Broken Vessels

"For God, who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness'

made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of knowledge

of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

But we have this treasure in jars of clay..."

(2Cor.4)

There once was a rabbi who had two large clay pots, each hung on the ends of a pole which he carried across his neck down to the stream every day to get water.  One of the pots had a crack in it while the other pot was perfect.  At the end of his long trek from the stream to his house, the perfect pot was full while the cracked pot only arrived half-full.  This went on each day for two years.  The perfect pot was proud of its accomplishment, always being full; but the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its imperfection and miserable that it could only do half of what it had been made to do.  After two years of bitter failure it spoke to the rabbi at the stream.  "I am ashamed of myself because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your house."  The old rabbi smiled, "Did you notice that there are flowers on your side of the path but not on the other pot's side?  That is because I have always known about your flaw, so I planted flower seeds on your side of the path.  Each day we walk back from the stream, you water them.  For two years now I have been enjoying their beauty on my walk.  Without you they would not be there for everyone who passes by to see their glory."

In Old Testament times, a clay vessel became impure if something unholy or impure touched it.  The only way it could be made pure was to break it; then it could be glued back together for service.   Of course the cracks and chips would most certainly still show, especially when held up to the light.

Paul writes in Corinthians that we have Jesus the Light of the World,  in jars of clay (our temporary, earthly bodies).  We have this treasure, this Light, in jars that are broken, chipped, cracked by the hurts and concerns, the failures and disappointments of our lives.  And we wonder sometimes if God can use us with all our flaws.  And yet this is where He - the Creator of the Universe - has decided to dwell.  In us, cracks and all. 

Don't you know that a light shines more brightly through a broken vessel than a whole one?