“Where you folks from?” he asked in a friendly voice. “Oklahoma,” Craddock answered. “Splendid state, I hear, although I’ve never been there,” the stranger said. “What do you do for a living?” “I teach homiletics at the graduate seminary of Phillips University,” Craddock replied. “Oh, so you teach preachers how to preach, don’t you? Well, I’ve got a story to tell you.” And with that, the gentleman pulled up a chair, and sat down at the table with Craddock and his wife.
Dr. Craddock said he groaned inwardly and thought to himself, “Oh, no! Here comes another preacher story! It seems like everybody has at least one.”
The man stuck out his hand. “I’m Ben Hooper,” he said. “I was born not far from here across the mountains. My mother was not married when I was born so I had a pretty hard time. When I started school, my classmates had a name for me, and it wasn’t a very nice name. I used to go off by myself at recess, and lunch time because the things they said to me cut me so deep. What was worse was going to town on Saturday afternoons, and feeling like every eye was burning a hole through me, wondering just who my father was.
“When I was about 12 years old, a new preacher came to our church. I would always go in late and slip out early. But one day, the preacher said the benediction so fast I got caught, and had to walk out with the crowd. I could feel every eye in the church on me. Just about the time I got to the door, I felt a big hand on my shoulder. I looked up and the preacher was looking right at me. ‘Who are you, son? Whose boy are you?’ he asked. I felt this big weight coming down on me. It was like a big black cloud. Even the preacher was putting me down. But as he looked down at me, studying my face, he began to smile a big smile of recognition. ‘Wait a minute!’ he said. ‘I know who you are. I see the family resemblance now. You are a child of God.’ With that he slapped me across the rump and said, ‘Boy, you’ve got a great inheritance. Go and claim it.’”
The old man looked across the table at Fred Craddock and said, “Those were the most important words anybody ever said to me, and I’ve never forgotten them.” With that, he smiled shook hands with Craddock and his wife, and moved on to another table to greet old friends.
And as he walked away, Craddock, a native Tennesseean himself, remembered from his studies of Tennessee history that Ben Hooper was once a governor of the state of Tennessee.
It is good to know that Ben Hooper, a child who was born out of wedlock or was an illegitimate child, who had been teased by other children and had been very conscious of it that he felt everyone was looking at him, became a governor later. It must have been hard for him to overcome all these things.
However, for me, what is important are the words of the pastor to Ben Hooper: “You are a child of God. You’ve got a great inheritance. Go and claim it.” These words made Ben Hooper feel special.
In the scripture lesson, St. Paul wrote: “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.”(vs. 6) And then he continued, “But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.”(vs. 7) In some translations, it says, “We have this treasure in earthen vessels.”
St. Paul is telling his readers that it is only through a personal encounter with God can one find what people have been looking for through the ages. And once one has it, it becomes a priceless treasure that nobody would like to part with it.
One commentary said that in this passage, “Paul is recalling his conversion experience. Before that, he felt he found the treasure which he was looking for. He thought he could find it by acquiring knowledge, power, and prestige. And so he studied under a great teacher, Gamaliel, and trained to learn all that was to be learned. He was a good student that he became one of the leaders of the Jews. He had the power, prestige, and the money–he had almost everything. But still, there was something missing in his life. He thought that by going after the followers of Christ, he could find what he was looking for. And in a way, he did, because on the road to Damascus, he had a personal encounter with God which changed his life entirely. From one who had power, prestige, and money, he became a servant of Christ. From one who persecuted Christians, he became the persecuted. As what the Interpreter’s Bible Commentary says, “It is a vivid picture of the difference Christ makes. Christ had looked upon Paul’s soul…and awakened him to his true life of sonship.”
And then St. Paul continued on to say that once you experience this kind of life, you have to share it with others to make it truly effective.
Even though we are just earthen vessels, or as Moffatt translates it, “a frail vessel of earth,” we are to share what we had experienced with God.
In spite of our weaknesses, we are asked by God to share the treasure that we got. God has called each one of us to an important role in the building of God’s reign in this world.
In the younger days of railroading, every main railroad crossing had its crossing guard who was to signal with a lantern that a train was coming. One night, a crossing guard fell asleep in his shack, but woke up and ran out with his lantern seconds before the train came. There was a terrible accident. At the investigation, he was asked, “Were you present at your job?” “Did you have a lantern?” He answered “yes” both questions. Later, the crossing guard was exonerated of any blame. He later said, “No one asked me whether or not the lantern was lit.”
Well, people will know whether your lantern is lit. “Let your light so shine before others that they may see God through you.” We are earthen vessels used by God to share the treasure which God has given us in Christ Jesus.
Lastly, in Steven Spielberg’s movie Saving Private Ryan, a squadron of young soldiers is sent on a mission to find one soldier behind enemy lines and bring him home. Most of the young men in the squadron, including the Captain, die in the rescue attempt. As he lay dying, the Captain’s last words to Private Ryan are, “Earn this.”
In other words, many died to bring him safely home. And therefore, he must live up to it.
Many years later, Private Ryan, now an old man, visits the grave of his Captain. As he kneels at the grave, he says, “Not a day goes by I don’t think about what happened . . . And I just want you to know . . . I’ve tried. Tried to live my life the best I could. I hope that’s enough. I didn’t invent anything. I didn’t cure any diseases. I worked a farm. I raised a family. I lived a life. I only hope, in your eyes at least, I earned what you did for me.”
Because of what Christ has done in our behalf, we live our lives responsibly, sometimes heroically, sometimes ordinarily, but we do it in an attempt to prove worthy of the investment Christ has made in us.
