Title: Fragility and Brokenness
Text: II Corinthians 4:6-10; 12:7-10
Thesis: Life batters and breaks us in a variety of ways, but then God makes us stronger and more beautiful in our fragility and brokenness.
In that this is the 1st Sunday after Epiphany we are once again reminded of how Christ is made known to us, in us and through us.
Introduction
This is a fairly serious talk today so let me begin with a bit of humor. I was in King Soopers the other day and observed a mother trying to get her unruly little boy to sit down in the shopping cart. She had reached the point just one step below yelling when she said, “If you fall out of this cart and break your leg, don’t come running to me.” (Actually, I made that up…)
This week I read about a Japanese art for repairing broken pottery. They call it kintsukuroi ( kin-tsU-kU-roi). It means: golden repair. It is a process in which lacquer resin is dusted or mixed with powdered gold and used to, for lack of a better word, glue the piece back together.
The idea is that breakage and repair are part of the history of an object, so rather than something to hide or disguise, it is illuminated.
In part, this art form is a reflection of the Japanese philosophy of wabi-sabi, which embraces the flawed and imperfect. By highlighting the cracks and repairs they are demonstrating the service value of an object by simply marking an event in the life of an object rather than allowing its service to end at the time of its damage or breakage.
While here in the west, our landfills are cluttered with our broken and discarded things, in Japan they fix the cracked and broken objects. The brokenness of a repaired object is highlighted or illuminated by the golden resin that marks the repaired seams. It is so beautiful that some have been known to deliberately break an object so that the object has the enhanced beauty of the golden repair.
It is an easy leap from the brokenness of a piece of pottery to human brokenness…Life batters, chips away and breaks us in a variety of ways, but then God makes us stronger and more beautiful in our fragility and brokenness.
I have selected two texts this morning to help us better understand, appreciate and even value our human fragility and brokenness.
In II Corinthians 4 we see ourselves described fragile clay jars.
I. Fragile People, II Corinthians 4:7-11
We have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves. II Corinthians 4:7
As we begin there are a couple of things we need to understand about the contrasts implied in this text. We are described as “clay jars” or “earthen vessels.” Human weakness then stands in contrast with the glory of Christ, who is the exact image of God. (II Corinthians 4:4) At the onset we are aware that these two contrasts are essential to understanding the text:
1. The contrast between Human Weakness and God’s Power…
2. The contrast between Human Insignificance (Cheapness) and God’s Glory (Treasure)…
Now that we are aware that we are mere clay jars or earthen vessels marked by weakness and insignificance we can fully appreciate how God’s power and glory play out in and through our human frailty.
When Bonnie was born her grandmother bought her a set of fine China. When we got married that crate of China that had been moved around for 21 years was given to her on her wedding day. For nearly 45 years that China has occupied a place of prominence in our home… displayed in an antique hutch. It is beautiful but rarely used. The fact of the matter is, God is not looking for delicate, hand-painted, fine China that has to be kept in a China cabinet good mostly for looking at and keeping safe from human handling and practical use. God is into people who are made to be used… we are well-worn pots and plates and dishes designed to serve God and others over and over and over and over…
In verse 8 we see what life is like for a clay or earthen vessel:
• Pressed but not crushed
We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. II Corinthians 4:8a
Life is predictably unpredictable. We may know the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. We experience the good, the bad and the ugly. But when we are under the pressures of life and we feel we are absolutely caught between a rock and a hard place and in our human frailty we are sure that we will either implode or explode… we are reminded that these earthen vessels contain the precious treasure of Christ’s presence and with that knowledge there is a resilience of spirit.
Second we see we are:
• Perplexed but not to despair
We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. II Corinthians 4:9b
When Paul wrote of being perplexed he was speaking to being at one’s wit’s end. Perplexity is a place where you do not know what to do or where to turn. We have the resilience to never doubt that something can be done.
When we feel there is no hope we are reminded that these earthen vessels contain the presence of an all-wise, all-knowing Christ.
We are also:
• Hunted but never abandoned
We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. II Corinthians 4:9a
Paul’s word for being hunted down is persecution. In the early chapters of Acts we read of how Paul, then Saul, went about hunting down Christians, bringing them back to Jerusalem for trial. Now his life is the persecuted life and he has come to experience a truth known only by a few, for the persecuted it is amidst their sorest times in life that they experience their sweetest times with God. Knowing God has not and will never abandon us give us resilience.+
When we feel utterly alienated and abandoned in life we are reminded that these earthen vessels contain the presence of the living Christ.
And we are:
• Knocked down but not out
We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed. II Corinthians 4:9b
Sometimes it seems it’s just one thing after another. It can feel like we are in Rocky movie. Life brings blow after blow and we wonder if we will survive the onslaught. But Jesus says that these clay vessels, seemingly so defenseless against the hard knocks in life, contain the power of the living Christ.
We are reminded that though humanly speaking, we are as fragile as clay jars, we display a God-given resilience. Through our suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies. II Corinthians 4:10
Though I am a poor student of early American History I am aware that though they were an imperfect bunch, the Pilgrims were also as courageous as courageous can get. They endured what to us would be unimaginable.
For 66 days they endured the voyage from South Hampton, England to Cape Cod. They slept 80 people in a space designed for 30. 66 days of snoring, coughing, sea sickness, diapers, crying, body odors and most wearing the same clothes for the entire journey. They were wet, dirty and infested with lice and fleas. They preferred to eat in the dark so as to not be able to see the mold and the crawlies in their food. One half of their number died of exposure, malnutrition and illness the first winter in the new world.
These are two quotes lifted from the writings of Edward Winslow and William Bradford:
• How few, weak and raw we were at the beginning, and yet God preserved us.” Edward Winslow
• William Bradford looked back at their weakness as having purpose, “that our children may see with what difficulties their fathers wrestled in going through these things at their beginnings; and how God brought them along, notwithstanding all their weakness and infirmities.”
That perspective seems very much consistent with our teaching today: We have this this light shining in our hearts, but we are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God and not from ourselves.” II Corinthians 4:7
Though we, by all appearances, are fragile people subjected to all the thumps and bumps in life, we have within us the presence and power of Jesus whose power is seen in our resilience.
In II Corinthians 12 we see ourselves as broken people.
II. Broken People, II Corinthians 12:6-10
Three times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” II Corinthians 12:8-9
Human brokenness is serious stuff to the person who is broken. In some cases brokenness keeps us from doing what we would like to do. John Eldredge wrote in his book, Finding a Marriage You’ve Dreamed of: “You would not ask someone with a broken arm to swim the English Channel, so you cannot demand that the broken live as if they were whole.”
From Stephanie Meyer’s New Moon, “I’m not like a car you can fix up. I’m never gonna run right!”
Paul’s brokenness is largely a matter of conjecture but he took it very seriously. Commentators speculate his thorn in the flesh as a chronic eye problem, malaria, migraines, epilepsy, a speech impediment, a temptation or perhaps even a person who caused him a great deal of personal pain.
Paul’s solution was directly to the point.
• Paul asked for deliverance… Paul wanted his brokenness to go away.
Three different times I begged God to take it away. II Corinthians 12:8
God’s solution was not exactly what Paul had in mind.
God answered with grace… God wanted to fill his broken places his own kind of golden repair… grace.
Each time God said, “My grace is sufficient for your need. My power works best in weakness.” II Corinthians 12:9a
What God promises is not some duct tape fix… God promises golden grace.
Paul responded by accepting God’s will.
• Paul accepted his brokenness with pleasure… Paul was willing to be weak and broken if it meant being repaired and empowered by God’s grace.
So now I am glad to boast about my weakness, so that the power of Christ can work through me. II Corinthians 12:9b
I think the concepts of kintsukuroi (kin-tsU-kU-ro) and wabi-sabi are nicely illustrated in Paul’s life… God pours his grace into the brokenness of his life thereby making it possible for him to continue to serve, despite his brokenness. The idea is not simply to repair a piece of pottery it is to repair it so that it can continue to function.
When people are broken and God graciously fills in their brokenness with the beauty and strength of his grace they are uniquely prepared to serve God and others.
When I was a youth pastor in Cottage Grove, Minnesota, I was asked to take over a men’s bible study at Stillwater State Prison. The long-time facilitator was moving away and they needed a new guy. I assumed I was God’s answer to the need and jumped on it. Big mistake.
It was not that my bible studies were bad or that I was a poor facilitator… it was that I was a young pastor fresh out of school. White. Town and Country background. I was a shiny piece of fine China in a room full of broken clay pots. A better person might well have been more readily accepted but I had not the life experience to minister to those men. People who have been broken and had their cracks filled with grace are uniquely fitted for ministry among others who are similarly broken.
Since our son died twenty years ago and my brother more recently, I have been asked to care for families who have lost a loved one through suicide. I don’t like it. Every time I am called I relive my own grief. But I go because God has filled in my cracks with grace and I know something of how to care for those who are similarly broken.
In AA they do not connect an alcoholic with a sponsor who has never known brokenness of alcoholism. Someone who has been the caregiver for a spouse who suffered from Alzheimer’s is uniquely equipped to support families going through what they have gone through. Someone who has gone through the brokenness of having an abusive spouse is uniquely equipped to support victims of abuse. Someone who has lived through the brokenness and regret of an abortion is uniquely equipped to walk alongside someone similarly broken. Someone who has experienced financial brokenness knows the despair of others in similar circumstances. You name it… divorce, death, depression or whatever may be turned into things of beauty and strength.
Some of the strongest and most beautiful people we know are those who have been broken but now have their brokenness repaired with God’s grace.
I don’t know if this tale be true but it illustrates how beauty can come from brokenness. A house servant tasked with carrying water from the stream to the house hung two pots… one on each end of a long stick that rested on his shoulders as he carried the water. One pot was perfect while the other had a leak… every day the servant would return with one full pot and the other half-full.
For two years he carried the water and for two years one fourth of the water dribbled out of the leaky pot. One day the cracked pot spoke to the servant and confessed, “I am so ashamed of myself. For two years I have been able to deliver only half of my load because of this crack in my side.”
The servant then spoke to the pot, “As we return to the master’s house I want you to notice the beautiful flowers along the path… you will see that the flowers grow only on your side of the path, not on the other side. That’s because I’ve always known about your flaw and I took advantage of it. I planted flower seeds on your side of the path and every day while we walk back and forth from the stream, you’ve watered them. For two years I’ve been able to pick beautiful flowers to place on my master’s table.”
We are all chipped and cracked and broken in some way but it is in and through our flaws that God’s grace glorifies him and blesses others.
You may be broken in some way… you may deny it or disguise it or hide it but God’s desire is for you to let Christ fill your brokenness with his grace so that you may be made beautiful and strong and wholly useful to God and others.
Conclusion
It is through the cracks and brokenness of our human frailty that we might say, the light comes in. It is in our cracks and chips and brokenness that God’s grace comes into these earthen vessels. But it might also be said that it is also those same chips and cracks and brokenness that the light gets out. And hopefully, people see Jesus in our lives. (Nadia Bolz Weber, “Sermon on that special class of salty, light-bearing people to whom Jesus preaches,” February 3, 2014)
We conclude this morning where we began…
Life batters and breaks us in a variety of ways, but then God makes us stronger and more beautiful in our fragility and brokenness.
