Love and Light Through Cracks – 2 Corinthians 4

A text – 2 Corinthians 4:5-12

4:5 For we do not proclaim ourselves; we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus’ sake.
4:6 For 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.
4:7 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.
4:8 We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair;
4:9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;
4:10 always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our bodies.
4:11 For 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.
4:12 So death is at work in us, but life in you.

A reflection:

In this quite famous passage of one of Paul’s letters to the new Christians in Corinth, who were a cosmopolitan bunch and pretty smug, Paul sets out a paradox. He worships an all-powerful God and has become a foremost apostle of that God. Yet he is broken, like a jar that has been dropped and mended and dropped again and mended, so that cracks are still visible everywhere. Paul says that God has shone in his heart. We can almost picture Paul, that cracked jar, with the light of God inside, and the light sneaking out through all those cracks. God is something far greater than the earthly vessel, Paul, who proclaims God’s good news of salvation and forgiveness and adoption.

If we came across as superheroes and did the good work God called us to do, it wouldn’t be obvious to others that God was the source and power behind that work. People would think it was our strength and good character making things happen. But if we are all cracked and broken, and good gets done anyway, people will know that the power behand whatever good we manage to do is God’s power, not ours. Even as we are tired unto death, God’s power can still shine out through us to others.

Mother Theresa, it is said, was still carrying the bodies of the dying into shelters she and her holy sisters ran to give the poor some dignity in death. She picked up people as heavy as she was and brought them to a peaceful place, even when she was aged and frail. Surely she was a great example of this image Paul writes of a broken vessel showing God’s love streaming through the cracks.

As flawed as you and I are, we can still do what God calls us to do. There is work for us. And it is ok to let people know we are flawed, not to hide the imperfections. God’s love shows through even more that way. We make mistakes and still we try to get God’s mission accomplished. God chooses flawed characters like us precisely to show God’s love, and to show that anyone can help.

A prayer:

Lord God, Thank you for loving us. Thank you for choosing us broken vessels as your children and your workers. Help us not to worry about our imperfections but to see them as evidence of how you get your work done despite our shortcomings. Thanks for shining through us to others. Amen.