From Small Pieces

Rev. Carmen Avery Walker
Mark 6:30-46
30The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. 31Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”
32So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. 33But many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. 34When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.
35By this time it was late in the day, so his disciples came to him. “This is a remote place,” they said, “and it’s already very late. 36Send the people away so they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.”
37But he answered, “You give them something to eat.”
They said to him, “That would take eight months of a man’s wages[a]! Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat?”
38″How many loaves do you have?” he asked. “Go and see.”
When they found out, they said, “Five—and two fish.”

39Then Jesus directed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass. 40So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. 41Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to his disciples to set before the people. He also divided the two fish among them all. 42They all ate and were satisfied, 43and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish. 44The number of the men who had eaten was five thousand.

An artisan sat quietly at her workbench painstakingly putting together small bits of glass and pottery, broken dishes and such into what would one day be a mosaic. The pieces that she gathered over time told the story of her life journey and in some way allowed those who observed her work to see the places she had traveled and the experiences she thought important enough to capture. Interestingly enough, the tools of her craft, the small pieces of this and that, things ill thought of by others because they were after all small things, turned out to be the kind of blessings that others held onto. This artist specialized in taking pieces from the rubble of the lives touched by tragedy, both natural and spiritual that she had encountered in her travels, to make masterpieces that remind them of how from small pieces one can be blessed with long-lasting memories.

In our text Jesus demonstrates the same principal that this artist used. After feeding the swelling crowd from the abundance of the Word of God to nourish their souls, he then uses the small things to feed their bodies. From two small fish and five loaves of bread the size of dinner rolls, small things in our eyes, Jesus furnishes a meal that satisfied thousands with much more remaining to feed others from. Surely this great memory became etched in their minds, blessing their souls an impacting their lives.

Each day the mosaic of our lives is created from our experiences, good, bad and indifferent. In the process of walking out our journey with Christ, the remnant of our refashioned lives should serve as a reminder of how God uses even the smallest of things to bless us.

Prayer: Lord help me to remember that in every experience we have with you, from the smallest of memories to the abundance of your grace, you want us to be changed by all of it-especially the small pieces that we might otherwise dismiss. Amen

Rev. Carmen Avery Walker, M.Div
Pastor, Mt. Zion AME Church
Opelika, AL
www.mtzioname.org