The Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost (OT)

Jeremiah 18:1-12

The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ² “Arise, and 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 And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do. 

⁵ Then the word of the Lord came to me: ⁶ “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter has done? declares the Lord. Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. ⁷ If at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, ⁸ and if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I intended to do to it. ⁹ And if at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it, ¹⁰ and if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will relent of the good that I had intended to do to it. ¹¹ Now, therefore, say to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: ‘Thus says the Lord, Behold, I am shaping disaster against you and devising a plan against you. Return, every one from his evil way, and amend your ways and your deeds.’ 

¹² “But they say, ‘That is in vain! We will follow our own plans, and will every one act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.’ 

Do we not believe the Lord will bring judgment against us? Most of us remember how God has treated his faithful people in the past. We like to recall the good times, God has given his people. He delivered them out of Egypt. He gave them rest from their enemies. He rescued various numbers of people from disaster. He even relented from destroying Nineveh, which pissed Jonah off.

But we forget the destruction God brought upon his people before he delivered them. The sons of Israel spent 430 years in Egypt before God delivered them (maybe not in slavery the entire time). God brought nation after nation against his people. They even lost battles when they were conquering the promised land.

Jeremiah reminds us that there are times the potter needs to destroy the pot and start over. So God even flooded the entire earth and started over. But he has promised not to do that one again. Likewise, he has not promised to only do nice, good, and friendly things to you. He has promised to show you love. And sometimes the loving thing to do for a stubborn child is to let it cry, cause it to feel hardship, and even provide the child with pain. (Nothing more than it can handle.)

If God tells you to be something and act a certain way, you should listen to him. Because he has the power to give life, and the power to take it away. You think God is going to give you a happy life. Think again. Jesus even says take up your cross and follow me [through the valley of the shadow of death]. We live in a fallen world, and Jeremiah is reminding the people the LORD has disaster waiting for you.

But thanks be to God that he has given his son to die for you, so you will not spend everlasting life in disaster. Jesus did not die to save you from all suffering, he died to provide you with an example of how to suffer. We suffer with hope in the resurrection. Jesus saw the cross that he was walking toward, and all the pain and suffering with it, but he also saw the joy of his resurrection and your resurrection afterward.