“Treasure in Clay Jars” 2 Cor 4: 1-18

I am always on the hunt for the perfect greeting card for someone. I can spend hours browsing in the Hallmark store, but I also am known to look online. This week I stumbled upon a card that stopped me in my tracks. There is a card creator that makes empathy cards and one said this, “In Japan, broken objects are often repaired with gold. The flaw is seen as a unique piece of the object’s history, which adds to its beauty.” If you get a change look up Kintsugi to see some pictures of absolutely beautiful pieces that were once broken, but are now made whole in a completely different way.

The Apostle Paul did not live in the time of Kintsugi, it came well after his life and ministry in Corinth. But he did have some things to say to the Church in Corinth about brokenness. 

As we have heard over the last several weeks, Paul had been through a lot for the sake of the Gospel. Yet, he would probably say that the most broken time in his life was when he was far from Christ. He describes this time in others as when the gospel is veiled. His language may lead us to believe that God is the one who made the message veiled, but this isn’t the case. It is by our own human choices that we veil the Gospel - specifically when we choose to run away from Christ by rejecting the Good News. 

Think back to the story of Moses. After he had this profound experience with God on top of the mountain, he had to cover his face with a veil. Why? Because it shone so brightly that the people were terrified. 

So it is with the Good News in Paul’s time and today. It can terrify people to the point where they want to reject it and flee. But the good news is that God keeps calling us to come back to the Good News. Just look at Paul! Here is a man who once went out of his way to persecute Christians and now he is the one taking the Gospel to people who never had an opportunity to hear it before! 

How can such change come to our lives, even when our brokenness causes us to flee from God? The light of God keeps shining. Think of that statement “I once was blind but now I see!” While Paul writes that “the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers” - our God, the creator of the universe, can still cause people to see. 

In Genesis, chapter 1, we find the story of our God creating everything. In verse 3, God created light and said “let light shine into the darkness.” Our God is the God of Word and Action. He spoke light into being, but he also commanded it to shine - an action - in the world. For Paul, this isn’t just physical light that we see with our eyes, but the light of the knowledge of God that can shine into the darkness of our hearts. 

But even when we come to believe in the knowledge and love of God, there are other ways that we may see ourselves as broken as well. One is our bodies. This is one of my favorite passages to preach at funeral services, though it is rarely chosen. For it speaks of the brokenness of our bodies, which we know will some day fail. But even in their tender state, God’s light and love can shine through us in powerful ways. In fact, it shines even more clearly though all of those cracks. Because it proclaims not our power but the power of God.

Honestly, this can sometimes make us feel uncomfortable. We have probably grown up hearing a whole lot more about doing things by our own power, then about shining for the power of God in our weakness. But that is exactly what Paul is proclaiming, once again using his own life as an example. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed. We can read into the”we” here, Paul. Paul knows that if he was just trying to do this ministry by his own strength and power, things would be pretty bleak. Especially if he was examining his success by how the world defined it. Being afflicted, perplexed, struck down and persecuted does not sound very appealing. Yet, for Paul, God’s Truth shone through these things that led him to a spirit of thanksgiving for what God has done. 

But that “we” - it isn’t just Paul, but the Corinthian Church as well. With all of their brokenness and cracks and flaws. Paul knows that they could become discouraged, especially if what they were doing was all about them. However, it’s not. It’s about God - and the ministry and work of God, even when we do not fully understand it. Instead, he is gently calling them to faithfulness and hope anew, led by the light of God. 

The light of Christ that which can shine, even when we feel broken. Because the light of Christ is the very Truth of God. And so that light, that Truth, it cannot be hidden, even in earthen vessels like our bodies. Because it is a treasure that must be made known, that cannot be stopped. 

Have you ever known someone like this? Someone who maybe the world would describe as broken or feeble or cracked, yet the light of Christ just spills out of them? For me there are so many people who come to mind, but I want to tell you just one of them. There was a woman where I previously served who in all of my years of knowing her, she could not leave her house. She was so ill that it was simply a struggle each day to get from her bedroom to the living room. But that did not stop her from spreading the light of Christ. She was an excellent crocheter. And each day she would get to work making these blankets from scraps of yarn. If you got married - you got a blanket. If you had a baby - you got a blanket. If you were going through a hard time - you got a blanket. And as she made those blankets she prayed. Prayed for those who would receive them. But here’s the thing about those blankets - almost everyone who received did not know this woman. They never met her and she never met them. But this was an act of love - the love of Christ spilling out of her - that she offered. 

It’s funny isn’t it. What the world would define as broken - that is what God uses for blessing. And what the world defines as whole, that looks like brokenness to God.

When we have died in Christ, we become a new creation. A creation that gives moment-by-moment witness to the glory of God. Even when that gift is proclaimed in the midst of, and not despite, the hardships we face in this life. Because we live for Christ.

I’m not sure what brokenness you feel that you have this day, my friends. But know this. If you feel like you have a broken or fractured relationship with God - God’s light is still shining to call you back to him. Come home to God. If you feel like your brokenness is the world saying that you are too old or too young or too anything - guess what? God’s light can shine through your earthen vessel in amazing ways. God is not done with us my friends. The only question is if we are going to let our brokenness stop us from proclaiming the light and love of God? You have a treasure to share. Amen.