2024-06-04
Brooke Strong
Sermon Text...
June 2, 2024 Scripture and Homily
Rev. Betsy Wooster
ll Corinthians 4: 5-12
5For we do not proclaim ourselves; we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as those enslaved to you for Jesus’ sake. 6For the God who said, ‘Let light shine out of the night, has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 7 But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us.
8We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our bodies. 11For while we live, we are always being given up to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus may be made visible in our mortal flesh. 12So death is at work in us, but life in you.
Let us pray: O God, light of the word, may Your word be always a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. Amen.
At the turn of the 4th century, a man named Pachomius, an Egyptian who had been raised in a Pagan household, was pressed into service in the army of the Roman Empire. While he and other young men were in captivity near the Nile River, awaiting transportation to some army headquarters, a group of Christians visited them to provide them with food, as it was their custom to care for the young men who had been recently captured and forced to become soldiers of the Roman Emperor.
Pachomius asked “who are these people?” And someone explained that these are “people who bear the name of Christ, and they do good to everyone, putting their hope on God who made heaven and earth.”[1]
After his military service, Pachomius sought to learn more about these Christians, and when he had learned about the faith that filled their lives, he decided to be baptized.
Eventually, he became the founder of monastic communities, inspiring generations of people to take the name of Christ and do good to everyone. He is a saint in the Eastern and Western churches. The names of the Christians who brought food to Pachomius and the other captives are not recorded in history’s memory. But that’s okay—because their own fame or legacy was never the point for them. All of the good that they did and the difference that they made was not about them. It was about God. It was the life and light of God within them.
In our world of celebrity sponsors, and social media influencers, and personal accolades, isn’t it wonderful when we come across people who really believe “it’s not about me. I’ve been blessed and I try to pass it on.” These are people who say things like: “It is a joy to be able to make a difference. I’m just happy to be able to do what I can. That is the same kind of message that the apostle Paul had for the Christian community in Corinth: It’s not about us. It’s about God. Paul wrote to them: “we do not proclaim ourselves; we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord.” It is God who has shone in our hearts.“We have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us.”
In Paul’s metaphor, their lives are the clay jars that hold the treasure that comes from the life and light of God. They are the vessels—the real gift comes from God. And if the idea is that we are clay jars, that we are the containers and vessels of God’s gifts to the world, that means that we have been so filled with the presence of God that God’s love and mercy overflows to others. Now, how’s that for an idea, that you can be filled with God? It may seem impossible. We are so distractible, so inconsistent. We are defensive from old hurts, and we can be blind to our own biases, all characteristics just as true for the apostles in Corinth as they are for us.
Like us, they were human and fallible. Paul’s description of the clay jar vessels, that are our human bodies, is Paul’s way of reminding us that it is often in our brokenness within our submerged selves that we have buried, that new life breaks forth. Paul believes the resurrected Christ actually resides in the apostles.[2] Do we believe that the resurrected Christ actually resides in us? Do we trust that to be true, or do we try to keep our clay jars intact by pulling up our bootstraps and hoping that if we keep trying to do the right thing God will be pleased with us. That is a theory that is more about us and less about God. The light, and fire and love of God is a power on its own within us, a force, that if we let it, can be God’s greatest gift to us. Our creator, our parent, is telling us that we were made for this. We don’t have to keep trying so much to be good in God’s eyes or worthy of God’s love.
Here is a question to ponder. Again, do we believe, like Paul, that we carry the love and death of Jesus within us, as he claimed about the apostles in Corinth? Our very lives are the answer to that question. Our fallible, human, clay jars of existence are where Christ chose to reside, and should we choose, our lives shine from Christ’s light within us.
Think of this: the love of God, given by God, fills us and flows through us. This doesn’t mean that we are God, heavens no. It does mean that we can let go of uncertainty about whether we are worthy, or even capable, of serving Christ in the world. Rather, we can rejoice in God’s gift within us. We can claim the fortitude of God’s strength. We can open ourselves up to the love that God has showered within us. We can become like lightbeams that love as God loves, that comfort as God comforts, that protect others as God protects, and so on, and so on, and so on.
How does this happen? How can we be filled with God’s love? How can we more fully become the love with which we were created? That is the vision that our faith holds, described in our scripture, affirmed by the life of Jesus. God does the filling. We are the recipients. All God is asking is that we harness the love within by letting it spill out, shine out, to others. We don’t have to work at it. It’s not about us. We’re a vessel where God can shine, clay jars and all. We simply receive this extraordinary love with which we have been made and let God shine.
And if that light of God is love, and healing, and caring for others, then we are experiencing our true identity, the identity shaped by the love of God, created and infused within us. It is an awe-inspiring idea to be the clay jars that fill and overflow with the light of God. And isn’t that what we need from faith: an aspiration that transcends our expectations? Who wants a faith whose only vision is what we can easily do in our spare time? Why would we accept anything less from our commitment of faith than a vision that is so grand and beautiful as to be vessels of the very light and love of God, even if it is something we are always working toward and falling short?
What an amazing idea for us to be growing into: to be a whole community of clay jars that are filled to overflowing with the treasure of God’s light and life, so that God sends us into the world, doing good for others, not for our own egos or advancement, but simply because the treasure of God’s life is so strong within us. Who knows what God may inspire through your lives? Who knows where there might be someone like Pachomius, who becomes amazed at the acts of generosity, acceptance, and unconditional love, someone who will say “who are these people? What is the light that inspires you and shines from you?” And, if asked these questions, we can answer: it is not us, it is the life of Christ that shines within us, given freely by the one who created us in a love beyond all knowing. Wow. Thanks be to God. Amen.
[1] Roberta Bondi, To Love as God Loves (Fortress Press: Philadelphia, 1987), 15.
[2] John K. Stendahl, Feasting on the Word, Year B, Volume 3,(Westminster John Knox Press: Louisville, 2009), 87.