“Patient Potter, Stubborn Clay”
Jeremiah 18:1-11
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.
I took a pottery class in high school. It was taught by a very gifted, young art teacher who was also a professional potter, and who sold his creations all over the Eastern United States (had there been Etsy or Amazon back then, I’m sure his reach would have been much wider!). He was a joy to watch on the potter’s wheel. His hands were almost poetic, as they gently guided the clay into ornate pots, vases, plates, or pitchers of some sort. The clay just seemed to flow obediently under his competent and creative hands. One day, after he had prepared a large lump of clay, he centered it on the wheel, and he began throwing a pot. First, he started to draw up a tall, intriguingly shaped vase, which soon started to wobble out of control, so he smashed the rotating clay back down into a centered lump and began again. This time, he formed a bulbous water pitcher, but it, too, started to warp uncontrollably, and had to be destroyed. With the potter’s wheel never stopping, he recentered the lump and tried creating a broad, thin-edged plate. No luck, though, as its elegant edges began to scallop, before collapsing back onto the wheel. Finally, the teacher stopped the wheel, gathered the lump of clay, and slammed it back into the large, green clay tub at the center of the room, exclaiming, “The clay just isn’t COOPERATING today!” While he may have been frustrated, he showed no anger toward the clay. He always worked with clay from a common bin, where others, too, had discarded excess clay, or clay that was too dry or too wet, or that which was being resurrected from unfired greenware. He explained to us that even though he tried to thoroughly knead and prepare the lump of clay he had extracted from the bin, there were times it just wouldn’t “work.” Maybe it was too dry, or too moist, or the types of clay that had been mixed in the bin weren’t all that compatible. But he also explained that tomorrow was another day, and that he could always find a way to make the clay work.
This was great news for those of us who fought with even better samples of clay every day in the class! I confess, though, that while I found success making pots using other methods (such as hand-built or coil pots), I was never able to finish one successfully on the potter’s wheel. I fought getting the clay centered, and rarely ever could, and you can’t throw a pot when the clay isn’t centered perfectly on the wheel! And even when the teacher would center it for me (which he did ever so effortlessly), I could still never draw up a successful pot on that wheel. The teacher used to just shake his head, after watching me, and observed, “You are just trying to force it. You have to work in harmony with the clay—guide it, but go along with it.”
I hope you see why I tell this personal story in an attempt to offer commentary on this incredible passage from Jeremiah! We make it sound so simple when we sing that hymn, “Thou art the potter, I am the clay.” And while for me, attempting to form a pot on the potter’s wheel was a wrestling match with the clay, for the teacher, it was a labor of love, and he never gave up until he had successfully reworked the clay into something for which he was proud. Ditto, God. This is the central theme of ALL of the other passages in today’s lectionary selections, as well.
It's way too easy to make this text (and the others) be just about “choices” we make, with the overly simplistic message that if we “choose rightly,” God will be able to do something with us, but if we choose unwisely, God will “judge” us and even reject us. THIS IS NOT THE MESSAGE! The message is that God will do what my teacher used to do (whose name was Mr. Wiser, by the way): keep trying to redeem the uncooperative lump of clay until something beautiful could be created, which might mean waiting on the clay to be “ready.”
Israel is the subject of the Jeremiah text, but any time we see “Israel” in a Bible text, we modern, Christian preachers should translate it “the people of God,” for this is who the universal audience is. God was trying to turn flawed Israel of Jeremiah’s day into a cooperative, collaborative, peaceful community of faith that would get along with one another, despite their tribal differences, and that would also lovingly and obediently serve God. Sound like the same “clay” we are dealing with today? Something we call the CHURCH? Maybe even more specifically the UNITED METHODIST Church? Never forget the liturgical prayer of confession our tradition uses at Communion: “We have failed to be an obedient church…” (We are an uncooperative lump of clay—keep working with us, Dear God!)
Think of the many ways we—the clay—resist the artistry of the potter—God. I have known several persons whose story it is that they had perceived a “call from God” to the mission field, to the ordained ministry, or to some other area of Christian service, and they resisted and resisted, until finally, the “urge” went away. Most of their stories continue with their sadness that they turned God down, something that kept coming back to haunt them as they grew older and wiser. Seriously, though, the “potter” never gave up on these stubborn “lumps of clay.” While the ones I am thinking of never entered full-time ministry, they did become active members in a local church, and many got involved in hands-on mission like Volunteers in Mission endeavors, food pantries, or community volunteering. They taught Sunday School. They chaired stewardship campaigns. They became successful parents, engaged in a noteworthy career, and at least two I know had children who themselves answered a call from God to the mission field and/or the ordained ministry. I hope their pastors encouraged them with this “loving potter” story of how God simply does not GIVE UP on us, even when we are the most resistant, stubborn “lumps” one might imagine. God is never through with us, and never throws the “clay” out, but puts it back in the bin to be “seasoned.”
Here's another one for you. Many years ago, when I was involved in leading young adult fellowship groups and Bible studies (long before my call to pulpit ministry, I might add), I was offering leadership in one such group. A high school friend was in the group, and he was leading the singing with his guitar, as we sang some of those 70s era “Jesus” choruses. He was raised as a “preacher’s kid,” and from everything I ever saw in him, he was a model Christian young man, whom I greatly respected. At the study, I was asked by the group to share some of my story, which was really “phase one” of what would later become a call to ordained ministry. I shared how I was raised in a wonderful Methodist/United Methodist church, and had accepted Christ as my Savior “several times” throughout my youth. Still, while not seeing myself as a “stubborn” lump of clay that God was trying to do something with, I was most certainly a clueless lump, holding on to an extremely limited view of what “ministry” was, or could be. I shared how I realized that “accepting Christ as Savior” wasn’t the same as putting myself in the hands of the potter. As a “saved Christian,” I was like that lump of uncooperative clay in the green bin, back in art class. My story was about my willingness to “get on the wheel” and get with the program, all the while being patient for the potter to do his work. We finished the Bible study with a prayer, and went for the refreshments. My high school friend/preacher’s kid came up to me and said “After listening to you tonight, I truly accepted Christ as my Savior in a way that is REAL!” I soft-soaped him, ALWAYS believing him to be a good Christian. It wasn’t until a year or two later, when we were having a really deep conversation together, that he explained what happened at that Bible study. He, like me, had made “confessions” of faith in Christ, which is what he learned at home and at church. But it had never been “internalized” in his own, personal heart, and he never felt like anything but a stubborn, uncooperative “lump of clay.” During our prayer that night, he put himself “on the wheel” and began to get centered so the “potter” could do his “art.” Not only was this a heart-felt confession for him, but it was an enlightening moment for me, as I realized that my story “would preach,” and that there were many clueless “lumps of clay” out there that just needed encouragement, guidance, and a “nudge.” It wouldn’t be until much later that I would learn about John Wesley’s “Aldersgate experience” wherein he had his “heart strangely warmed,” and never looked back, eventually founding what we know now as Methodism. Like my story, and that of my friend, I am fully convinced that “Aldersgate” was not a “conversion” experience (for Wesley, too, had probably confessed Christ many times before, having ALSO been a “preacher’s kid” and attended theology school), but was when “the clay” got “a clue” and put himself in the hands of the potter.
So, what about you? Are you one of those lumps that just keeps getting thrown back into the green bin as “not ready yet?” Or are you one that resists being “centered” on the potter’s wheel? Or, are you just now realizing that God never gives up. Never. Gives. Up. This is your day. Have your own Aldersgate moment. Believe that “the potter” wants to work a little “potter’s magic” in your life! And it's never too late, either! Clay has been in the ground for centuries before being “harvested” by the art supply people, and it is given “new life” by simply being discovered and given a new venue.
The Jeremiah text has that little “troubling” verse at the end of today’s passage that makes it sound like God is prepared to do nasty things to Israel, in judgment. However, if you look at the wider context of the message, God is again promising to “form the clay,” if it will simply “yield” (or repent and climb onto the wheel). The “evil” God plans is not really evil, but maybe it’s Mr. Wiser’s slamming the clay back into the bin, and saying that tomorrow is another day—“Maybe the clay just isn’t ready.” Note, also, that the act of slamming the clay into the bin is not done in anger, but in doing so, it immersed the uncooperative lump into the larger vat of more seasoned clay, with the goal of it mixing with the whole “community” of clay, that it might likewise become seasoned and “ready.” God never “throws us down,” but “mixes us in,” that the community might season our souls and soften our hard hearts!
Jeremiah’s wonderful prophecy in chapter 18 is less a threat of judgment than a foreshadowing of grace. Having watched a real pottery artist at work on the potter’s wheel, I can say most assuredly that it is an act of grace—centering a raw lump of clay, moistening it ever so gently with a fine-grained sponge, and with a soft, loving touch, guiding the clay into something exquisitely beautiful. It IS grace. No wonder the wise prophet Jeremiah chose this allegory for what God desires to do with God’s people!
By the way, it would be so sweet if the story stopped here, but three steps remain for “the pot” before it is ready for service.
1. It is cut off the potter’s wheel and set aside to dry, so it is ready for step two. This drying gives the “green” pot enough strength to be handled during the next two steps.
2. The pot is glazed. Glaze is a special coating painted on the pot, and it may be a simple, pedestrian “waterproofing” that allows a finished pot to hold liquids, or it may be an ornate, decorative, and colorful application that gives the pot beauty and uniqueness.
3. Finally, the pot is placed in a kiln with a large number of other pots, and is “fired” at a very high temperature overnight. This firing bakes all of the excess moisture out of the clay, activates the glaze, bringing out its colors and protective properties, and gives the pot its ceramic “permanence.”
These would each make a good sermon, wouldn’t they? Together, though, they serve as a reminder that God is never really finished with any of us! They also remind us that forming us to the place where we can be “beautiful” and fully useful is a process, and the more patient “the clay” is, the more incredible the outcome of God’s hopes and dreams for us. Amen!
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