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Scripture Text (NRSV)

 

Jeremiah 18:1-11

 

18:1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD:

18:2 "Come, go down to the potter's house, and there I will let you hear my words."

18:3 So I went down to the potter's house, and there he was working at his wheel.

18:4 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.

18:5 Then the word of the LORD came to me:

18:6 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.

18:7 At one moment I may declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it,

18:8 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.

18:9 And at another moment I may declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it,

18:10 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.

18:11 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.

 

Comments:

 

God teaches Jeremiah a lesson at a potter's shop. Just as a potter is able to destroy an unacceptable vessel, starting over to refashion it into one of value, so God molds and fashions nations, including Israel.


What has happened to our ability to see, to pay attention, to contemplate what is before our eyes. This is what Jeremiah did, as he observed the potter he thought about YHWH's relationship with his people. Prophecy is grounded in the here and now. What should we be paying attention to?

tom in ga


We had a HUGE debate about whether God changes God's mind in a Bible study... our predestinarian friend couldn't get her mind around it and could only conclude that God would change God's mind only if it would fit into God's "plan."

Sally in GA


Note: "Isa 64:7 There is no one who calls on your name, or attempts to take hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us, and have delivered us into the hand of our iniquity. 8 Yet, O LORD, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand. 9 Do not be exceedingly angry, O LORD, and do not remember iniquity forever. Now consider, we are all your people." The theme of remaking the faithful... the covenant people... is a popular one for the prophets. The image of the potter and the clay is used at lerast twice! I always admire someone who is able to take the pieces...the left overs and make something new and useful and wonderful out of them!

How wonderful to hear this after last weeks message from Jeremiah that the people have abandoned God. Our God wants to take us and remold us. WOW!

I am anticipating in every moment what God might make of us from the pieces that are in us. Have thine own way dear Lord! Terry in Ohio


I can just see Jeremiah going down to the potter's and watching him work. Jeremiah must have wondered what YHWH had in mind as he stood there admiring the artistry of the potter. Seeing the vessal turning and then horrified as the flaw from the inside come outside. Clearly, the lesson is hard for Jeremiah to see. I will start over and remove the flaws.Judgement and grace. Padresac


tom in ga--

i like your connection between jeremiah's being directed to go and see something happening in order to hear the word, and our needing to pay attention to something in order to do the same. all kinds of examples come to mind of vessels that are spoiled or not doing what they're supposed to be doing--i guess i think especially of the ones that are supposed to take care of and stick up for children, whether families or governments, etc.

i took a pottery class in college, and while i didn't get all that good at it, it was an experience i continue to draw upon, 20 years later. in order to make a clean balanced pot, you've got to exert serious, steady pressure from opposing directions, and all the clay has to be pressed into a form that spins evenly around the center axis. clay that gets off center gets grabbed by centrifugal force and spins farther and farther out, until it flies off and across the room!

the best pieces that bore my name were the ones where the teacher had reached around me to straighten out some thick or lumpy part with her sure hands.

just ruminations--

laura in TX


The New Jerusalem Bible has, for verse 4, "But the vessel he was making came out wrong, as may happen with clay when a potter is at work. So he began again and shaped it into another vessel, as he thought fit." Of course, it's only Monday, and I'm still meditating on this passage; but, I'm preparing for a Communion Sunday. Perhaps this is a good image for the Lord's Supper -- even when the potter is working us, we may come out wrong. So, we submit ourselves to be reshaped. MTSOfan


I am struck by the way that unfired clay can still be remade. while once it is fired, there is nothing to do with a defective vessel but to break it. This passage may have in it an element of hope. Israel is still pliable, all is not lost.


I am using the passage, connecting with Labor day-work We will be wearing work clothes to church...I get to wear blue jeans to preach in...

I am going to visit my mom in WV this week, Jeff Diehl , potter that sells his wares at TAMARACK, near Beckley. Is near my mom, I think, I will visit his place, ask if he will throw a pot...watch like Jeremiah did, I might get brave enough to ask to let me try, my pot may look bad...but I think I will take it with me to use in sermon...I may go to the dollar tree here and get a pottery piece to break on the floor, wake em up huh? VISUALS teach...

The only thing the last verse here GOD fashioning evil? God cant be around sin-evil. this confuses me a little... I think it equates with judgement...

Clerically Blonde in West Ohio


Hi DPs! I read this site often, but rarely post. However -- as a pastor and a potter -- this is a text I especially look forward to wrestling with -- as does my congregation. We will move the pulpit and put my wheel in its place -- and I'll preach while throwing pots. (Too fun!) Anyway -- since a lot of you will be trying to draw parallels in this text -- I thought I'd offer help. If you have specific questions about the process -- feel free to email me and I'll try to help. Joy! - ks dancingfiddler@mac.com


Sermon title, "Have you been fired?" Refer to popularity of the "reality" show where Donald Trump weekly fires somebody and they are through, out of the running,off the show. Why do we enjoy seeing people "voted off the island?" Could you sell a show where folks fail, are encouraged and given another chance? God says the failed pot will get re-thrown. You can keep trying to work the clay as long as it is pliable. When it dries out, re-wet it. It is only lost after it has been "fired" in the heat of the kiln(oven). Do we "fire" people we know; assume they are set and can't change? Is it because in our minds we have already assigned them to the blazes of Hell? "Your fired! Get out of my sight." Why are WE so hard? Paul writes to Philemon to suggest a runaway slave has been re-worked into a useful servant of Christ (and Paul) and could be of service, if only Philemon will give him a second chance. "God never changes" it is said, but Jeremiah shows a God that continues to work in new ways with fallen humankind to get a good result. Are we willing to look anew at folks God hasn't given up on yet? Or, in our minds, have we "fired" God into a hardened inflexable rod to beat one another with? Maybe life has dried us up, but God will apply water and soften and rework us if we allow. Some early thoughts, tom in TN(USA)


Dancing Fiddler,

Do flaws in the pot always come from the inside?

PJ


PJ - Not at all. Flaws can come from anywhere! But -- if the pot is not 'centered' -- it will hugely affect the outcome...sometimes that is a creatively wonderful thing. However --air bubbles, dried clay, etc. can affect the structure as well -- but not always 'from the inside' ... It is more the preparation -- making sure the clay is properly prepared (i.e. wedged) and then centered. 'hope this helps. --Dancing Fiddler


Here's a lump in our clay: YHWH is "like a potter, shaping evil..." We tend to think of ourselves as clay in the hands of a benevolent potter, but that's not the imagery here, is it? This potter has bad intentions for this bad clay. -Dale in Chattanooga


Dale -- OR ... 'shaping evil' into what? ... that part is not clear...the text just throws out options but not definitive answers as I read it. I have worked with some really cruddy clay that needs to be broken down, reworked with other clay bodies, etc. to be of use. I've worked with other clay that seemed cruddy (i.e. "evil" - for metaphorical purposes) ... and found that in working it, shaping it, caring for it-- it wasn't so 'evil' after all ... but -- it required of the clay some openess to be re-formed. 'just some thoughts to widen the discussion... -- DF


Tom in TN,

Thank you so much for your words -- you've helped me to solidify where I think I'm being led with this sermon. There is so much to work with in the lectionary passages this week, so many overlaps, some places where they don't mesh at all. Ah, hard to get back into the groove again after vacation.

fc


Tom in TN,

ouch! But thanks. There are so many people that we can so easily discard in this life, when God always has the love and the endurance to reshape us.

I also think that this passage blends very nicely with the gospel lesson. Counting the cost, and alllowing ourselves to be reformed in the hands of God.I am so conscious of the difficulty of discipleship, and maybe we just toss things off too easily, before we truly submit ourselves to God. Susan in Wa.


Tom in TN, when I first saw your "Have you been fired?" I thought of a pot being "fired" with glaze to seal it and to make it new and shiny. (or is that ceramics.) Anyway it made me think about how God accepts our imperfections and helps us to use them and make them better in our lives just like we look at a piece of work and even though it may have imperfections, someone will love it and allow it to be used. It reminds me of the story that Joyce Meyer tells of the teacup starting out as clay and then becoming a cup and saucer that someone really wants. Just late musings since I am up this late/early in the a.m. in Texas. (2:48 a.m. that is.)

TA in TX


Jeremiah... v. 18:4 says, "The vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the "potter's hand", and the potter reworked it into another vessel, as seemed good to him."

It's interesting to me (and our study group) that the potter spoiled the "clay" and that the "potter" worked it into another vessel. GOD DID NOT THROW IT AWAY, GOD DOES NOT FORECLOSE... THERE IS ALWAYS HOPE! I like that!

pulpitt in ND


MTSOfan: I too am seeing tie-ins w/ communion. I think of how the grape and wheat are reformed for God's communication with us. How do we respond? ... in tight bundles of self-defined ideology, or are we open, moldable, willing to be re-formed, re-newed, red-deemed? Jesus himself said "This is my body, BROKEN for you." Blessings Rev.Pam


I am reminded that Jeremiah is talking to the PEOPLE... not to individuals. How does that tie in to how Christendom is living our call right now? US Christianity? Where are our flaws? Certainly the politicizing of Christianity during this election has some grist for the mill. Blessings, RevPam