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Trinity Episcopal Church Hattiesburg, Mississippi Fifteenth Sunday After Pentecost (Proper 18) September 9, 2007 Go To Trinity's Home Page

Jeremiah 18:1-11
Psalm 139:1-5, 13-18
Philemon 1-21
Luke 14:25-33
Collect of the Day
From the Revised Common Lectionary as Adapted for Use by the Episcopal Church
and Authorized by the 74 th General Convention of the ECUSA

The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: “Come, go down to the potter’s house, and there I will let you hear my words.” So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was working at his wheel. 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. Then the word of the LORD came to me: 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. At one moment I may declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, 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. And at another moment I may declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it, 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. 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. (Jeremiah 18:1-11)

-isms
The Rev. Dr. Bill Stroop, Rector

LORD, you have searched me out and known me; you know my sitting down and my rising up; you discern my thoughts from afar. My body was not hidden from you, while I was being made in secret and woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes beheld my limbs, yet unfinished in the womb; all of them were written in your book; they were fashioned day by day, when as yet there was none of them.

     These versus from Psalm 139 conjure up an image of the loving, warm God who through the mystery and beauty of creation, molds each one of us in God’s image, giving us discerning hearts and minds, and fashions us as God’s children. There is a paternalistic sense to these words that pulls at the soul, eliciting a feeling of gratitude and joy at being created by God, and infused with the knowledge that God will always “press upon me behind and before, and lay God’s hand upon me.” Adoration, wonder, and deep, deep gratitude bubble up in prayers of thanksgiving, “ I will thank you because I am marvelously made” in your image.

     Jeremiah was one person who very much felt that he was formed in the womb by God, for God’s purposes. In his own words – insofar as scholars can deduce them from the complex work of Jeremiah that we have in our Bible today – Jeremiah felt singled out to be a Moses-like prophet for his generation. He says that he felt that he was shaped in the womb to be a messenger to Israel and to the nations; he experienced a touch sensation which Jeremiah felt was Yahweh putting words into his mouth.

     Jeremiah was a prophet who grew up in Anathoth, a village north of Jerusalem in the territory of Benjamin and populated by Levitical priests who had served at the Temple in Jerusalem. Some of these priests could even trace their lineage back to the priestly house of Eli at Shiloh in the days of Samuel.[1] For some forty years Jeremiah had dedicated himself to the call of Yahweh – if there ever was a prophet called in the womb, it was Jeremiah. Beginning with the apostasy of King Manasseh, who allowed Assyrian gods to be placed in the courts of the Temple, Jeremiah spoke on behalf of God to change the ways of his people.

     Following the reforms of King Josiah about four years into the prophetic period of Jeremiah, many people – probably including Jeremiah himself – felt that Josiah, the first Davidic King to rule over all of Israel, would usher in the days of rebirth and renewal that earlier prophets had foreseen. However, with Josiah’s tragic death at the hands of the Pharaoh at Megiddo, the hope of religious reform died as well. Subsequent kings were not faithful to the covenantal law that Josiah had so desperately tried to restore. And Jeremiah saw that where these laws were violated, as they now were, disaster must follow.

The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: “Come, go down to the potter’s house, and there I will let you hear my words … There he was working at his wheel … ‘Can I not do with you, O house of Israel, just as this potter has done? … At one moment I may declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, 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.’”

     The story of the potter gives us the opportunity to reflect upon divine determinism and flexibility and upon human freedom and destiny.

     We’ve all dismissed out of hand the claims leaders of religious movements whose remarks indicated deep mental illness; people like Jim Jones, founder of the Peoples Temple group, or David Koresh, leader of the Branch Davidians. However, the less deranged announcements of other religious leaders when natural disaster strikes are no less dangerous when they proclaim God’s judgment.

     Practically before the billowing dust settled following the collapse of the twin towers in New York six years ago this Tuesday; before the flood waters of Katrina and Rita had receded; amidst the whirring of helicopters, and during the months and years of recovery from incomprehensible loss of life and property, people who claim to know God’s mind were telling us that because God was angry, God delivered brutal punishment. Without naming names, here are some examples. One preacher said that God destroyed New Orleans because of Southern Decadence, the gay festival scheduled for that Labor Day weekend. Another linked Katrina and the 2001 terrorist attacks to legalized abortion, and still another said that God allowed Katrina to happen to bring attention to lack of preparation for terrorist attack. Religious conservatives are not the only ones who claim to know God’s intentions. A liberal publication pondered in 2005 whether hurricanes Katrina, Ivan, Charlie, and Francis targeted red counties.[2]

     Not only are remarks like these hurtful, and in some cases reveal a deep prejudice, they are terrible theology – and do not do justice to Holy Scripture.

     Jeremiah’s story of the potter does not reflect divine wrath. It reflects both divine sovereignty and freedom. Jeremiah makes it clear that God’s involvement in human history is not a form of determinism, an inflexible plan. As the Biblical scholar Patrick Miller notes, “Although the text claims God’s sovereignty, it immediately asserts the freedom of God to change God’s mind. At the same time, Jeremiah indicates our human freedom of choice and God’s responsiveness to the human situation. The sovereignty of God takes into account the human way. God’s repeated openness to ‘change God’s mind’ shows God’s flexibility.” This is entirely in keeping with other imagery of God from the Old Testament. “But it is very much worth noting that in virtually all of the instances of God’s change of mind, the change is not from the intention to do good to an intention to destroy, but the reverse. In the wilderness, God’s change of mind stops a planned punishment of people who disobeyed (Ex 32:12, 14). Amos’ prayer changed God’s mind and stopped God’s intended judgment (Amos 7:3, 6). The repentance of Babylon evokes God’s change of heart and the sparing of Nineveh (Jon 3:10). All through our Holy text, God is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness” (Ex 34:6).”[3]

     I think that long before any of us goes about judgmentally telling others what they think God’s motives are – whether speaking of natural disasters or matters of infectious diseases – we ought to take heed of the last two verses of Psalm 139, which read, “Search me out, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my restless thoughts. Look well whether there be any wickedness in me and lead me in the way that is everlasting.” God knows that we often speak from places of prejudice, fear, anxiety, or even outright hatred. But do we recognize this in ourselves? We need to look into our own hearts to see how much of what we are about to say about God’s intentions is a really projection of our own judgmental attitudes.

     We are all incubated in culture of “-isms” and fears that fuel many of our thoughts and actions whether we are aware of them or not. -Isms like ageism, anti-Catholicism, anti-Mormonism, anti-Semitism, chauvinism, classism, racism, and sexism, or fears like heterophobia, transphobia, or homophobia, may be the real motivations behind some of our long-held beliefs, and the statements we make about God’s intentions.

     Did God really set in motion the events of 911 to bring to our attention our lack of preparation for terrorist attack, or is that just one man’s lament about a tragic situation that makes him feel especially vulnerable; a situation he fears could have been avoided?

     God is mystery. None of us can really be sure what God is doing or why. What we do know is that Jesus told us to love God and to love our neighbor, and that he warned us about judging one another. Let us all pray for the wisdom to search our hearts for God’s Truths, and the awareness to know when our “-isms” are causing us to cover up our own fears and doubts by judging others.

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Jeremiah 18:1-11

The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: “Come, go down to the potter’s house, and there I will let you hear my words.” So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was working at his wheel. 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. Then the word of the LORD came to me: 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. At one moment I may declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, 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. And at another moment I may declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it, 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. 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.

Psalm 139:1-5, 13-18 Domine, probasti

1 LORD, you have searched me out and known me; *
you know my sitting down and my rising up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.

2 You trace my journeys and my resting-places *
and are acquainted with all my ways.

3 Indeed, there is not a word on my lips, *
but you, O LORD, know it altogether.

4 You press upon me behind and before *
and lay your hand upon me.

5 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; *
it is so high that I cannot attain to it.

13 I will thank you because I am marvelously made; *
your works are wonderful, and I know it well.

14 My body was not hidden from you, *
while I was being made in secret
and woven in the depths of the earth.

15 Your eyes beheld my limbs, yet unfinished in the womb;
all of them were written in your book; *
they were fashioned day by day,
when as yet there was none of them.

16 How deep I find your thoughts, O God! *
how great is the sum of them!

17 If I were to count them, they would be more in number than the sand; *
to count them all, my life span would need to be like yours.

18 Oh, that you would slay the wicked, O God! *
You that thirst for blood, depart from me.

Philemon 1-21

Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, to Philemon our dear friend and co-worker, to Apphia our sister, to Archippus our fellow soldier, and to the church in your house: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. When I remember you in my prayers, I always thank my God because I hear of your love for all the saints and your faith toward the Lord Jesus. I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective when you perceive all the good that we may do for Christ. I have indeed received much joy and encouragement from your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, my brother. For this reason, though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do your duty, yet I would rather appeal to you on the basis of love-- and I, Paul, do this as an old man, and now also as a prisoner of Christ Jesus. I am appealing to you for my child, Onesimus, whose father I have become during my imprisonment. Formerly he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful both to you and to me. I am sending him, that is, my own heart, back to you. I wanted to keep him with me, so that he might be of service to me in your place during my imprisonment for the gospel; but I preferred to do nothing without your consent, in order that your good deed might be voluntary and not something forced. Perhaps this is the reason he was separated from you for a while, so that you might have him back forever, no longer as a slave but more than a slave, a beloved brother-- especially to me but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord. So if you consider me your partner, welcome him as you would welcome me. If he has wronged you in any way, or owes you anything, charge that to my account. I, Paul, am writing this with my own hand: I will repay it. I say nothing about your owing me even your own self. Yes, brother, let me have this benefit from you in the Lord! Refresh my heart in Christ. Confident of your obedience, I am writing to you, knowing that you will do even more than I say.

Luke 14:25-33

Now large crowds were traveling with Jesus; and he turned and said to them, “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule him, saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’ Or what king, going out to wage war against another king, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand? If he cannot, then, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for the terms of peace. So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.”

Collect of the Day

Grant us, O Lord, to trust in you with all our hearts; for, as you always resist the proud who confide in their own strength, so you never forsake those who make their boast of your mercy; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

[1] Information about Jeremiah is derived from John W. Miller. Meet the Prophets. ( New York, NY: Paulist Press), 149-164.
[2] Jane Caldwell. “Are Hurricanes Katrina, Ivan, Charlie and Francis ‘Wrath of God’ to Those Who Voted for Bush?” Accessed 6 September 2007 at http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=2838.
[3] Patrick D. Miller. “The Book of Jeremiah. The New Interpreter’s Bible, Vol 21. Leander E. Keck, Sr. Editor. ( Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2001) p. 717.

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Copyright © 2007, William G. Stroop - All Rights Reserved.
6 September 2007

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