Cracked Pots

Scripture Reading: 2 Corinthians 4:7-12

There is an old folk story about a man who carried water every day from a well to his house. He carried this water in two large vessels hanging from the ends of a wooden pole that he placed across his shoulders and steadied with his hands. Every day, when he arrived home from his trip to the well, one of the water pots would be only half full because it had a small crack in it and water slowly dripped out as he made his way from the well to his home.

This continued for many months and his son began to notice that his father was only arriving home with half of the water he gathered in one of his vessels. Thinking his father either wasn’t aware of the problem or didn’t know why he was losing half of the water from one of the water pots, the son finally said, “Father, don’t you realize that there is a crack in that pot and you are losing water on your way home?”

The father smiled and said, “Come with me. I want to show you something.”

He took his son by the hand and led him down the path toward the well. “Do you notice anything unusual, son?” The father asked.

The boy looked around as they walked and then it dawned on him that on one side of the path, beautiful flowers were growing, and the other side was barren and brown.

The father stopped walking and looking at his son, told him, “Son, I’ve known all along about the flaw in my water pot. I knew water was leaking from it as I carried it down the path every day. I also know that the flaw in that vessel is the very thing that could be used to water the ground and allow these flowers to grow.”

Paul, describing the Christian life, called us clay pots. Pots whose purpose isn’t to look good, or be ornate decorations on a mantle, but to carry gospel treasure. We are afflicted, perplexed, persecuted, struck down pots that always carry the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus might be manifested in us. We are cracked pots, leaking the water of life as we are carried by our Master through this world on our journey home. Our Father knows about our cracks and knows how to use them to sprout beauty in this barren world.