Matthew 13: 33
He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.”
On December 21, 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 was destroyed by a terrorist bomb over Lockerbie, Scotland, while enroute from London to New York. There is a true-to-life series about it on Netflix, The Bombing of Pan Am 103. The plastic explosive, concealed in a cassette player inside a suitcase in a cargo hold, was connected to a timer that wasn’t supposed to detonate the bomb until the plane was over the ocean, thereby leaving no trace of what had happened. But the timing was faulty, and the bomb went off over Lockerbie, strewing wreckage and bodies over an 850 sq. mile area and setting fires that killed 11 Lockerbie residents. A total of 270 people were murdered, including passengers, crew members, and residents, most of them on their way home for Christmas. The victims were from a total of 21 nations.
These 21 countries sent investigators to Scotland to aid in the investigation as to who put the bomb in the plane. Most of these nations, such as England, America, and Germany operated at the time under the principle that when such a terrible thing happens, what the victims’ families need is justice, not sympathy. “How their relatives feel and are treated during the investigation is not important. Justice is what the relatives need. Finding out who’s to blame and getting justice is what’s important.”
But what these nations soon found out was that the Scots were in charge, and that the Scottish police, as well as the churches and people of Lockerbie, were united in saying that because these people were blown to death above our town, they are part and parcel of out town, and not only are we going to treat their bodies with dignity and respect, but we’re also going to treat their relatives with dignity, respect, and sympathy. Period.
One example of such respect is that the plane exploded early evening December 21, when it was very dark. A lady and her husband were inside their Lockerbie living room when they heard things thudding into a nearby pasture. Searching with flashlights they found a young man partly covered with debris from the plane. His body couldn’t be retrieved by the police until the next day, and so the woman and man took turns standing by his body that night. Asked why they did it, the woman said, “Well, if it was my son, I wouldn’t want him to be out here alone.”
The townspeople then formed a Friends group to help people from other countries come to Lockerbie and locate where their loved ones came down. And the lovely countryside and the kind people of Lockerbie and the sympathy extended were a tremendous comfort. Certainly in comparison to the cold welcome extended by both government and airline officials.
All personal possessions that fell out of the plane onto the ground were divided into “evidence,” which had some degree of bomb damage that might help investigators determine where the bomb had been placed in the plane, or “not evidence.” That which was not evidence was identified as to whose it was. Because there was so much of it and no place to put it, authorities were faced with throwing all the victims’ clothing, shoes, wallets, notebooks, and Christmas presents, all that they had on them or in suitcases, into the trash. But the Lockerbie ladies, who knew how much these personal belongings would mean to the victims’ families, stepped forth and volunteered to wash, iron, and carefully pack clothing and belongings so they could be returned to the families. Washed, ironed, and neatly folded as opposed returned wadded up, muddy, even bloody. And it took these volunteers more than half a year to complete their task.
To make sure the victims weren’t forgotten, a local church gathered all the names for a memorial service. Locals were determined that these people who fell from the sky would be remembered, and so today, if you go to Lockerbie, you will find two churches and one cemetery, each with a wall containing all the names.
And then the yeast of Lockerbie spread even further, and officially so. One, because many families learned that their loved ones had died from television news – in fact, reporters phoned some families asking for their response before before the family even knew their loved one had been in the plane crash – governments now must control the list of names to ensure that relatives are officially and privately notified before being released to the press. Two, based upon the Lockerbie ladies’ efforts, personal effects must now be regarded as “sacred” by airlines and governments, not just evidence. And three, because families need information about what is going on regarding investigations and legal proceedings, governments and airlines instituted systems to help provide timely information.
“The kingdom of heaven is like a pinch of yeast that a woman took and mixed into a gigantic pile of flour, until it spread throughout.” The kingdom of God is how Jesus referred to God’s influence on earth, often experienced as human decency. The proof that human decency can spread, as opposed to so often retreat, is that the few people of Lockerbie, along with the surviving relatives, the yeast, changed the world, the flour.