The parable/allegory of the potter and the clay has become a favorite of many Christians, made memorable by the hymn/chorus, "Have thine own way, Lord; thou art the potter, I am the clay." In the song, "I" try to be passively pliable so God can make of "me" whatever he will. Without doubt the song has deep meaning for many individuals, but the song's message is not that of our text.
At YHWH's command Jeremiah goes and watches a potter working at his wheel. The clay in the potter's hands somehow will not respond in such a way that the potter can make of it the particular vessel he has in mind, so he reworks the same clay and shapes a different vessel. The underlying figure presumes some degree of mutuality between clay and potter. From this observation and divine inspiration, Jeremiah has been 'made to hear' a word from God.
This word of the LORD comes through the prophet to "the house of Israel," to "the people of Judah," to "the inhabitants of Jerusalem." It is not addressed to an individual "I" as is the popular chorus. The text addresses a national public, composed of a people deeply imbued with the special sense of privilege and protection of YHWH. They are the chosen people, Israel, in their contemporary manifestation, the remnant kingdom of Judah with its capital city Jerusalem. The allegory would seem to say that by their corporate resistance to YHWH, this people have prevented YHWH from forming them into the vessel he desired. Through Abraham, the other patriarchs, and the people as a whole, YHWH intended blessing for all the families of the earth, but Israel has failed. The potter allegory of Jeremiah conveys the same message as the vineyard allegory of Isaiah a century earlier. Planter/YHWH did everything possible to prepare a fruitful vineyard/Israel, but it produced wild grapes (Is 5.1ff, 20 Ord). Now, says Jeremiah, potter/YHWH has encountered such recalcitrance from clay/Israel that he must devise another role for Israel to play in the great drama of God and humankind.
The present text does not describe Israel's failure as such. Last week's pericope, Jer 2.4-13, includes these words of accusation: "I brought you into a plentiful land to eat its fruits and its good things. But when you entered you defiled my land, and made my heritage an abomination. The priests did not say, "Where is the LORD?" Those who handle the law did not know me; the rulers transgressed against me; the prophets prophesied by Baal [ba`al], and went after things that do not profit [ya`al]" (4.7-8). Baal symbolized fertility, affluence, wealth, "the bottom line" of high profitability. The more they got, the more they wanted. But Jeremiah says their affluence is deceptive, it brings only the opposite; material wealth is a leaky cistern, in comparison to the living water of trust in YHWH. The continuation of today's text goes on to specify the outcome: "Like the wind from the east, I will scatter them before the enemy. I will show them my back, not my face, in the day of their calamity" (18.17).
Today's pericope focuses on Israel, but Jeremiah was called to be a prophet to the nations, and from the specific case of Israel he generalizes: "At one moment I may declare concerning a nation or a kingdom . . . ." That could be any nation; it could be the USA! God declares that the divine decision is not irrevocable. If a nation or a kingdom changes its attitude, God will change his mind (the verb in Hebrew may be translated "repent") and that change may be from bad to good or vice versa. The Creator gives the creature the privilege of mutuality in this relationship. (Note to Lutherans: Don't get hung up on law/grace, salvation by works etc. That's not the issue here.) I am no expert on process theology, but it embraces the very possibility the Jeremiah text teaches: God changes in response to what goes on in God's creation.
So Jeremiah addresses his people: 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. God will not spring destruction on them by surprise. (Lk 12.54ff, the signs of the times. It's not just a personal, individual thing--Jesus then alluded to the signs of a blowup with Rome, which came in 70 CE and again in 135 CE because the Jewish nation would not read the signs of the times). So Jeremiah: it's not too late, shape up, turn around!
But no. They are too set in their ways; they love to l €ive in denial. Jeremiah may be putting words in their mouths from his own understanding of the people's general attitude, or out of their view of Jeremiah as crazy, they play along with him a speak (they think) ironically: "It is no use! We will follow our own plans, and each of us will act according to the stubbornness of our evil will."
It's a truism that a whole nation or people can "change its mind" only as the result of individuals one by one changing their minds. But if enough individuals really do change their minds, the critical mass will be reached which can result in substantive change. The preacher/pastor can play a role in this. Ask your people questions like these: Do you really need to update TV, computer, camera, car, boombox, whatever, every time a new model comes out? Do your children really need every pokemon item, or every doodad given away at McDonalds or other fast food places? Do you really think the US needs to spend more on armaments than the next FIVE nations of the world all put together? Do you really think we need to produce more gasoline and electric power at the cost of degrading the environment, instead of learning to reduce waste and get by on less? Do you really think the star wars missile shield will give us security, when it's clear other nations will take that decision as a hostile move and will increase their armaments in response?
If you, as pastors and preachers, don't raise these questions with your people and start some discussion about national and personal priorities, who will?
This is NOT preaching law. It's sharing with our people the offer of the Most High to get in line with the divine purpose of reconciling all things, of accepting God's invitation to cooperate in pursuing the just peace which will enable the survival of all, instead of pursuing our own stubborn hearts' purpose of trying to guarantee our prosperity and survival at the cost of the whole planet's demise.
The first portion of the psalm assigned for today (vv 1-6) begins on a negative note, the creature almost terrified by the Creator, as indicated by the vocabulary. Specifically, [v 1] he searched me = looking for faults; spying; [v 2] he knows everything I do and even what I think; [v 3] he searches out my path, but except for this one case 38 occurrences = scatter; [v 4] he knows what I'm going to say before I say it; [v 5] he hems me in = besiege (22 out of 38 times), assault, attack; [v 6] this is scary stuff--it's beyond me. The lection omits vv 7-12, but the psalmist understandably asks: How can I get away? Where can I go? There's no hope of escape.
In the next assigned portion, vv 13-18, the psalmist takes a more positive attitude. He praises God for the wonderful way in which he has been created. Note the reflection of the primitive idea of Mother Earth as the origin of humans and animals in v 15 (cf. also Gen 2.7, 19). He decides God may really be favorable to him.
In conclusion, then, (vv 19-24), the psalmist decides it's best to ally himself with this God. He calls on God to destroy the wicked, and he states that he himself hates all of God's enemies. On this basis the psalmist is willing for God to search him out for any possible wickedness.
(Comments to Arch at arch.taylor@ecunet.org.)