B, Post Pentecost 2 Proper 4 - 2 Corinthians 4:5-12 "Clay Jars that We Are"
Saint Paul speaks of us as the clay jars holding the light
that shines out of darkness. A clay jar
that has an absence of light contains only darkness. Like creation we are clay jars without form
and void. Likewise, to creation, we need
God to say, “Let light shine out of
darkness,” “Let there be light”. We
need God the Holy Spirit to shine, “in
our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ.” (2 Corinthians 4:6
ESV)
Clay jars need rest to be reformed and recast. I’m not talking about pottery anymore, but
the earthenware of our humanity, our flesh, our soul or being, both physical
and spiritual. We need the light of God
that’s more powerful than the strongest laser light. To cut with greater precision than a plasma
cutter. To open us and expose what’s
hidden within. And to burn out what’s
rotting away inside of us!
Some clay jars believe that the darkness within is light,
and therefore do not want to be reformed or recast. At some point though, without rest, clay jars
will return to the dust from which they’re made. “By the
sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out
of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
(Genesis 3:19 ESV)
All clay jars will crack and fall apart, explode in a
shower of shards from pressure, or on Christ’s return God’s decree will be
fulfilled in him.
From Psalm two we hear, “I will tell of the decree: The LORD said to me, ‘You are my Son; today
I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I
will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron and
dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.’” (Psalm 2:7–9 ESV)
We, clay jars, need rest in God! Why do we need this rest? And what does this rest do? How do we get this rest? What does this rest look like?
Returning to Second Corinthians four, we know that without
God, there is nothing within shining the necessary light to recast and reform
us in Jesus Christ. Even Paul says, “For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but
Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants (slaves) for Jesus’ sake.” (2 Corinthians 4:5 ESV)
Even Paul needs rest as a servant slave of the Lord Jesus
Christ, as do all who preach and teach for Jesus’ sake!
So, why do we need this rest?
The fragility of our being is evident in this world. This world is one bound by death. In fact, death is the great unifier of all
people, all animals, all things, in all of creation. Everything is dying! You, me, the person next to you, your
animals, everything ever built, everything ever created. This is fact, this is the world in which we
die. It’s not life we’re living, but
death we’re dying!
After God created the heavens and the earth, on the seventh
day he rested. God called Saturday the
Sabbath, to repose from work. After the
fall into sin, where humanity’s being got its clay jar fragility, to sabbath,
or to rest in God, requires more than just a physical sabbath, but our fallen
nature also needs a spiritual sabbath.
After God chose the Israelites as his own, he called them through the
law to faithfully rest with him in repentance and atonement through the
sacrifice for sin, performed by God’s representatives in the temple.
After the Word became flesh, Jesus Christ fulfilled the Word
of the old covenant. The Word enfleshed,
revealed the fragility and futility of our flesh, and finished what Israel
could not finish in the weakness of its human flesh. The sabbath, the day of rest, had become for
the Jews, a day of rules, rather than a day of faith where one could rest with
God after atonement was made for sin.
Jesus said to the Jews, “The
Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” (Mark 2:27 ESV)
What Jesus was saying is, the day of rest, God’s holy day,
or holiday, is made for us to faithfully
rest with God. It’s not a day for a self-justifying
stoppage of work. The Jews had turned
the Sabbath into a work of righteousness, by their good works of not working. The focus was on themselves doing, rather
than being with whom they were called to be! Their motivation was on what they did, rather
than being with God!
What is your motivation in coming to church? If it’s for a work of some kind, let the
example of the Jews of Jesus’ day, stand as a warning to you! If your primary reason for coming to church
is for community, morale, making an appearance, to be seen, to be a leader, to
do a certain job, to move others by one’s own motivation, or for good morals, then
you’re coming for the wrong reason!
As honourable as the tasks performed might be, (I include
myself as your pastor in this), if I or you come for reasons other than to rest
in God, through the forgiveness of sins, atoned for by Jesus Christ, you and I
have come for the wrong reason! We’re
not here to work for God, but to be arrested by him, to allow him to work for
us, in us, so we can rest in him. And in
doing so we glorify the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit in their
honourable tasks of reposing, recasting, and reforming the clay jars that we
are!
In Paul’s leadership as a slave or servant of Jesus Christ,
even he needed to rest in the light of
the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. So too with you and me, now that we have
been recreated and recast in Jesus Christ, as Sons of God in his works of
righteousness, having been reborn with water and the word, as kings in God’s
creation. We are returned to Psalm two
where we’re reminded, “Now therefore, O
kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with
trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be
angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are
all who take refuge in him.” (Psalm
2:10–12 ESV)
Every one of us who remains and rests in God’s Son,
glorifies God by acknowledging God’s righteous judgement. As we have just heard, “Blessed are all who take refuge
in him.” What does this rest
do? It blesses us or balances us in the
truth of God’s Word. Hence, we find
ourselves fleeing to this rest for refuge.
We might think God’s judgement is Jesus’ anger as Psalm two
says! But it says this for us and others
when we focus on ourselves. When we kiss
ourselves, someone, or something other than the Son of God. However, when we’re led to kiss the Son, we
trust in him and what he’s done to balance us with forgiveness and blessed rest
with God our Father.
So, how do we get this rest? We get this rest or sabbath, firstly, through
Jesus Christ who being the only one to rightly rest in God the Father,
paradoxically died for us who through sin struggle to rest with God. Ironically Jesus’ rest was so perfect, this
“Holy Clay Jar” rested in God’s holy judgement on Holy Saturday, “that
he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the
spirit, in which he went and proclaimed
to the spirits in prison.” (1 Peter
3:18–19 ESV)
In the continuation of Jesus’ perfect work and rest, the
Holy Spirit continues this work by bringing us in faith into God’s rest. We kiss the Son because the Holy Spirit brings
us to the Son through his holy word and holy sacraments.
The Holy Spirit calls you and me through the holy work and holy
rest of Jesus, in other words, the gospel.
The Holy Spirit enlightens you and me with God’s gifts, of forgiveness,
to confess, and forgive as we have been forgiven. This happens with the enlightenment of God’s holy
word and faithful trust in Jesus’ holy communion for the forgiveness of sins, continuation
of life in the midst of death, and salvation from eternal death. The Holy Spirit also makes us holy; he covers
us with the robes of Christ’s righteousness, so we have free access into God’s
holiness to pray and confess.
So, what does this rest look like? We are still clay jars, fragile and easily
broken. We are holy with “the light of knowledge of the glory of God
in the face of Jesus Christ.” But
the darkness of our original state still lingers. However, the Holy Spirit now works within you
and me, so we, “remember the Sabbath day
to keep it holy”, as we hear in the Third Commandment.
In his explanation, Martin Luther says in the Small
Catechism, “We are to fear and love God
so we do not neglect his Word or the preaching of it, but regard it as holy and
gladly hear and learn it.”
The Holy Spirit leads us to church to hear the word, to
stand under it in understanding, to unpack it in its truth and relevance for
us, and to give us joy in gathering as forgiven people in the knowledge of
Jesus Christ. However, we, being clay
jars, don’t always appreciate the knowledge of Jesus Christ. Our fragility and futility, tends to lead us
to see without eyes of faith, where we overlook the reality of what resting in
God is all about. Then we neglect his
word and the preaching of it, regarding it as common, and turn against hearing
and learning it.
Every person struggles with this. After all we are clay jars! This is where we have the Holy Spirit to help
us, to once again fear and love God, in a way where we no longer “have got to”
read the bible. Where we no longer “have
got to” go to church. And where we no
longer “have got to” serve our neighbours as Christ serves us.
Rather, we keep knocking on God’s door in prayer for the
Holy Spirit to give us a hunger “to want to” read the bible, to give us a desire
“to want to” go to church and rest in God, and to give us a longing “to want to”
serve our neighbours as Christ serves us.
When you keep praying for the Holy Spirit to give you a
love for God’s Word, he will lead you to Jesus Christ, deepening your knowledge
of his grace and the depths of your sin in your self-justifying knowledge of
good and evil. You will get
understanding as to why you might have struggled to find true joy in church,
and why being daily in the Word is difficult.
In God’s time you will find yourself looking forward to
coming into rest in God. To be forgiven
and fed! Rather than coming in cold to
hear the Word of God on Sunday morning, your joy in the Word of God, will see
you put off the world, so the Holy Spirit can prepare you, the clay jars, in
the Word of God for rest with God in his word and sacraments. Amen.
