The Church’s suffering will bring with it a stronger faith in Christ and a bolder proclamation to a world in need of the life Christ alone can give.
One of my favorite scenes in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade raises an interesting theological question. Indy and his enemies have been in hot pursuit of the Holy Grail. After passing through a variety of challenges laid out by the Knights Templar (the protectors of the Grail), they find themselves in a room with the last of the famed ancient knights and a variety of glorious chalices. The final test they must pass is figuring out which chalice is the Holy Grail that the Lord had blessed at the Last Supper. Walter Donovan and Elsa Schneider, Indy’s enemies, choose the most glorious of the chalices, only for Walter to drink from it and die in a grotesque, CGI, Indiana Jones fashion. “He chose... poorly.” Jones, on the other hand, chooses the humblest of the cups, the “cup of a carpenter.” He drinks and lives. As the knight says, “You chose... wisely!”
I love this scene because of the way it exposes how we tend to misunderstand God and His work. We expect to find God and His favor in the glorious, beautiful things of this world. Success, wealth, and power are all associated with God’s blessings, but Christ chooses to reveal His glory under its opposites. The prophet greater than Moses preaches as a humble rabbi. The great High Priest is the sacrificial Lamb who lays down His life. The Lord of Heaven and Earth is crowned with thorns. Isaiah told us all this when he said, “He had no form or majesty that we should look at Him, and no beauty that we should desire Him” (Isaiah 53:2). His cross is His glory. His death becomes our life.
As Luther says in the Heidelberg Disputation, “Although the works of God are always unattractive and appear evil, they are nevertheless really eternal merits.”[1] It is this theme that Paul picks up on in our text from 2 Corinthians 4:5-12 as he discusses the nature of the ministry Christ carries out through him. Paul constantly faces accusations from the left and right against his ministry due to its lack of success, wealth, power, and glory. But Paul shows us in these verses that his ministry, like all ministry, reflects the humble glory of Christ. The treasure (the Gospel) he presents comes, as always, in humble jars of clay. He serves the glorious gifts of Christ in the cup of a carpenter, you might say. Yet, it is that humble treasure which grants eternal life!
TEXT
2 Corinthians is potentially Paul’s fourth letter to his beloved Corinthian congregation. As we will recall from 1 Corinthians, the people in this congregation are enamored by fancy rhetoric, worldly wisdom, and thrilling spiritual performances. Paul responds that, “God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise” (1 Corinthians 1:27). He says, “I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2). As Paul continues to bring this message of His humiliated and crucified Lord, he finds his life increasingly conforms to the image of Christ. In 2 Corinthians 4:5-12, he demonstrates that if the humble sufferings of Christ bring salvation to the world, so the ministers of His Church will deliver that message in the same way. This saving message will not come according to the world’s standards of glory.
Our reading begins with Paul exalting in the power of God’s Word. It is the preaching of Christ, and that alone, that brings salvation. Paul says he has not come to promote himself or his success (4:5). Paul is not a spiritual guru who has the keys to successful living or the steps to “the good life.” He preaches Christ, the Word of God which brought creation into existence. Just as God speaking in the beginning of all things brought order to chaos and light out of darkness, so the preaching of Christ brings faith and life where there was sin and death; that is, to our sinful, dead hearts (4:6)!
It is the preaching of Christ, and that alone, that brings salvation.
Since the power is in the Word and not in the person of the preacher, Paul says we see ourselves as humble jars of clay carrying an eternal treasure (4:7). Paul shows how his experience as an apostle is one that has received this miraculous salvation from God’s Word (4:5-6) and is now being conformed to the image of Christ as he suffers to preach wherever he goes (4:7-9). Out of the suffering persecution, confusion, and hardship Paul and his companions endure, Christ’s Word is being proclaimed and sinners are being forgiven (4:10-12). Light is coming forth in the darkness. But, Paul, though his life, reflects the message. He is not the message. He is simply one who suffers for it so you who believe will not believe because of who Paul is, but because of the Jesus he preaches.
PROCLAMATION
When proclaiming this text, we find great encouragement for our congregations. Too many churches are experiencing decline. We have all heard the litany of trials the Church is undergoing. The great dechurching, shrinking numbers, wokeism, nationalism, this -ism, that -ism, -ism, -ism, -ism (John Lennon). The Church looks weaker and more foolish by the world’s standards. She is uncomfortable with this and so, though the Church faces attacks from without, she is always tempted to look more worldly. Mark Seifrid says, “Like much of contemporary Christianity, the Corinthians had long been enamored of gifted leaders, just as they had idolized God’s gifts.”[2] Suffering and struggles from without, temptations within, the Church is “afflicted... perplexed... persecuted... struck down” (4:8-9).
Yet, like Paul, in this way the Church is “always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies” (4:10). Paul is speaking of his own experience, but all who are baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death (Romans 6:3). What is more, just as Paul’s suffering brought the Gospel of life through the experience of death and trial, the Church’s suffering will bring with it a stronger faith in Christ and a bolder proclamation to a world in need of the life Christ alone can give.
STRUCTURE
As this text lays out Paul’s ministry in the form of a paradox, the Paradox Maintained Structure stands out as an obvious sermon structure. How can the Church talk about a suffering Savior, victory in a crucified Lord, power in weakness, treasures in clay jars? It may prove helpful to find a portion of Paul’s ministry in the book of Acts and demonstrate the reality of what he describes here.
For example, his imprisonment in Philippi led to the conversion of a jailer and the establishment of a church (Acts 16:16-40). There, death was at work in him, but life in the jailer (4:12). Perhaps, look for other stories of members within your congregation or from the history of the Church where the saints, by worldly standards, were weak and defeated, but where Christ worked life and salvation.
The key here is for you to help your congregation view their trials as Paul views his ministry: Christologically. Paul’s situation is one that, from a worldly perspective, looks hopeless. But, as Seifrid points out, “The essence of apostolic ministry is speaking in faith, doing so out of situations that contain no earthly hope.”[3] The cross itself is hopeless by worldly standards. Yet, it is the entire hope of the Christian in the face of death and God’s judgment. Christ promises His apostles, and His whole Church, “In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).
Thus, the paradox you preach is one of suffering and death which brings forth faith and life. God’s Word brings light out of darkness. The preaching of Christ’s crucifixion for sinners brings life where there was death. In our churches, which look smaller and weaker by worldly standards, we still proclaim the words of eternal life and receive the crucified and risen body and blood of our Savior. What Seifrid says of Paul is also true for our churches, “The coincidence of opposites present in the crucified and risen Christ has been communicated to the apostle.”[4] The cup of the carpenter contains eternal life. The Church suffers as it receives the victory of Christ. So now, through the suffering of the Church, Christ will miraculously bring forth faith, hope, and love to a world addicted to success, wealth, and power.
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Additional Resources:
Concordia Theology-Various helps from Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, MO to assist you preaching 2 Corinthians 4:5-12.
Text Week-A treasury of resources from various traditions to help you preach 2 Corinthians 4:5-12.
Lectionary Kick-Start-Check out this fantastic podcast from Craft of Preaching authors Peter Nafzger and David Schmitt as they dig into the texts for this Sunday!
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[1] https://bookofconcord.org/other-resources/sources-and-context/heidelberg-disputation/#4
[2] Mark A. Seifrid. The Second Letter to the Corinthians (The Pillar New Testament Commentary Series). Eerdmans: Grand Rapids. 198.
[3] Seifrid. 205.
[4] Seifrid. 205.
