Reflection: "The Potter and the Clay"This week, we’re going on a bit of a history journey and then see where it leads us to in this day and age.
The prophet Jeremiah began his ministry in Jerusalem around 627 BC, under the Judean King Josiah, who was known as a Godly man. Josiah had already set about reforming the evils brought about by the earlier King Manasseh and he lived to witness the final years of Jerusalem, before it fell to the Babylonian Nebuchadnezzar, when it was sacked and burned in 597 BC. Jeremiah, as a priest and prophet, always claimed that God’s words were spoken though him (for those trivia buffs amongst you, the book of Jeremiah has the most words of any book in the Bible) and his voluminous writings indicate that the reforms by Josiah had not succeeded, because Jeremiah‘s preaching continually calls the people back to faithful worship of God. His prophesies tell of the impending fall of Jerusalem with all its horrific implications - but the people refused to believe him, because they thought that Jerusalem would always be safe, as Isaiah had told them, 110 years earlier. After 598 BC, Jeremiah suffered personally, as his prophesies became more insistent regarding the destruction of Jerusalem. He even prophesied that King Jehoiakim would be killed. Some of the people decided to flee Egypt before the arrival of Nebuchadnezzar and Jeremiah was taken with them, against his will. He ended up prophesying in exile for 70 years. Most of his messages to the people were of judgement, that were to be brought on them, both short and long term. We see that he obviously loved the people of Israel/Judah, as he prayed for them even when God told him not to. Three of the chapters in the book of Jeremiah (18, 19 & 20) are based around the lessons the Lord taught him in the potter’s house - occurring in 605BC (around the middle of his ministry) - and hence his references to clay in this week’s reading from Ch. 18. Potter’s wheels had been around for approximately 2,500 years and consisted of two round stones on a vertical, timber axis. The potter turned the lower wheel with his feet and placed a lump of clay on the upper wheel. Using this device, he formed some sort of vessel (eg. a pot, bowl, etc.) with his moist hands as the wheels turned. Great skill was required by the potter, because the wheel had little momentum on its own and the vessels were hard to form into something useful and beautiful. Just as it is today, if the vessel being created becomes distorted during the turning process, then the potter would have to collapse the clay back into a lump, before starting over again. Note that if the vessel was misshapen, or “ruined”, as mentioned in v.4, it was not because of the skill of the potter. We see from the reading that that “clay” is both symbolic of nations (such as Israel/Judah and maybe even ours, today) and individuals. We, like those in Israel/Judah, are in a specific covenantal relationship with God, so if we get misshapen and go off the rails, who do you think it is that has to repent to allow the individual or church to be re-formed? Is it us, or God (the potter)? Obviously it’s us! We must repent and submit to God to allow us to be reformed. The symbolism of the potter speaks of both God's sovereignty as the creator and the people's freedom to choose a path for their lives. It’s a paradox that Israel/Judah had the freedom to live in disobedience, whilst also having the choice to repent, thus allowing it to return to a position of knowing God's eternal loving compassion. God is always willing to discontinue punishment for our poor behaviour, however it needs us to change our ways. The Psalmist reminds us in Psalm 139 that God knew us before we were even born (thus reinforcing the “moulding of the clay” analogy) and is with us through all facets of our lives – there’s nowhere we can hide from God! If the vessel with is proven to be flawed, then the potter needs to rework the clay. And thus it was with Israel/Judah - the clay (ie. the people) were frustrating God's purpose for them. Clay has no choice, but the people of Jerusalem did have a choice, as the call to return (repent) is offered in v.11. The stubborn voice of Israel/Judah in v.12 makes it very plain that it’s a deliberate choice by the people to refuse God’s offer, when they say “It’s no use! We’ll follow our own plans and each of us will act according to the stubbornness of our own will”. God has formed “clay” people like us to be perfect, before we are “fired” (ie. tested on the judgement day) and, even we stray, he still has a chance to reshape us, should we be willing to repent of our evil ways. Do you think that any of the prophesies of Jeremiah apply to us as individuals, or were they just supposed to apply to nations as a whole? I see that God's dealing with the nation of Israel/Judah is a foretaste of how God will deal with individual Christians and congregations – ie. the whole "people of God". We are constantly asked to examine the quality of our vessels and whether we need to be reshaped by God, so that we can become truly useful in God’s Kingdom. God has a mission to accomplish on earth and he employs nations and people like us in service to that mission. Yes, people are free to choose whether to be employed (or even be employable), but God’s desire is for us as individuals to repent of our evil ways and re-turn towards the beauty of God's Kingdom on earth. God is active in the formation of all people and is a sovereign mission director, deciding who should be with him in the Kingdom. For example, note how advantageous it is for the potter to recognize the unsuitability of the vessel before the clay is fired and glazed. Up to that point, all that’s been lost is the potter's time and patience, but after firing and glazing the vessel cannot be altered. If it’s not right before it’s fired, it’s useless afterwards and so it is with us. As the church in Lane Cove, are we listening to God and being shaped as he desires? Have our vessels become misshapen by the way we live our lives and are we therefore in need of smooshing down like bad clay and letting God start again with us? Maybe we all need to work harder on ensuring that we don’t get misshapen in the first place. To do that, it’s our job to work out how we can work better towards being God’s beautiful pots in his Kingdom. It requires constant referral back to the potter’s hands and ensuring that we avoid activities that will misshape us. When we pray we should be checking in with the potter to ensure that our vessel is still pleasing to him. I pray that your vessel will remain pure so that on the day of firing it stands strong and tall and takes its rightful place in the heavenly realm. Blessings Pastor Rick
1 Comment
Lena Beryl Blok
2/9/2022 06:11:31 pm
Good message, good Bible Study. Thank you Rick.
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