Jars of Clay
Dying, Christ destroyed our death.
Rising, Christ restored our life.
Christ will come again in glory.
Here and now, dear friends, we are God’s children.
What we shall be has not been revealed,
But we know when he appears we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
Those who have this hope purify themselves as Christ is pure.
Jesus said, "I am the Resurrection and I am the Life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, yet shall they live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. I died, and behold I am alive forever more, and I hold the keys of hell and death. Because I live, you shall also live."
Let Us Pray
O God, who gave us birth, you are ever more ready to hear than we are to pray.
You know our needs before we ask, and our ignorance in asking. Give to us now your grace, ;that as we shrink before the mystery of death, we may see the light of eternity.
Speak to us once more your solemn message of life and death.
Help us to live as those who are prepared to die.
And when our days are accomplished, enable us to die as those who go forth to live, so that living or dying, our life may be in you, and that nothing in life or in death be able to separate us from your great love in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
Psalm 23
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:
he leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul:
he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death
I will fear no evil:
for thou art with me;
thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me
In the presence of mine enemies;
thou anointest my head with oil;
my cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life;
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
II Corinthians 4:7-18
We live in an age that likes to make things that last. We have our plastic and non-breakable jars and cups. We buy a battery and are given a guarantee that it will last as long as we own our car. We all would like a guarantee that we could last forever. Wouldn’t that be great?
Maybe we would just love to live 102 years like Mrs. S. did. When someone gets that old there is a sense where you think they are going to five forever just because it seems like they have already. Yet that is not the image that Paul gives us in this passage. If anything, Paul paints a somewhat bleak image of human life. We are like a clay pot or earthen vessel. Pottery that can crack, get chipped and broken if dropped. Paul is telling us that life takes its toll on our physical strength and stamina. We wear out. The body is made of material that will not last forever.
It is like a vessel that is to be used. It is meant to be filled and emptied for some constructive purpose. It is the medium through which some good and needed element is made available. Perhaps this container is used for medicine for the sick, water for the thirsty, or soup for the hungry. As the vessel of life, the human body is used to benefit others, but is itself wasted away. Like the candle that gives forth light, it grows shorter with each passing hour until all its resources are expended.
From what I have learned about Mrs. S., she was one who expended herself in service to others. By today’s standards you might say that she was only a plain housekeeper or housewife, but from the lives she touched there would be disagreement. No, she raised a family of 6 children, loving and caring for them. She was committed to her husband and was a grandmother and more to what to some would seem like countless grand- and great- and even greater- grandchildren. Maybe you ate a meal that she cooked, or received a present she made, or was the person she lifted up in prayer. You each have those special memories of her life as a testimony to how she expended herself for others.
As Paul says, "Outwardly, we are wasting away." It is appointed to all people to die and the inevitable physical deterioration cannot be avoided. I believe that those who saw and visited Mrs. S could see the physical changes in her. The slowness of movement and thought. We knew that it would inevitably happen, but it was still difficult to watch. But if this was the end of the story, then indeed we would have reason for great despair. We are told that there is a great treasure hidden within this clay pot or earthen vessel. Within the hearts of those who have faith in Jesus Christ there is a spiritual treasure.
Paul encourages us to "fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." When the temporary things pass away--and our earthly body is temporary--the eternal treasures of the heart remains. Our faith in Christ is eternal.
I believe Mrs. S indeed had a wonderful treasure of faith in Jesus Christ. She was most active in the church work in her active days. She was in the choir, taught the ladies’ class, and was involved in the women’s missionary society. And she was the oldest member of our church upon her death. Yet, faith is not measured in the number of good deeds performed or church positions held, but in the faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. In our conversations, I got to hear and see some of that faith she held in Jesus.
In 1947, someone came across some old jars. These old earthen vessels contained the Dead Sea Scrolls, which are a very valuable source of study for the Church. The jars themselves were not so valuable, but the treasure of God’s word inside was priceless.
In a like way, we are like earthen vessels. The treasure is the eternal glory of God and the unseen things of the spiritual world. The vessel is the outer person which slowly wastes away.
Paul says that death and life are both at work in the Christian’s heart. Death is within each of us, because we have sinned. It works its end of destruction and takes each of us down to the grave. But because of our faith in Christ, death does not defeat us. In fact, we have victory over the grave because of Jesus’ resurrection.
We have a choice today of what part of Mrs. S’s life that we will hold on to. Will it be the memory of the aging woman whose body became frail and weak at the end? Or will it be the woman that held the treasure of faith within her heart?
What was it about her that gave her life meaning, that have life purpose and hope? Was it just to be 102? To keep the physical body alive? Or was it something unseen, inside her heart. It is the unseen that Paul says is eternal. Mrs. S had that faith in Jesus that gave her life meaning and purpose. Each of you have etched in your minds’ eyes those special times and remembrances with her. They can’t be seen by anyone else, but they will stay with you forever.
What about our own lives? Where is your focus? On the physical or the spiritual? God wants you and me to focus our lives on him and allow God to mold us and make us into men and women, youth and children who realize that it is faith in Jesus Christ and the spirit of a person that is of prime importance. We can have a great treasure.
And Paul has a word for each of us in the midst of life, "We are hard pressed on every side but not crushed; perplexed, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed." We need to grasp onto Jesus Christ so that we too might deal with the adversities of life and as a result gain that which is eternal...faith in Jesus Christ.
Let us pray.
O God, all that you have given us is yours. As first you gave Mrs. S. to us, so now we give her back to you. Receive her into the arms of your mercy. Raise her up with all your people. Receive us, also, and raise us into a new life. Help us to love and serve you in this world that we may enter into your joy in the world to come. Amen.
