I recall watching the Nepalese potter at Expo '88. He set his big round wheel in motion with a stick in a notch - round and round until it was going fast enough. The block of clay in the centre was fashioned by his skilful hands to the desired shape. The row of identical pots were set out to dry. Later he cut a pattern out of these pots and added a handle so that were in the form of a fish and could be used to house a candle. He put them back on the shelf again to dry further and await firing.
Perhaps you have watched the potters on the Blackall Range. On a visit to the Montville Pottery, we saw a young potter sitting at a stool behind a small flat steel wheel. He had fixed a lump of clay on it. Then he pushed a pedal and an electric motor set the wheel spinning. He pushed his fingers in and forced the clay to the desired shape - a teapot lid. He removed it with a wire and set it aside to dry before firing.
In many ways the techniques of pottery have remained the same over the centuries, even though the wheel and the kiln are more sophisticated in the modern pottery. The Nepalese potter was closer to the ancient Middle East counterpart - though I suspect that for Expo he had the facilities of a modern kiln somewhere! But the principle was the same. Both potters exerted their will and their skill over the clay to produce the pot that they desired. If the potter chooses, the vessel can be squashed back into a lump so that a different vessel can be made. At any time before the firing the vessel can be reduced again to workable clay to be remade. And the pieces of clay that that he cut out aren't wasted - they can be worked into another lump.
We look at this verse and find a two-fold problem. On the one hand we object that the whole purpose of life is self-fulfilment - doing our own thing. We are masters of our own destiny. We have total choice and total responsibility for our lives. We know we have to lump it if things go wrong. But - don't you tell me what I have to do! The old hymn said,
But that's an old hymn now, isn't it? Out of keeping with our modern outlook of self-realisation.
On the other hand, when it suits us, perhaps we could use that "word of the Lord" after all! If the pot doesn't turn out perfectly, guess who can take the blame - the potter, of course! So we might object to the concept that the Lord has his will for us and that he is seeking to lead us towards his destiny, but, if life goes bad, it is a useful concept after all - we can lay our problems at God's feet!
That, of course, isn't what Jeremiah is saying! The Lord is like the potter with his will for us, seeking to bring about his character and his purposes through our personalities and lives. But unlike clay, the result comes from the interaction between God's will and ours. Notice that vv. 9 and 10 speak of the possibility of doing evil in God's sight and disobeying him, v. 8 of the real possibility of repentance from evil. We can't just say, "God, your plan has gone astray - so you'll have to wear it!" No, we are reactive clay - we can be compliant or resistant to the potter's will and skill!
The prophet is warning the house of Israel that, just as the potter controls the ultimate destiny of each lump of clay, so the Lord controls their ultimate destiny. If they choose the way of the Lord, that destiny will be good. If they refuse, they are heading for disaster and destruction. So the Lord is pleading with them, "Turn from your evil ways, each one of you, and reform your ways and your actions" (v. 11b).
Some people look at corruption pharisaically - it's a problem affecting other people and I hope they get them all! Others look at it vicariously - I'm not perfect myself, but I feel happier, more secure that someone is paying for it - provided it's not me, of course!
The problem is that corruption is a disease that infects the whole community. It stems from unbelief, from rejection of God and Christian values, but it can so easily begin to infect belief too. The believer, the person with Christian values, can begin to trust in his own rightness instead of in God - the very attitude that says, "Look at them!" instead of "Examine me, O God, and know my mind; test me, and discover my thoughts. Find out if there is any evil in me and guide me in the everlasting way" (Ps. 139.23-24).
What does the divine Potter say to us all? "Tell them to stop living sinful lives - to change their ways and the things they are doing" (v. 11b).
Listen to these words about Christ Jesus from Philippians 2 - "He always had the nature of God, but he did not think that by force he should try to become equal with God. Instead of this, of his own free will he gave up all he had, and took the nature of a servant. He became like man and appeared in human likeness. He was humble and walked the path of obedience all the way to death - his death on the cross. For this reason God raised him to the highest place above and gave him the name that is greater than any name. And so, in honour of the name of Jesus all beings in heaven, on earth, and in the world below will fall on their knees, and all will openly proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of the Father" (vv. 6-11)
But - and here the question comes right back to us - do we really want Jesus Christ to be Lord of our lives right now? We want a society that is more honest, more caring, more wholesome - and less violent, less evil, less corrupt. If only more people out there acknowledged that Jesus Christ is Lord, things would be very different. True! And what will happen - in our society - when we as believers begin to allow him to be our Lord? consciously seeking his will, desiring to respond to him in our attitudes and in the availability of our time, our talents and our possessions?
Let us all come to the divine Potter in the sentiment of that old hymn -
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