“We hold a treasure not made of gold in earthen vessels wealth untold. One treasure only, the Lord, the Christ, in earthen vessels.” That hymn is the composer’s expansion of the thought of St. Paul we heard in the first reading. “We hold this treasure in earthen vessels, that the surpassing power may be of God and not from us.” The hymn has it exactly right that the treasure is Christ. As the second epistle to the Church in Corinth puts it in the verse before this passage our treasure is “the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.” The reason we are here on a Sunday, the reason we believe, the reason we pray is because the love of Christ has been planted in our hearts. Faith in Christ is our treasure not made of gold. After all, Christ brings us God’s compassion, God’s healing, God’s forgiveness, God’s love. Lots to treasure there.
What about the “earthen vessels” part of the saying? What exactly is a earthen vessel? A pot, a bowl, a plate, a cup made out of something of the earth, usually clay or sand . Think of a potter who molds and shapes the clay on his wheel into a jar which he then puts into an oven or kiln to make it hard. You have an earthen vessel. St. Paul compares us to earthen vessels because of characteristics we have in common. We, like a clay jar, are fragile. We are easily damaged. If dropped, we’ll break. Also, we’re like a cup in that will wear out. After years of use the design fades, the lip chips, the handle gets loose. Like a plate we must be treated with care. Don’t put it in the microwave or it will crack. Like earthen vessels we have to be careful about the situations in which we find ourselves. Our fragility and imperfections don’t limit our ability to hold onto something as precious, as valuable as Christ. Our very fragility makes us worthy vessels.
There does seem to be a bit of a puzzlement that the Church discourages us from using earthen vessels at the liturgy. Using a ceramic chalice or a glass paten is frowned upon. An earthen vessel might break and you’ll spill the sacrament. A ceramic chalice might chip and not convey enough dignity. A cup made out of clay is porous and will stain over time. Use a precious metal, the church advises, something like gold or silver for the liturgical vessels. They won’t break or chip or stain. And they convey how precious the Blessed Sacrament is. Which reminds me of an incident many years ago when a young seminarian who will go unnamed asked the local pastor why he drove a Cadillac. Wouldn’t having a simpler car be more in keeping with the poor man of Nazareth? The pastor answered, “Son, I take Holy Communion to the sick and shut-in in this car and nothing is too good for Jesus.”
When you look at the gospels you find that some things were too good for Jesus. The Pharisees with their obsession with following the rules and doing things right were too good for Jesus. He was more interested in making sure that those who felt on the outs knew they belonged. The priests were too good for Jesus. All they wanted was to have the Romans let them worship God in peace. But Jesus saw an intimate connection between what went on in temple and the lived situation of the faithful so throw out the moneychangers. The zealots who wanted to blow up the whole system were too good for Jesus. He worked to create unity and avoid violence not strife.
Instead of these “too good” people Jesus gathered around him the “good enough” people. People like James. James was ambitious, striving, head-strong, violent and on top that, something of a momma’s boy. Not your ideal follower but he was good enough for Jesus. How about Peter? Peter was rash, imprudent, proud, with a very high opinion of himself. Not your ideal follower but he was good enough for Jesus. The other eleven were no prizes either. They were clueless, think-headed, timid and easily frightened. The HR department let Jesus down with that lot. But he thought they were good enough. Why? Because they, as St. Paul said in the epistle, understood that the surpassing power came from God and not from themselves. James and the rest of them were good enough to be disciples, to become the apostles who founded the Church because they learned not to rely on themselves, on their strength and abilities, but to rely on what God could do with the likes of them.
Church, we celebrate St. James because we too are good enough to be follow in his footsteps and bring Jesus into the world. Yes, our families might not be the very best. We love them even when they are driving us to distraction. But no matter what our family is like the surpassing power of God enables us to bring some hope and consolation into the world. Yes, the bill collector reminds us that our finances might not be the very best but they are good enough. Because we have the surpassing power of God we can be kind and generous to those who are hurting. Our health might not be the best but it is good enough because with the surpassing power of God we can forgive those who hurt us and to ask for forgiveness of those we have hurt. We might be earthen vessels, fragile, broken and worn but we hold a treasure. We’ve won the lottery, we have four aces, we have rolled sevens, we hit a home run, we scored the touchdown, we ran the table, we broke the tape, we got the checkered flag all because we have the love of Jesus in our hearts and his surpassing power means I can do all things through him that strengthens me.
