought alittle porcelain replica about a foot high to
bring home to hisfamily as a mysterious and cherished treasure. The crate was
overturned many times during a storm at sea, and when heunpacked his treasure
he found only hundreds of broken pieces.
Many would have thrown away the shattered bits as a lostcause. But her grandfather
carefully gathered up each tiny fragment, and in what free moments he had in his
busy life as bothteacher and pastor he would sit at his table and with infinite
care select and glue the tiny pieces together. It took him aboutthirty years to turn
his fragments into a shining whole. Flora wouldgaze at the little radiant edifice
with fascination from all angles.Not a chip was missing. Even the almost
invisibleweb of cracks seemed to add to the mystery.
But the mystery of the bread goes deeper. The fragmentsgathered by Jesus and
his disciples were not clean, shining porcelain. It is only John's Gospel that tells
us the bread was made from barley. Barley bread was cheap, only a third the cost
of wheat -bread. It was bread eaten by the poor, exactly the kind of bread
Jesus would choose for his miracle of abundance. All his life heembraced the
poor, the insignificant, the commonplace, thehurts and the gifts of the humble
that we so easily ignore or brushaside. In this detail of the barley we see vast
significance – thepassion of Christ the Shepherd to whom each sheep, no matter
how confused, stubborn, soiled, lost, is precious.
What in the world is God doing?
Epidemics blot out millions of people, tidal waves engulf thousands, old land mines shatter the
lives of children at play, a mother weeps for her fallen soldier son.
Moreover, the whole creation groans as new development paves
over biodiversity and unbridled consumerism fills the world with
trash. So much is broken, scattered, lost, and finally submerged
in the relentless flow of all that has been. What in the world isGod doing?
"I will gather." This is the promise that permeates the pages
of Scripture. As a shepherd takes up wandering sheep in a tender
embrace, so God will bring us back from the far edge of desolation,
will retrieve the frayed commitments, disappointed hopes,
and wounded loves strewn along life's way.
Even the deep past isnot beyond God's reach (Eccles. 3:15).
As a hen calls her chicksto sheltering wings, so God will
gather every "nation and tongue"so that all can finally see God's
goodness in the land of the living. "Do not fear," says God,
"for I am with you" (Isa. 43:5).
Writing to his friend Eberhard Bethge from Tegel prison in
December 1943, Dietrich Bonhoeffer remarked that he no longer
expected to be released in time to spend Christmas at home. He
also admitted that recent weeks had been a great strain for him.
In those distressed circumstances, Bonhoeffer had found in
Ephesians 1:9, 10 "a magnificent conception, full of comfort."
‘Praise be to the God and and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ……..
Who has made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfilment – to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.’
Why?
“It means that nothing is lost, that everything is taken up in
Christ, although it is transformed, made transparent, clear, free
of all selfish desire”.
That God is persistently intent on finding the lost, repairing the
broken, bringing together the dispersed is fully revealed
in the person ofJesusthe goodness of God with us in the daily
tumult of our lives. Jesus looked for the lost sheep of Israel, healed
the sick and crazed, forgave sinners, and loved outcasts. These
actions, however, were only signs of something far more mysterious
and encompassing. In Jesus, God was accomplishing a
plan "to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on
earth” (Eph 1:10)
Through Jesus, the wonder of God's life andlove have penetrated
the farthest reaches of creation and begunto transfigure it. This is
the astonishing spiritual truth concealedin Jesus' simple instruction
to his disciples after the five thousand had been fed: "Gather up the
fragments left over, so thatnothing may be lost(John 6:12).
Nothing may be lost!
Nothing may be lost!
1. ‘A Broken Piece of Barley Bread’, Weavings, Nov-Dec 2004, p.6