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 RESHAPING A NOT-QUITE-RIGHT PEOPLE - Down at the pottery shop,
Jeremiah observes that a potter can take a pot before it is glazed and fired, and reshape
and redo it if it is spoiled or blemished. Behind the object lesson is the truth:
God’s relationship to Israel is like that of the potter to the clay. God can take a
blemished, not-quite-right people and reshape them according to the designs of the
Sovereignty. This is especially refreshing since the point is missed that there is not
just the possibility of destroying, but of remolding and reusing people.
NARRATIVE ACCOUNT - Jeremiah knew all about spoiled vessels-men and women with
impurities and blemishes that resist the shaping hand of the creator. He rubbed shoulders
daily with people who were not useful: imperfections made their lives leak, holding
neither wine nor water; a failure of proportion made their lives wobble or tip, unstable
and undependable . . . But what would the potter do now? Kick the wheel and go off in a
sulk? "He reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to
do." God kneads and presses pushes and pulls. The creative work begins over again,
patiently, skillfully. God doesn’t give up. God doesn’t throw away what is
spoiled. [1]
SOVEREINGTY AND FREEDOM- The story of the potter and the clay open the discussion
table to divine sovereignty and human freedom. The passage asserts both possibilities. God
controls the history of nations and people, yet in a way that is not from the cookie
cutter-not from an inflexible plan from the beginning. As the NIB suggests, "The
sovereignty of God takes account of the human way . . . in the image of the potter
remolding the clay and in the Lord’s speaking about a change of mind dependent upon
what is happening on earth." [2]
 What pot best describes you: Kettle? Crack pot? Frying pan? Cast-iron? Flower
pot? Fine china? Other?
How has God reshaped your life in your journey of discipleship?
 You might want to pick up a copy of Eugene Peterson’s book from the library;
there is a great chapter on this text that certainly speaks hope and new possibilities to
people.
Clay pots may not be able to change their shape, but God invites people to change their
ways, to repent of their sins and to live in obedience to God’s reign and rule.
If you want to provide hope through this passage you may want to hold up God’s
gracious invitation to allow God to change us, reshape us through his transformative
power.
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[1] The New Interpreter’s Bible VI (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2001), page
714.
[2] Eugene Peterson, Run with the Horses (InterVarsity Press, 1983), pp. 78-79.
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