Spiritual treasure in clay pots

 2 Corinthians 4: 5-12        Mark 2:23 - 3:6

 

Some passages of scripture feel like a real gift, don’t they? They cheer us when we are down; inspire us when life seems humdrum; and provide guidance when we are unsure what to do.

 

It is just possible that the passage we heard from the second letter to the Corinthians is the favourite of someone here. In fact, I know it is, because it is my favourite!

 

Two of those verses were the inspiration that I needed when I was being encouraged to think about becoming a minister of word and sacrament. I really wasn’t sure: I loved what I was doing (school teaching) and I certainly didn’t feel like I was good enough to be a minister.

Those verses spoke to me:

 

“it is the God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

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.”

 

Loud and clear I felt that in those verses God was saying ‘no, you are not good enough, but that’s not the point, a minister is meant to be a witness to the gospel’.

So on the basis that the gospel was the treasure, and I was called to be a clay jar, I went forward for training – and look where that got me…

 

And since those days of training – nearly 35 years ago – I have also sometimes needed the gift of the later verses of that same reading:

“We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; 

perplexed, but not driven to despair; 

persecuted, but not forsaken; 

struck down, but not destroyed”

When our lives are difficult, Paul states that our death shows the life of Jesus. 

For me, this is a piece of scripture which helps me to look at life in a new way – and it has inspired and changed my life.

 

But what about other parts of scripture? The Bible isn’t just a stream of ‘greatest hits’ – there are parts of scripture which are less instantly appealing or clear in meaning – why do we read those? And what are we to make of them?

 

We are all used to hearing the Bible read in church – and I hope we sometimes read it at home, too. Thanks to the lectionary, we work through different, sometimes difficult, parts of the Bible. Some of these are familiar and it’s easy to see how they are helpful. Other parts may feel more obscure and we might struggle to see why we are being made to look at them at all. They feel more like clay jars, and less like treasure !

 

A few years ago I read Rowan Williams’ book “Holy Living” – about discipleship. As ever, Rowan has some thought-provoking things to say – especially about reading the Bible.

Instead of seeing the Bible as a book of impressive quotes, or as some kind of ‘instruction manual’ for Christians, Rowan Williams asks ‘what does the practice of reading the Bible tells us about the nature of Christian identity?’. 

 

He notes a few things about the reading of the Bible by Christians:

 

1.   The norm is listening: until relatively recently in history, Christians would be very unlikely to have a Bible of their own, but as we come together in our chapels we listen together to what the Bible has to say. In Reformed language we talk about gathering to ‘break open the Word of God’ just as much as we meet to ‘break bread’. We listen.

 

2.   It is the Word to us, not just to a people of long ago. We receive the gift of the Word of God – and as we listen and receive it should change us. It’s for us.

 

3.   Scripture is God’s invitation to be his community. As we are shaped into the people of God by what we read, we learn about the Kingdom of God and begin to embody that Kingdom. This is very similar to the invitation to sit at the communion table, to receive and to be shaped by Christ’s presence. God invites us.

 

4.   The Spirit will be at work as we gather, helping us to receive and understand the Word of God in scripture, and helping us to remember and receive Christ in our Communion meal. The Spirit guides us to understand.

 

So can these ways of understanding Scripture help us to receive the gift of today’s Gospel reading?

 

Let’s be honest – this is not one of the more familiar stories of Jesus.

We have listened to the story of Jesus and his disciples plucking head of grain in a field on the Sabbath. 

 

We are listening now, as we try to grasp what was happening.

The Pharisees see plucking and eating grain as a breach of the restrictions placed on work on the Sabbath. They point this out to Jesus, but he refuses to reprimand his disciples, and tells the Pharisees “The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the Sabbath”. Then, as if to underline his point, Jesus goes to the synagogue and sees a man with a withered hand. Jesus asks everyone in the synagogue “Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the sabbath, to save life or to kill?”.

No-one answers and so Jesus heals the man and restores his hand.

The simple law not to work on the sabbath is superseded by Jesus – by a command to do God’s good work.

The Pharisees then start to conspire against Jesus with those with political power – the Herodians.

 

As we listened to this story, where do we hear God’s invitation to be part of the kingdom?

 

Perhaps it is in those words of Jesus “The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the Sabbath”. We might need to be reminded that this is our Sabbath, a time of restoration and refreshment – this might be an especially important invitation for those of us who have tasks to perform today. This day is not meant to be a burden or an imposition, but a gift for God, a life-giving gift.

 

Where else in the story is there an invitation to us to join God’s kingdom? The healing of the man with the withered hand points us towards the power of Jesus to heal, save and make whole. 

This is the word to us, remember, not just an ancient word. Where there are things in us which are withered, or limited, or unhealthy – Jesus invites us to stretch out our hand – and receive the healing and the wholeness which is a sign of God’s kingdom.

Even in the plotting of the Pharisees and Herodians at the end of the story, there is an invitation to us all. Are we prepared to stand on the side of Jesus Christ, to resist earthly power if necessary? Are we prepared to accept persecution if we must, to be known as those who do the will of God and not what human power demands of us? Will you be part of the kingdom of God where Jesus’ death was the sign of the depth of his love, and where even our destruction can be a sign of the life Jesus offers?

 

There is comfort, there is strength, there is healing and there is challenge in God’s word.

Today God invites us to be part of the life of the kingdom – moved by the Spirit to join in the work of healing; being part of Jesus’ offer of life in all its fulness.

 

Jesus promises to walk alongside us, and to send his Holy Spirit to empower us to follow him, so that we might live to the glory of God the Father.

Amen.