The Potter Reforms The Clay Into His Kind Of Pot

10.31.21 Jeremiah 18:1–11

1 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: 2 “Get up, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will reveal my words to you.” 3 So I went down to the potter’s house, and he was making something on the wheel. 4 But the pot he was forming out of the clay was ruined as he shaped it with his hands, so the potter formed it into a different pot, whatever he saw fit to make. 5 Then the word of the LORD came to me. 6 House of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does? declares the LORD. See, like clay in the potter’s hands, that is what you are in my hands, house of Israel. 7 One time I may say that a nation or a kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down, and destroyed, 8 but if that nation I spoke about repents of its evil, then I will relent and not bring the disaster I had planned to bring against it. 9 Another time I may say that a nation or a kingdom is to be built and planted, 10 but if they do what is evil in my sight by not listening to my voice, then I will not bring about the good I said I would do for them. 11 Now therefore say this to the men of Judah and to those who live in Jerusalem. This is what the LORD says. Look! I am forming a disaster against you. I am devising a plan against you. Turn from your evil ways, each of you, and reform your ways and your actions.

My son recently asked for a Japanese Chess set as a gift. When I saw the price of it, I decided to try and make one instead. It involved cutting small little wooden pieces and burning a Japanese inscription on them. So over the course of a couple days I sat, watched TV for an hour or so, and burned symbols on these pieces of wood. I found it very relaxing and satisfying to be able to work with my hands and make something in a rather short time. So now he has the board at school and is going to try and play the game with some of his friends.

Jeremiah uses a similar illustration to describe how God makes US and forms us, but instead of wood He uses clay and makes pottery. We showed a video before the service started on how the potter would use his feet to rotate the clay and then shape the clay with wet hands, being able to form it in a variety of ways, however He wishes. It is very personal, very hands on work.

The Potter Reforms the Clay Into His Kind of Pot

It is a powerful picture of God, and a passive picture of humanity. Yet, of course, God, with all of His power and will, formed us into so much more than jars of clay that are baked in an oven and hardened into an immobile object. Humanity has eyes and ears, heart and soul, intellect and will. We are created to be able to make music, from the beauty of Bach to the blah of Bieber. We have been able to invent spaceships, automobiles, computers, and so much more than any animal could ever do! All of this comes at the hands of God, who formed us to do so much!

Jeremiah, in today’s text, was specifically referring to the whole country of Israel as having been formed by his hands. But the pot he was forming out of the clay was ruined as he shaped it with his hands. The verb for ruined is a PASSIVE verb. It wasn’t ruined by the potter. The clay became bad and ruined. How so? According to Jeremiah, the Israelites were cheating each other in the marketplace, swearing falsely, and refusing to set their slaves free after six years of service, along with a litany of other things. But the main sin was in how they started worshiping Baal, which specifically included child sacrifice.

One of the problems that can happen with clay is that it becomes too dry, and therefore it is hard and not malleable. If you noticed the video you saw how the potter had to keep on adding water and getting his hands wet. You just can’t shape dry clay and form it the way you want it. This dryness is a picture of Israel, which became stuck in their sinful nature, unwilling to bend to God’s will. So in the final verse of today’s text Jeremiah warns, “Turn from your evil ways, each of you, and reform your ways and your actions.”