Sprinkled with Surprises – Jeremiah 18:1-11

A text – Jeremiah 18:1-11

18 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.

A reflection:

The Lord often gave the prophet Jeremiah metaphors to use as he delivered God’s words to Israel. In this case, the Lord called Jeremiah to watch a potter at work. When Jeremiah began watching, the potter was working on a pot that wasn’t coming out as intended, and so the potter took it off the wheel and reshaped the clay so it could become something else. God tells the prophet that God is shaping Israel to do specific things, but if the clay does not respond well, the potter may break it down and start over.

In our gospel text this week, Jesus urges us to think ahead to what following Jesus will cost us before joining his mission and ministry. In this passage, too, the Word of the Lord is about planning ahead and keeping an eye out for how things are going and growing. If we choose poorly, we may be broken back down and rebuilt into something else entirely. In both passages, I think God is urging us to see that putting God first means we (and all our cleverly thought-out plans for the future) will come out second or third or even farther down the list. Our plans are less of a priority than God’s plans for us. We are important, but not as important as God, our Maker and Redeemer.

Perhaps this is why so many theologians declare our God to be a Master of Surprise. We humans almost always think we are in control, moving in a direction, and God may be laughing and up to something surprising no matter what we think we are doing. God may be hiding under the very opposite of what we think we want. God may have the perfect future in mind for us that we cannot even imagine. Would it be so bad to be God’s clay? What must it have been like to be one of Jesus’s disciples and to be surprised by him over and over again? I’m usually way more comfortable knowing what a place will be like before I arrive. But what if my journey and my destination are sprinkled with astonishing surprises instead?

What is the lesson for us in this reading? We think we are the potter, but in truth we are the clay. Do we believe we are in the hands of a master potter who loves us and doesn’t want us wasted? I do. Even if that means being surprised at who I turn out to be.

A prayer:

Lord God, thank you for loving us. Thank you for being our Maker and Redeemer. Help us to relax into that picture of you and our role as your clay and our plans as second- or third-ranked priorities for you. Help us to trust you more and more every day. Amen.