Twelve Baskets of Broken Pieces
Enterprise, Alabama is home to the most unusual hero.
The boll weevil. Smack in the middle of the city at the intersection of Main Street and College Street stands a 13-foot high monument to the boll weevil.[1] What would inspire people to construct a monument to a destructive agriculture pest that nearly destroyed the livelihood of an entire town? Back in 1915, the Mexican boll weevil found its way from Texas into Alabama and ruined many of the cotton crops that were the sole means of income for the people who lived there. Many lives looked to be ruined, but two people – Sessions and Baston – decided to forego their traditional cotton crops and plant peanuts instead.[2] Their first crop alone garnered them enough money to pay off all of their debts. More and more farmers took to their example and diversified their crops and within two years, Coffee County harvested more peanuts than anywhere else in the country! More importantly, the town was saved. The introduction of new crops reinvigorated the soil that was being depleted of vital nutrients by the cotton cultivation and gave them a new source or revenue.[3] But this near disaster made them realize something important. They could pick up the broken pieces of their lives and make something new of it. They found a way to turn what could have been a disaster into something bountiful. And that’s why they built the monument. On the bottom of the monument is inscribed the words, “in profound appreciation of the boll weevil and what it has done as the herald of prosperity this monument was erected by the citizens of Enterprise, Coffee County, Alabama. “[4]
It is inspiring to us when people can turn adversity into advantage.
We all hope we have that ability. We hope when we are in the midst of crisis, when we face our own disasters, we too can turn adversity into advantage. It happened twice to this community. Nearly 100 years after that disaster, another one hit this small Southern city. On March 1st, 2007 a tornado hit the town and killed eight students at Enterprise High School, the first recorded killer tornado at a US school since 1990.[5] Over 120 others were taken to nearby hospitals after the tornado passed and St. Luke’s United Methodist Church became a Red Cross Disaster Relief Center, offering aid to any one who needed it. Enterprise First UMC opened their doors to the youth of the community and hosted a worship service in memory of all eight of the students who passed away.[6] And among those who were there to help with the disaster was the United Methodist Committee on Relief or UMCOR. UMCOR is often one of the very first organizations on the ground to provide help to those in need. Their mission is to face the worst in adversity and become a beacon of hope by helping others. They are often able to make a huge impact quickly in places all over the world because of the presence of churches like ours that work together with UMCOR to get needed supplies to where they can be of the most use. It’s part of the reason why our connection system is vital and important because we can do more good together than any of us can by ourselves. We truly become the hands and feet of Christ.
Our verse today touches on that thought, of becoming the hands and feet of Christ together.
What we are about to read takes place not long after Jesus has sent the Apostles into the world to heal the sick and spread the Gospel. They have traveled to villages all over the land and shared with those who would hear about God’s kingdom and healed those who needed it. When this passage takes place, they’ve come back from those journeys to share with Jesus what has happened. As we read this passage together, listen carefully to what Jesus says and does and reflect on that.
10 When the apostles returned, they reported to Jesus what they had done. Then he took them with him and they withdrew by themselves to a town called Bethsaida, 11 but the crowds learned about it and followed him. He welcomed them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who needed healing.
12 Late in the afternoon the Twelve came to him and said, “Send the crowd away so they can go to the surrounding villages and countryside and find food and lodging, because we are in a remote place here.”
13 He replied, “You give them something to eat.”
They answered, “We have only five loaves of bread and two fish—unless we go and buy food for all this crowd.” 14 (About five thousand men were there.)
But he said to his disciples, “Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each.” 15 The disciples did so, and everyone sat down. 16 Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke them. Then he gave them to the disciples to distribute to the people. 17 They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. – Luke 9:10-17
Jesus tells them, “You give them something to eat.”
The Apostles come up to Jesus and tell him he needs to send the crowd away so they have time to find somewhere to put them up for the night where they can get some food. The Bible tells us that where they are is a remote area and there probably aren’t that many places for a group this large to find a place to rest and fill their stomachs, so they need time to find somewhere before it gets too dark. But instead, Jesus says to them, “You give them something to eat.” The Apostles must have thought Jesus didn’t understand the situation because they start explaining it to him. “We only have five loaves of bread and two fish – unless we go and buy food for all this crowd.” Love that verse because it’s so down-to-earth and real. The disciples are probably pulling out their coin bags and checking to see if they would even HAVE enough to feed this many people. We’re talking on the order of around 10,000 people because the Bible tells us that there are 5,000 men, but some of them came with families with wives and kids in tow. How much was that going to cost? Is there a baker around who could make that much bread without calling ahead an advance order? But Jesus tells them to go and get the people to sit down in groups of 50 and he blesses the food and hands it to them. I can’t even imagine what it must have looked like when they divided up the food. That would have been at least 200 groups of people and still only 12 Apostles. But somehow, not only did everyone get fed until they were satisfied, but they had twelve baskets of broken pieces left over.
You give them something to eat.
Jesus has the disciples do the work. That’s the significant part about this passage. He could have just rained down manna from heaven. I mean he pulled that trick before. But it was important for the disciples to do the work. Just as they had been the ones to go from town to town and heal the sick and share the news of Christ, it had to be the disciples who passed out the bread because Jesus wasn’t always going to be there. But he was counting on these men and women who followed him to carry on the work after he was gone. Just as he does with us today. Jesus wants us to work together to share his Word and bring healing to his people. It may not be physical healing, but spiritual healing instead. But it’s up to us to do the work. It’s up to us to do the work, to be the hands and feet of Christ.
The next time you take communion, keep these images in your mind.
Picture yourself sitting in Bethsaida. Maybe you’re wearing a robe or a cloak and the ground is dusty underneath you. It’s been a long day, but a day of miracles and healing and you are so overwhelmed by the words of Jesus and the way he was able to cure all of those people of their ailments. You’re waiting to hear more. You don’t want to miss a moment. But you’re getting hungry since you haven’t eaten all day. But you also don’t want to leave. And then the disciples come out and start arranging you in groups of 50. You’re not sure why, but everyone in your group is equally puzzled when the disciples come back with these chunks of bread and fish and start handing it out. They don’t seem that big, but when it is your turn, you take enough to fill you and there is still more left. Eventually, everyone around you has had their fill but there are still twelve full baskets of bread left over. One basket for each tribe of Israel. Each basket representing the hope that Christ can fill us up with the bread of life. Each broken piece representing our own brokenness before God and yet no one is left wanting.
As we celebrate World Communion Sunday we are reminded of the power of unity.
Congregations all over the planet are sharing communion together on this very day. Some are doing it with Hawaiian bread. Some are doing it with Portuguese bread. Some are probably even doing it with Wonder bread. But they are all sharing the table to honor God. It is a good reminder that we are not in this alone; that together we have much more to offer the world than any one church could possibly do by itself. In our own Methodist tradition, we see this in so many ways including organizations like UMCOR that make a difference all over the world and in our own communities. As our churches face the future, there will be difficulties. There will be challenges. But like the folks in Enterprise, Alabama we can triumph despite them. With Christ, anything is possible.
[1] http://www.cityofenterprise.net/Default.asp?ID=91
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boll_Weevil_Monument
[3] http://www.americaslibrary.gov/cgi-bin/page.cgi/jb/jazz/weevil_2
[4] http://www.cityofenterprise.net/Default.asp?ID=91
[5] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February-March_2007_Tornado_Outbreak#Enterprise_area_tornado
[6] http://archives.gcah.org/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10516/4551/article4.aspx.htm?sequence=2
Craig's Corner 