Broken Pieces

There is a way to interpret the loaves and fishes as a different kind of miracle.

In those days when there was again a great crowd without anything to eat, he called his disciples and said to them, "I have compassion for the crowd, because they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat. If I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way-- and some of them have come from a great distance." His disciples replied, "How can one feed these people with bread here in the desert?" He asked them, "How many loaves do you have?" They said, "Seven." Then he ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground; and he took the seven loaves, and after giving thanks he broke them and gave them to his disciples to distribute; and they distributed them to the crowd. They had also a few small fish; and after blessing them, he ordered that these too should be distributed. They ate and were filled; and they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. Now there were about four thousand people. And he sent them away. And immediately he got into the boat with his disciples and went to the district of Dalmanutha. - Mark 8:1-10

In this story of Jesus feeding the four thousand, there are more baskets of broken pieces left over after everyone ate than could be accounted for by the seven loaves and a few small fish.

How could that be?

It is obviously a miracle, but let's not offer this up to divine intervention just yet.

If we do, it gets us off the hook, pun intended.

I like to think there is a lot more going on here than we think at first.

I would expect that people traveling a great distance to hear Jesus talk would have brought some provisions with them, perhaps bread and dried salted fish.  This would be food that would last the journey.

So, when the crowd sits down and sees the disciples start to offer what little food they have to them, wouldn't they offer their provisions as well?

This is a story of pot luck, where the entire community comes together to offer what little they have to be shared by all.

That would be a true miracle.

It is an example for all of us to be willing to give what ever we can to the cause so all benefit.

And the broken pieces left over may be enough to get them home.

In God's eyes, we are all broken pieces, and still we have value.

More to come...