Nothing is lost…

2 Kings 4:42-44     Psalm 145:10-18         Ephesians 3:14-21        John 6:1-21

And so begins 5 weeks of gospel readings from John Chapter 6. Five weeks of readings about bread.  Five weeks in the same chapter and this morning I can’t get past one simple sentence; the one found in verse 12.

On this exact week, back in 2011, I made an enormous mistake. The blame that was attributed to me in this mistake cost me my job, my reputation, and many of my friends. It resulted in me being asked to leave the church where I’d worshipped for eleven years, and my journey towards the priesthood was put on hold, indefinitely.

When my mistake was discovered I had to go and tell the Bishop. Despite my bishop at the time being a gentle, kind and gracious man, I knocked on his door in true trepidation, and in floods of tears. I went in and told him the very worst of me. I was mortified and very sad. I knew he could relegate my vocation to his wastepaper basket and that was actually quite low down on my list of worries at the time. I stood in front of him and recounted the whole situation, leaving nothing out, and he just listened and pondered.  I gabbled my way through my sins and when I got to the end of it all I remember I said to him, ‘I feel like I have lost everything’.

Even though 13 years have passed since that day, I remember exactly what he said. He said ‘and you have’.

I feel like I have lost everything

And you have

But that wasn’t all. He went on to say – look at the story of the feeding of the 5000 in John’s Gospel – the account we read today. Look at what Jesus does, he said.

In John’s account of this miracle the gospel writer says, ‘gather up the crumbs so that NOTHING may be lost’. And I can’t ever get past those simple words in verse 12 – gather up the crumbs so that nothing may be lost.

I’m not telling you this as a confession – all of that is forgiven, gone, forgotten – but this morning’s gospel reading resonates so deeply with me, because it is my story. It is a story of the outrageous grace and redemption of the God we serve, and the One who makes a hideous mess into something beautiful.

Often, we hear this story and we focus on the feeding miracle. We look at the hungry crowds who are miraculously fed on five loaves and two fish and we are amazed. But today, instead, let’s be amazed by that promise in verse 12. Let’s focus on the God who takes the broken pieces – the God who takes OUR broken pieces – and does something beautiful with them, so that nothing may be lost.

Standing in the bishop’s office, as I did that day, with hopes and dreams shattered and weighed down in shame, I couldn’t imagine how things would ever be better. When we are in the middle of brokenness it is hard to believe that Jesus can take those broken pieces and gather them up. It’s hard to imagine a future time when our brokenness might be formed into new, beautiful, redeemed, holy, things. But that is the promise of this passage. That is the miracle of this miracle. Yes 5000 people were fed, but more than that; in Christ, nothing is wasted, nothing is lost.

Friends, we worship a redeemer. We worship the One who loves the broken pieces – the one who loves all the leftover forgotten bits – and who does miraculous remarkable things with them. And just as God did that for me, and promises to do that for us, so that same promise is a banner over this whole world – gather up the crumbs of this world, so that nothing will be lost.

How will God gather up the broken pieces of Gaza and bring about restoration?

How will God collect the brokenness of lives shattered by FDV or affairs or whatever it might be and make sure nothing is lost?

How is that even possible? I don’t know, but I do know that redemption is not only possible, it is always on its way, and the way things are right now is not the way things will always be. And I know that even now Jesus is gathering up the crumbs, collecting the leftovers and working God’s grace and healing into them so that something amazing will become apparent, so that redemption will be known.

Today, let’s pause and consider this: what broken pieces do you have? What have you lost? What seems discarded and rubbish? And how might God be gathering and holding and moulding that into some future beauty. And listen to what this passage says about that work of redemption; it is abundant! Huge! Twelve baskets full in fact. Enough and some to share.

So, today, I invite you, I dare you, to look inside yourself and uncover those broken hidden lost pieces of you and bring them with you to this altar today.  Approach this rail today with it all in your hands – look at what I’ve done, Lord, and exchange your broken pieces for the broken body of our Lord in this mass.  Lay your broken pieces down, confident and safe in the knowledge that you are always welcomed by God, that nothing you’ve done or will ever do would turn God’s face from you, and that our God is in the redemption business. Exchange your broken pieces for future beauty, in abundance. It isn’t too late. Every bit of you, and all you have done, is useful and will not be wasted.

I feel like I’ve lost everything, I said.

And you have.

But listen to the words of Jesus in John chapter 6 – gather up the crumbs so that nothing may be lost. Amen.