The Potter’s House
Jeremiah 18:1-12
18 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 ‘Come, go down to the potter’s house, and there I will let you hear my words.’ 3 So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was working at his wheel. 4 The vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as seemed good to him.
5 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 6 Can I not do with you, O house of Israel, just as this potter has done? says the Lord. Just like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. 7 At one moment I may declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, 8 but if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will change my mind about the disaster that I intended to bring on it. 9 And at another moment I may declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it, 10 but if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will change my mind about the good that I had intended to do to it. 11 Now, therefore, say to the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: Thus says the Lord: Look, I am a potter shaping evil against you and devising a plan against you. Turn now, all of you from your evil way, and amend your ways and your doings.
This is a famous passage in Jeremiah. (A link not to be missed: back on Aug. 7 when we started reading texts from Jeremiah – we heard God call Jeremiah to “pluck up and break down”, also to “build and to plant” (Jer 1:10). Those same phrases appear in vs. 8 and 9 of today’s text.)
The image is of a potter spinning clay on the wheel. Unexpectedly, the potter does not have absolute control over the clay. The clay does not become what the potter first imagined. Vs. 4 suggests that the clay has some control over what it will become. The vessel is marred by something in the clay and so the potter turns into something else.
The metaphor is that the peoples of the world are being shaped by God the potter. Sometimes the clay, the peoples, refuses to be shaped in the way that God desires. The people choose not to be what God shaped them to be. But there are consequences for that decision, for resisting God’s shaping and forming of the people.
God gives two examples – vs. 7,8 – the nation has done evil and God is shaping destruction against it, but if the people of the nation change doing what is good then God will not enact what he has shaped against the nation. Then in vs. 9,10 – the situation is flipped – God imagined doing good towards a people and nation – but then the people turned to do evil and God changes his mind about he good he intended to do.
Human beings have been given free-will, the ability to choose what they will do, but their choices are not free of consequences. Evil actions will eventually be punished and those who repent of their evil ways will find blessing in their lives.
God invites us to partner with him in the future he is shaping for us. If we are willing to let our lives be shaped into the pattern he desires, we will find ourselves blessed by God as he “builds and plants us”.
PRAYER:
God who invites us to be shaped into your image, we want to be your people, made into what you call us to be. Mold our wills so that they are in line with your will, and our hearts with your heart. Shape us so that can join you in what you want to do through us in the world. In Jesus’ name. Amen.