In John’s Gospel story of the feeding of the 5000, he gives us this special detail. When everyone had eaten their fill, Jesus told his disciples, “Gather up the fragments left over, that nothing may be lost.” So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves.
Dr. William Smith, past President of my Pension Fund, shares a story from his college days: Phillips University in Enid, Oklahoma was hosting the baseball team from Oklahoma Baptist University. Phillips had a losing season, and they were now losing this game. It was the bottom of the 9th and Oklahoma Baptist was ahead 2 to 0.
Phillips put a runner on first, then the following two batters struck out. Next, a man was walked. Froggie” Throgmorton, Phillip’s least promising batter, said, “Coach, put me in!” Next thing, two strikes.
Bill said, 'I lose hope slowly, but I knelt to pick up my glove when a crack of the bat raised my eye as the ball sailed over the center-field fence. Home run!'
He concludes, “What the coach could have done, or would have done—what Froggie might have done—the two outs—the two strikes— all faded into insignificance when the home run was hit in that last piece of the game.'
And entire lives can be redeemed by just one fragment of glory! After 26 years of ministry, Paul was imprisoned. Was that the end? No. From his cell, Paul wrote letters to the Colossians, Ephesians, Philemon, Titus, the Philippians, and to Timothy; and all his imprisonment faded into insignificance.
God is the God of restoration: the God of the remnant, the pieces, the fragments of life and of people. At Calvary, 'darkness was over all the earth.' They even took his garments. But, for God, even death was not too late. God took what was left, and used it to redeem the world. “Even though it seems impossible to the remnant of this people in these days, should it also seem impossible to me, says the LORD of hosts” (Zechariah 8:6)?
What fragments left to us may we gather up, that nothing may be lost? Pieces of a friendship or of a task unfinished? Fragments of a relationship with a family member? Pieces of once-stronger abilities? Remnants of a church? Fragments of a world?
There is a stor y that comes out of the Napoleonic Wars: there is still a bulge on the eastern border of France where the French were victorious. The French troops were engulfed and the casualties heavy; and a General ordered the drummer boy to beat a retreat.
'Sir, I don't know how to beat a retreat . . . but I do know how to beat a charge; I was with Napoleon at the Battle of Lodi, and I paradiddled a charge there. Sir, I think there is still time to beat a charge.'
And more in disgust than in confidence, the General commanded the drummer, 'Alright, boy, beat a charge!' The history of France was assured that day because a boy thought something could yet be done with what was left.
Jesus knew the value of left-overs, of pieces—that nothing be wasted. And can it escape anyone's notice that following the feeding of the 5000 with a little boy's lunch of five loaves and two fish, that twelve baskets of leftovers were taken up? Because of Jesus' blessing, there was more resource with the fragmented pieces, than with the original offering.
As Jesus said to his disciples, he still speaks to you and me, 'Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost.'
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