“But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. We are… always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our body.”
Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
“And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God” (1 Cor 2:1-5).
“Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take away [the thorn in my flesh]… . But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness’” (2 Cor 12:8-9).
“But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us” (2 Cor 4:7).
The Apostle Paul, brethren, seems to know something about weakness. In his extreme humility, he characterizes himself as weak. And truly, when compared to the power of Almighty God, who among us is not weak? However, the Apostle was not a weak man; he was a man of accolade; he was a man of high esteem. He is self-aware, but also self-abasing. Do you remember what he says in his Epistle to the Philippians?
“If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless” (Phil 3:4b-6).
St. Paul knows his qualifications. He isn’t ignorant. But importantly, he goes on to say (also in Philippians):
“… Whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. … I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, become like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead” (Phil 3:7-8b, 10-11; italics mine).
St. Paul is an immensely qualified man, … which means that he is an immensely qualified, an immensely gifted, an immensely strong, perseverant, charismatic jar of clay.
“But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us” (2 Cor 4:7).
The most powerful man on earth, brethren, is as fragile as a piece of porcelain. The wealthiest, most secure, most resilient, most socially and financially and psychologically reinforced human… is as fragile as pottery.
Abraham Lincoln is remembered as one of the greatest of the American presidents; self-educated, humble, eloquent, socially progressive but morally conservative; a man of high spiritual principle, and physical stature! He had a successful legal career. He preserved the Union and emancipated the slaves. And in 1865, he was assassinated by a single gunshot wound to the back of the head. Kobe Bryant was one of the NBA’s greatest athletes. He was the youngest player to ever debut in an All-Star Game, at the age of 19. He scored 81 points in a game against the Toronto Raptors, the most points scored in a single game in the modern NBA era. He holds a joint record for the most NBA All-Star Game MVP awards, tied with Bob Pettit. Kobe was famous, wealthy, and accomplished. In 2020, he was one of nine people who died in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, CA; the trained, hardened, sinewy body of the veteran basketball star crumpled in the wreckage. Charlie Kirk was a young and upcoming conservative political personality. He was probably the greatest conservative organizer of the 21st century to date. He was a published author, a non-profit executive, a prolific public speaker. He will be awarded—posthumously—the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award of the United States. On September 10, Charlie Kirk was assassinated by a gunshot wound to the neck. (pause) How many more celebrities, how many more people of historical acclaim could we go on to list, who in the prime of their careers, their public service, their enterprises, their lives, were taken away? JFK, Princess Diana, Martin Luther King, Jr.; Steve Irwin, Heath Ledger: all passed suddenly. All passed unexpectedly—despite wealth, fame, power, popularity, ability.
The Psalmist writes:
“As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him; for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust. The life of mortals is like grass, they flourish like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more” (Ps 103:13-16).
Beyond all human imagination, we cannot fathom just how fragile we are. The Psalmist frames it in the must humbling of perspectives, over and above what the Apostle says. We are less than earthen vessels! We are less than fragile pottery! We are “dust.” We are “like grass.” We “flourish like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it, and it is gone.” Despite how we might perceive ourselves—smart, strong, well-positioned financially, cunning, thoughtful, circumspect—one well-aimed bullet will wipe it all away.
The surface gravity of the sun is 274 m/s2. A 150lb person resting on the surface of the sun (if you were able to) would weigh approximately 4,000lbs. Assuming you could withstand the extreme heat and radiation, upon touchdown, every bone and organ in your body would be instantaneously crushed, pulverized, vaporized as you sunk into the churning plasma. We cannot imagine, we cannot comprehend, the extremes of human frailty!
On this subject matter, however, the Psalmist does not have the last word, although even the Psalmist positively contrasts our finite fragileness with the infinity of the Divine: “But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s love is with those who fear him” (Ps 103:17a). St. Peter, surely with this Psalm in mind, as well as Isaiah, chapter 40, encourages the brethren in Asia Minor, who are themselves suffering, when he writes,
“But you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring Word of God. For, ‘All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the world of the Lord endures forever.’ And this is the Word that was preached to you” (1 Pet 1:23-25).
What is this Word that was preached to the brethren in Pontus, Galatia, and Cappadocia? It is none other than the Divine Word, the Logos of God: Jesus Christ, the crucified and resurrected and ascended Savior of the world. It is the Savior who suffered, and died, and was buried, and rose again. It is the Savior whom we meet and unite ourselves to in Holy Baptism, through which we too suffer, and die, and rise again. We are earthen vessels filled with the grace of the heavenly, imperishable, holy God.
Brethren, this must be the testimony of each Christian: I am nothing; Christ is everything. I am nothing; Christ is everything.
“I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who love me and gave himself for me” (Gal 2:20).
Are you wealthy? Eschew wealth; or at the very least, eschew the boast of wealth. Are you intelligent? Eschew boasting in it. Are you talented, gifted, strong? Boast in nothing other than the grace of our Lord, Jesus Christ! We have died to Christ, and as the Apostle says in today’s Epistle, we are “always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus.” But is this a form of self-abasement for its own sake? Is this pseudo-humility? Is this pride in humiliation? No, but he goes on to say, “… that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.” What a concept! What a miracle! We die to Christ. We are buried with him in Holy Baptism. We are filled with the grace of God. We are divinized, even in this life! We are being daily divinized through our participation in the hallowing Mysteries of Christ’s holy Church! And what for? That the Divine Life might be made manifest in human lives, that our friends and neighbors—and even enemies—might catch a glimpse of the Kingdom of God through us!
One day we will die, brethren, despite wealth, fame, and material glory. We must hold in juxtaposition: human frailty and the ineffable power of God unto salvation. “For what shall it profit a man, if he should gain the whole world and lose his own soul?” (Mark 8:36).
“For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’ ‘Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?’” (1 Cor 15:53-55).
Through the prayers of our holy fathers, O Lord Jesus Christ, our God, have mercy on us and save us. Amen.
Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!