31st May 2024
Precious
We carry this precious Message around in the unadorned clay pots of our ordinary lives.
2 Corinthians 4:7 (MSG)
When our children were still living at home, there was a period when they would run around the house yelling ‘precious’ in strange guttural voices. This had nothing at all to do with the person they were talking to and everything to do with a fictional character from the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy, the Stoor Hobbit, Gollum. If you remember the story, Gollum was the keeper of a mysterious and all-powerful ring, calling it his ‘precious’, a catchphrase our boys and girls never tired of repeating.
This memory was brought back to me when reading Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase of today’s header scripture, which enigmatically refers to a ‘precious Message’ contained in ‘unadorned clay pots’. Turns out that this Message is infinitely more precious than Gollum’s ring. In the NIV, and other translations, the Apostle Paul refers to it as, ‘treasure in jars of clay’ going on to describe it as an ‘all-surpassing power from God.’
What is this precious treasure and what are the jars of clay it is contained within? We don’t have to look too far for the answer to the first question. Verse 6 defines the treasure as ‘the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.’ (2 Corinthians 4:6 NIV). This ‘precious Message’ is nothing less than the gospel message of Jesus Christ shining in our hearts as he reflects the glory of God.
And the jars of clay? They represent our fragile and temporary human bodies. Created by the Master Potter out of the dust of the ground, just like the first human (Genesis 2:7). Yet nevertheless considered worthy to contain precious treasure: the message of Jesus and his glory.
Later, in 2 Corinthians, Paul writes about his ‘thorn in the flesh’ and how he eventually saw it as a gift from God, enabling God’s power to be made perfect in his own weakness (2 Corinthians 12:7-9). Similarly, it could be said that as jars of clay, the more fragile, frail and broken we become, the more the treasure within is revealed to a world that so desperately needs to see it.
The precious treasure of the gospel message, the light of the glory of Christ shining inside us, is far too good to keep to ourselves. So, in the words of the famous 18th Century, Sunday school hymn: ‘Jesus is the light, …let him shine, let him shine, let him shine.’
Prayer
Almighty Father, thank you that we are bearers of your image and lowly vessels which contain the very glory of Jesus Christ. Help us not to keep the Gospel message we carry to ourselves, but enable us to share it with a world that needs it now, more than ever before. In Jesus’s name, Amen.
Study by Peter Mill
About the writer:
Peter Mill is a minister in Grace Communion International and Co-Regional Pastor for Scotland, Ireland, and Northern England.
Local congregation:
Grace Communion International Central Glasgow
Garnethill Room
Conference Suite
St Andrews West
260 Bath Street
Glasgow
G2 4JP
Meeting time:
Sunday 11:15 am
Local congregational contact:
Peter Mill
Email: edinburgh@gracecom.church
Word of Life contact:
wordoflife@gracecom.church