Last Saturday was commissioning day, where we at Wycliffe gather together as a community to pray for our leaving students and worship all together for one last time. This year, our very own chaplain Revd Will Donaldson preached on 2 Corinthians 4:7 about the reality of ministry and the vocation of all those in ministry. After over a decade in ministry, I have to say it was really encouraging and re-envisioning for me and a reminder of why any of us do what we do. So I would like to thank Will for sharing the text with me so I can share it with you.
Commissioning Day Sermon (and first guest post)
June 18, 2025
Treasures in Jars of Clay
by Revd Will Donaldson
Good morning everyone and thank you so much, Michael, for asking me to preach on this wonderful occasion. It’s a real honour and privilege to do so! Some of you know that I was a tutor here for 6 years from 2007: it’s a joy to be back in my retirement on the chaplaincy team, alongside Jane and Bruce.
What will be your abiding memory of Wycliffe Hall?
- It might be lectures, whether at Wycliffe or in the Faculty, when your eyes were opened and your mind stretched to explore the heights and depths of academic theology
- It might be the Focus mornings or the Study Weeks, with their leaning towards practical preparation for ministry, underpinned by parish placements and missions
- It might be worship in chapel, when you experienced the presence of Christ in the singing, the preaching, the liturgy and the celebration of communion.
- It might be your fellowship group, where you got to know a group of fellow students really well and journeyed with them through the training process, and they were there for you when you needed support
- It might be the enjoyment of belonging to the wider community –
- the chats over coffee in the Common room, or the discussions over lunch,
- or the theological boxing matches in Fight Club (where no punches were pulled!),
- or the more refined formal occasions like Matriculation and formal halls,
- or our community notices on Tuesdays with the drum rolls and the gold awards and – not to forget - the Principal’s jokes (all under the pretext of needing to link things up!),
- or maybe your abiding memory will be the Hall Photo last month that ploughed on despite thunder, lightning and torrential rain! How hilarious was that! And you could spot the people whom Jesus would have called ‘oh ye of little faith’ – they had brought their umbrellas!
There’s one other memory that I hope you will take with you into your future ministries: it’s our text for this morning: 2 Cor. 4.7. - ‘But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us’.
Let me explain why I would love you to embed this in your heart as we send you out…
1. We have been entrusted with Treasure
On 4 November 1922 a door was opened into an Egyptian Tomb in the Valley of the Kings which contained one of the most opulent collection of treasures ever discovered. The tomb of Tutankhamun was opened by the Egyptologist Howard Carter, and he was thrilled to find that the grave-robbers had not got there first and so it was largely intact. As Carter entered the tomb with a lit candle he was asked ‘Can you see anything?’ Carter replied "Yes, wonderful things." He was not exaggerating!
- A stunning Golden Death Mask.
- A Solid Gold multi-layered Coffin,
- Several gilded chariots
- A magnificent Throne adorned with scenes of royal life
- A vast collection of personal items, including elaborate jewellery, clothing, and toiletries,
And so the list goes on, all of this show-casing the wealth and power of ancient Egyptian pharaohs and it still remains the most famous find in the Valley of the Kings.
All of it was brought over to the UK in 1972 and was on display in the British Museum - I queued for a day and a half to get in: and it was the most incredible display of treasures I have ever seen.
But even the treasures of Tutankhamun cannot compare with the treasure that we have been entrusted with in Jesus Christ. He is the Pearl of Great Price, he is the Treasure hidden in the field, he is the beautiful saviour, who shed his precious blood for us, he is the King eternal, crowned with glory and honour, he is the image of the invisible God, and in him, all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.
Paul is explaining all this to the Corinthians in the previous verses of Chap.4, and now he says: we have this priceless treasure, he’s ours to welcome and enjoy every day, bringing the light and warmth of his presence into our lives; and as Christian ministers we are entrusted with this treasure to share with others, through what we preach, how we serve and the way we live. And since we have this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart (v.1). So try and remember that: we have been entrusted with priceless treasure.
2. We carry this treasure in jars of clay
What artefacts from the ancient world Paul is thinking of here?
Some commentators suggest the small pottery lamps that could be bought in the shops at Corinth, cheap and fragile. (This would connect with the Christian ministers being carriers of light into the dark places in v.6). Others think the analogy is drawn from the Roman triumphal processions when the treasures and spoils of war were carried in unimpressive earthen containers. For e.g., following the Macedonian victory in 167BC, 3,000 Roman soldiers followed the chariots, carrying silver coins in 750 pottery vessels. (And we know that Paul is fond of using similes from the Roman processions from 2 Cor.2.14 and elsewhere). And others just highlight the fragility of ordinary pottery vessels in Near Eastern cultures that were used every day for domestic purposes: storing, carrying, cooking, eating, and drinking. They were only expected to last a few years, at the most.
Whatever Paul exactly had in mind, what is common to all of them if the idea of fragility, vulnerability and apparent weakness. This is the Christian minister: no big shakes; no big standing or reputation; always a weak and fallen human being who get ill, become stressed, experience exhaustion, has relational fall-outs and periods of low self-esteem and self-worth. A jar of clay.
Paul is deliberately contrasting himself (and his fellow ministers) with the trumped-up claims of the Corinthian super apostles, who were consumed by their own self-importance. We are the opposite of that, says Paul: jars of clay, fragile, unimportant and disposable.
In Genesis 1 we were formed from the dust of the ground, and to the ground we shall return one day (earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust). And Jeremiah 18 reminds us that God is the master potter and we are the clay – He is lovingly moulding and shaping us into his people, so that we become formed into his likeness. We carry priceless treasure, but always in jars of clay.
Over 40 years in ministry, God has constantly reminded me of this:
- sometimes it has been when feeling right out of my depth in challenging ministry situations;
- sometimes it has been through my mistakes and pig-headedness;
- sometimes it has been through anxieties and stresses over family matters;
- sometimes it has been strained relationships with colleagues and staff;
- sometimes it has been over disappointments and crushed dreams;
- sometimes it has been financial worries;
- sometimes it has been times of poor health or unexpected accidents (some of you know that I fell off a ladder last summer and completely smashed my hip, needing a full hip replacement…interestingly my new hip joint was a ceramic hip, formed from clay!).
But in each of these times, as we have fallen on our knees and said ‘God where are you? We’re really struggling! We need you so much – we can’t do this without you! And God has said to us: ‘Remember you carry this treasure in jars of clay. My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in your weakness’ (2 Cor 12.9).
There was a striking testimony of this last Sunday morning on BBC 1 - it was ‘a Celebration of Pentecost’ from Gas Street in Birmingham, a packed multi-cultural congregation of people, mainly under thirty years of age. And during his talk, the minister, Tim Hughes, shared the story of how it all began, 10 years ago:
"I remember the first day we ever gathered in this building to pray – there were nine of us. Gathered in this derelict building, we needed to raise a huge amount of money – millions of pounds to renovate it. I remember looking at this group of nine, and then looking at the enormity of this building and thinking ‘we’re doomed!’ How’s this going to work? I was so aware of my limitations - Rachel and I had never led a church before. How could God do something beautiful and extraordinary? But in that moment of desperation, we began to pray: ‘Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on us’…and what we have seen is that, as we opened the door, people began to come. As we prayed, people began to give generously. They started to bring their friends and we began to see amazing stories of transformation…many hundreds now whose lives have been changed as they have met with Jesus Christ in this place…God has proved himself faithful, time and time again."
Let’s notice the striking paradox of all this:
Priceless treasure in clay pots!
Eternal glories in frail human beings!
The revelation of Christ to the world through fallen people like you and me
Why has God planned it this way? That now becomes clear in the last part of the verse…
3. Treasure in jars of clay, that God might receive the glory
It’s so that the world can see that ‘all-surpassing power is from God and not from us’. Ahh! Now we see the divine purpose in giving this ministry to weak, frail human beings like us.
Ministry is not about boosting our own little egos, about establishing our reputation, about making a name for ourselves, about building our own little empire, about being known as a great preacher or a dynamic leader or a renowned pastor or a powerful evangelist. Those ambitions are all out of place in Christian ministry for the simple reason that it means we get the glory instead of God.
No, the primary purpose of Christian ministry is the glory of God: that people see our good works and give glory to our Father in heaven. We went back recently to Canterbury where I had been at school, and we visited the magnificent medieval cathedral which is not only the focal point of the Worldwide Anglican Communion, but is also now a Unesco World heritage site, visited by hundreds of thousands of tourists and pilgrims every year. We also went after dark and it was beautifully illuminated by flood lights hidden all around the precincts.
Now, it occurred to me that nobody goes to Canterbury to look at the floodlights: sure, they have a very important role and they do a great job, but they are there to point away from themselves to illuminate the beauty of the Cathedral in all its glory.
And ours is a floodlight ministry: hidden away, hardly noticed, certainly not the focus of attention, but doing a vital role of illuminating the glories of our Saviour, and showing that the power and the glory belongs to him, not to us.
Charles Wesley expressed it so well in his wonderful hymn:
O for a thousand tongues to sing
my great Redeemer's praise,
the glories of my God and King,
the triumphs of his grace!
My gracious Master and my God,
assist me to proclaim,
to spread thro' all the earth abroad
the honours of your name.
We have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.
Amen
******
Cover photo by Iraj Beheshti on Unsplash
Egyptian treasures: photo by Mary Harrsch on Flickr
****** “A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away.” I’m not sure if it’s true, but George Lucas, the creator of Star Wars, is credited as popularizing a big change in film production: not having opening credits. Instead of old Westerns and black and white films that began by naming the director, producer, key stars and so on, Lucas began the Star Wars films with the very famous line: “ A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away .” And then came the opening “crawl” that sets up the viewer for the story to come: "It is a period of civil war. Rebel spaceships, striking from a hidden base, have won their first victory against the evil Galactic Empire..." And so it sets up the story of Luke, Leia and Han Solo. Well, I want to suggest this morning that here in Acts 1 we have the opening words and “crawl” to the Book as a whole. And what sets the scene? Jesus’ ascension. *** In Acts 1, Luke recaps from where his gospel left off in Luke 24, with similar talk of the spread of gospel to the ends of the earth, that his disciples will be his witnesses, and his instruction to wait for the promise of God to come that is His Spirit, as well as, of course, Jesus’ ascent into heaven. But the Acts version has a specific focus: repeatedly mention the watching and looking of the disciples, the taking and lifting up of Jesus and the repeated mention of his destination: heaven. So why this attention in Acts' “opening crawl”? How does this set the scene for the story of the church that is told in Acts and continues today? Well, in contrast to the first victory in the opening of Star Wars, perhaps preparing for more victories to come, the Ascension grounds us in the defining, cosmic-shaping victory of Jesus that began with his resurrection and conlcudes with his exaltation in the spiritual world. Echoing Daniel 7, Jesus is taken up on a cloud, the chariot of the warrior-God, and is now enthroned to rule in heaven. The work of the church is done in light of this all-encompassing victory that has already been won. Christ is already King. But it’s not only that. Often we talk about Jesus’ ascension from a human perspective: his physical departure from earth. Here the disciples see for themselves Jesus’ exaltation and the opening of heaven: they are gripped by it. Through Christ’s entrance into and rule in heaven, he is made more readily available to us on earth. T he work of the church is done by living in a new space that recognises this opening of heaven: consider God’s promised Holy Spirit who comes in Acts 2, how angels appear here and throughout Acts, as well as people being healed, delivered from evil spirits, miracles taking place and people coming to faith . The spiritual realm is breaking in. So, this Thursday of 5th week, with deadlines, looming exams and soon-to-come ordinations: where will we look? Will we stare upwards and wonder where Jesus went? Or will we look outwards, and live in the light of the one who rules the heavens and has opened heaven to us, and for whom we wait to rule the earth as well? ******
*** True Colours I was in a situation a few years ago where someone I trusted and expected to act in a certain way didn’t do so. In fact, they did they did the opposite. It hurt. It hurt because there were consequences that affected me, but it also hurt because I thought I knew the person, that I knew how’d they’d respond to pressure. When the rubber hits the road and things get real. Instead, their true colours emerged, and I was wrong. Who I thought this person was, and who they told me they were, was in reality quite different from who they actually proved themselves to be . The specifics aren’t for posting online, but I’m sure you can relate. Most of us can recall some kind of experience of someone we love, someone whose character we trust, letting us down. Someone who you might have believed in—maybe even defended to other people—choosing to do something that shows they weren’t worthy of that trust. Showing that your assessment of them was, essentially, quite different from the reality of who they are. They lacked integrity. Esther’s Example This term at Wycliffe, my colleague John is teaching his way through the book of Esther for the Bible expositions in chapel. Now the book of Esther famously doesn’t even mention God: so what is its purpose? Well, in part (as my colleague has been discussing), it’s a book about wisdom. Will we learn from the wise in the story: Esther (and Mordecai)? Will learn from the foolish: King Ahasuerus? The wicked: Haman? At the start of the book, Esther is a young, timid woman, who’d been through a lot. She was orphan and had been raised by her uncle. But she shows willingness and some social savviness and does what Mordecai tells her to do. By the end of the book she’s bold and courageous. Yes, she knows how to play the political game, but she does so in order to stand up for her people who are being persecuted by Persian imperial policy. She exposes Haman’s duplicitousness. Esther has a remarkable integrity and commitment to who she is and what she values. She is willing to risk her life to stand up for what is right, even knowing the cost. She has integrity. Her insides match her outsides as her character develops through the book. When We Fail Stephen and I go to a large Anglican church in the centre of Oxford. A couple of weeks ago, we had a visiting preacher (who is also a poet and philosopher) preaching about baptism. In the course of his sermon, he reminded us that who we really are is who we are when no-one is watching. And that Jesus died for us, knowing exactly what we do when the curtains are closed and no-one can see us. Again, it speaks to integrity—and that Jesus has come to deal with it. If everyone else thinks I’m a model Christian, but at home, by myself, I’m angry, compulsive, critical, selfish or greedy, the latter is a far more honest assessment of who I am and needs some spiritual help. It exposes a lack of integrity: I have an exterior self who looks one way, but an interior self (that I hide away) that looks quite another. What will happen when the pressure is on? That interior self will come out, one way or another. The good news is Jesus went to the Cross, even for that interior self. And with his help I can be forgiven, heal and become whole. That’s in part what baptism symbolises: me dying to all that ugliness and ungodliness. Naming it, owing it and leaving it with Jesus at the Cross, and then rising to a new life that where my insides match my outsides. A person of integrity. Learn from the Wise: Daniel 11-12 But what of the original situation: when others we trusted in and believed in have let us down? I’ve been teaching my way through the book of Daniel and its been fascinating to muse on this topic. Daniel 7-12 describe a series of visionary experiences that give God’s perspective on the political problems and extreme religious oppression that led to the Maccabean revolt in the 160s BC. These were largely due to the decisions of the Antiochus IV who was on the throne of the Hellenistic empire, a Greek of Seleucid descent. You can read about Antiochus IV in 1 and 2 Maccabees, but the snapshot version is that he installed puppet high priests in the Temple at Jerusalem, looted it for money to fuel his military campaigns, outlawed the Torah (including Sabbath observance and circumcision) and, most egregiously, desecrated the Temple with pig sacrifices and an altar to Zeus. These orders resulted in many faithful Jews having to try and keep Torah secretly. When discovered, those who had done so were public shamed and then executed (e.g. 2 Macc 6:10). It was miserable existence (2 Macc 6:9). Antiochus IV’s diabolical political rule was one thing, but the book of Daniel also wrestles with this: what do we do when our religious leaders let us down? When their outsides don’t match their insides? When we discover they are white-washed tombs (Matt 23:27)? The high priest and many other religious establishment figures were swayed by Antiochus IV at the expense of their loyalty to the Lord Most High. Daniel 11 and 12 in particular speak to this situation. Daniel 11:32 says that Antiochus will “seduce with intrigue those who violate the covenant” in contrast to “the people who are loyal to their God.” A few verses later we learn why: “Those who acknowledge him [Antiochus] he shall make more wealthy, and shall appoint them as rulers over many, and shall distribute the land for a price” (v.39). Antiochus used his power and means to get what he wanted, and those who showed more fidelity to him than to the God of Israel, got to share in that wealth themselves. So, what is Daniel’s answer to when the stewards of God’s covenant and teachers of God’s law reveal their true colours? When their words and who they’ve said they are don’t match up with who they have shown themselves to be? When those around us lack integrity, what are we to do? Well, it’s not to keep hanging on and believing in religious leaders who have proven themselves to be corrupted by political power (they are destined for shame and contempt, Dan 12:2). Daniel’s suggestion is to fix our eyes elsewhere instead: “ The wise among the people shall give understanding to many; for some days, however, they shall fall by sword and flame, and suffer captivity and plunder. ” (Daniel 11:33) Look to the wise. Look to those with understanding. Come to understand for yourselves. But this is not an easy answer. For these are the folk that get into trouble. Who perish by the sword. They don’t look like winners. This is perhaps why Daniel’s own response to the visions is one of weakness, fear and trembling. To understand and see reality for what it is can be deeply disturbing. In Daniel, understanding revolves around knowing God is God of all and all kings should have limits to their power. Even when kings like Antiochus IV trample on what is sacred, and transgress into the holy of holies—divine space—God through his angels is contending with powers beyond human ones and will bring all to judgement. But the waiting in the meantime will not be easy or pain-free. That’s why the promise of resurrection is so important in Daniel 12: it’s reassurance for the faithful—for the wise—to keep going. It is they who will be raised and will be like angels: "Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever." (Dan. 12:3) When those we’ve trusted and believed in fail us, God is at work. There may not be easy answers, and sitting with the reality of betrayal is painful, but God is not done yet. Sometimes what is happening is part of a much bigger, cosmic picture and God will intervene. Others’ words and actions may not line up, but ours can. Our insides can match our outsides and our words match our actions. With God’s help we too can become “ people who are loyal to their God ,” those who “ shall stand firm and take action. ” (Dan. 11:32) ****** Cover picture: John Everett Millais, Esther, 1863–65, Oil on canvas, 77.4 x 106 cm, Private Collection
