Spoiled?

Spoiled 

Jeremiah 18:1-11 The Potter & the  Clay

1 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.

Nearly all scripture may be taken to heart, and most is fair for taking into the pulpit. The New Testament readings are generally personal and a life’s lesson may be drawn from them, including Philemon and Luke 14:25-33 for Sunday. Although readings from the Old Testament may be turned to take them personally, selections from OT prophecy are generally for or against the nation, and that is the case with Jeremiah’s oracle of the potter and the clay. When this happens, preachers need to be careful with their hermeneutics, wary of jumping out of their eisegesis ready to pound and propound scriptural support of their own political views whatever those views and whatever the issues. It's called prooftexting. Scripture can be interpreted -- twisted -- to support both/either devils and/or angels.

In the OT reading for Sunday, Jeremiah is prophesying against the nation, society and rulers of Judah. The lesson could be brought into any age, and preached to support any viewpoint. This is in mind this morning with news about our national debate over whether to attack Syria and the infrastructure of Bashar al-Assad. Undoubtedly, what we do will help bring him down. Waiting to take Assad’s place is al-Qaeda who currently are fighting brutally to subdue and take control of a Christian village that has been protected by Assad. Elsewhere in Syria, a rebel faction storms a regime location, takes the soldiers captive, “tries” and condemns them, forces them to lie face down on the ground, reads over them a verse of victorious revenge, and shoots each of the terrified soldiers in the head. Two words for what we are about to commit in Syria are inexorable and inadvertent. Are we the potter?

Or the reading about the potter and the clay may be interpreted for or against the United States of America and whether the vessel came out as the Potter had hoped. Jeremiah’s oracle is not stirring me to raise the flag, play The Star Spangled Banner, stand up and salute.

TW+

Jeremiah: NRSV