Rethinking Judgment
A God Who Weeps - Part 3
Sunday, September 18, 2022
Jeremiah 18:1-11
So I went down to the potter’s house; he was working on the potter’s wheel. But the piece he was making was flawed while still in his hands, so the potter started on another, as seemed best to him. Then the Lord’s word came to me: House of Israel, can’t I deal with you like this potter, declares the Lord? Like clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in mine, house of Israel!
Jeremiah 18:3-6 (CEB)
Listen to this week’s sermon here:
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Mold me, make me, fill me, use me.
Spirit of the Living God, fall fresh on me.
We sing these words. We pray these words. But do we really mean these words? Of course we want God to bless us. Of course we want God to heal us and our loved ones. Of course we want God to take care of us. But do we really want God to mold us, to make us, to fill us and to use us?
To understand exactly what this means, God sends Jeremiah to the potter’s house… a place in the Hinnom valley outside the city walls, a valley that would later be called Gehenna which would become a metaphor for a place of eternal punishment. It was a valley filled with he fire and smoke of industrial work including pottery, but it was also a place known for the devouring fires of child sacrifice (called Topheth in 2 Kings 23 and Jeremiah 7 and 19). We can imagine Jeremiah walking down the steep hill beyond the city gate into this valley of black smoke and fire, stepping carefully through piles of clay, heaps of broken potsherds and filthy hard working people like we might imagine in the industrial era sweatshops of the early 20th century.
There in the midst of industrial fires and piles of broken potsherds, among some of the lowest classes of people in Jerusalem, Jeremiah sees a man shaping and then casting aside a flawed piece of clay In this man covered in mud and clay, he sees the hands, the face and the heart of God.
Are we willing, like a piece of clay, to trust the potter’s judgment, even if it means being cast aside or entirely absorbed into something new because we are not useful in our current flawed state? The potter does not destroy flawed pieces of clay out of anger, but he or she will do whatever it takes to make the clay useful and to be certain that no flawed piece will ruin the whole of the pottery. What if God’s judgment is like this? What if God’s declaration of coming disaster for Israel is less about destruction, vengeance or punishment and more about redemption and restoration?
Yes, judgment is painful, whether individually or at a national or even global level. It is painful in the same way a sentient piece of marble would feel pain under the blade of a chisel or as C.S. Lewis says, a sentient painting would feel after being rubbed and scraped away and restarted for the tenth time in the process of creating a masterpiece. Lewis observes that in such a case, we may prefer to be just a thumbnail sketch that does not require much work. But this is not for God to love us more by leaving us to our own comfort… rather it is asking God to love us less, to let us settle for far less that who God created us to be. And so we must ask ourselves again… do we really want God to mold us, to make us, to fill us, and to use us? If so, let us pray...
A Covenant Prayer in the Wesleyan Tradition
I am no longer my own, but thine.
Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt.
Put me to doing, put me to suffering.
Let me be employed by thee or laid aside for thee,
exalted for thee or brought low for thee.
Let me be full, let me be empty.
Let me have all things, let me have nothing.
I freely and heartily yield all things
to thy pleasure and disposal.
And now, O glorious and blessed God,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
thou art mine, and I am thine. So be it.
And the covenant which I have made on earth,
let it be ratified in heaven. Amen.
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For a deeper reflection on what it might look like to be molded and shaped by God, check out the video below from the Skit Guys.