A homily by Fr. Gene
Tucker, given at Trinity
Church, Mt. Vernon, Illinois on Sunday, September 8, 2013.
“CREATING A FAITHFUL REMNANT”
(Homily text: Jeremiah 18:1–11)
It isn’t
often that your preacher chooses to focus on an Old Testament text. (Perhaps we ought to do so more often!). However, the timeless lessons that emerge
from today’s reading from the prophet Jeremiah should command our attention, so
in today’s homily, I will attempt to do some service this very important Old
Testament prophet.
As we look
into this text, it would be well for us to review some of the details of
Jeremiah’s prophetic career, and the times in which he lived.
We should begin with an overall look at the political and military situation in the region. Beginning with King Solomon’s death in the 10th century, BC, the twelve tribes separated into two separate kingdoms, with ten tribes making up the Northern Kingdom of Israel, and the remaining tribes making up the Southern Kingdom of Judah. In 722 BC, the Northern Kingdom ceased to be as the Assyrians swept in from the north and east and carried off many of its people into exile. Increasingly, as time went along, the Assyrians’ power began to wane, and the Egyptians’ and Babylonians’ power began to rise. Increasingly, the Southern Kingdom came first under Egyptian influence, and then under Babylonian influence, until – even though it was still theoretically independent – it became a vassal state. The Babylonians exacted tribute from the Judeans. The Babylonians came and deported some of the residents of the Southern Kingdom, first in the year 605 BC, and then again in 597 BC. Judah’s king, Zedekiah, rebelled against the Babylonians, who destroyed Jerusalem and deported even more of its citizens. This final event took place in 586 BC.
Turning to
the religious situation during the time of Jeremiah and beforehand, events can
be easily summarized by saying that the time frame from Solomon’s final years
until the fall of Jerusalem was characterized by gross idolatry. Many of the Canaanite and Phoenician gods
became objects of worship: Molech,
Chimosh, Ba’al, and the Asherah poles, these are among the names of some of these
idols. In addition, false prophets also
abounded, those who preached empty messages to the many who would listen. During this timeframe, very few names of the
kings of Judah emerge as champions of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. We can name two who stand out in this
regard: Hezekiah (ruled from 725 – 686
BC) and Josiah (ruled from 640 – 609 BC).
So we can
see that Jeremiah lived during a very difficult and tempestuous time. Tempestuous for its political and military
challenges, and difficult because the people of God had forgotten their
heritage and birthright, and had thrown over this rich covenantal relationship
with the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob for false relationships with idols
which were the creations of human minds and hands.
Against
this backdrop, God tells Jeremiah to go to the potter’s house and look at the
work in progress there.
As he does
so, he sees the potter at work at his wheel, trying to fashion a vessel out of
clay. Alas, the clay does not hold the image
and design of the potter, so the vessel itself is destroyed, although the
material is retained to be reworked into a successful creation.
These two
elements of the example of the potter and the clay[1]
are important to remember as God draws the parallel between the potter and the
clay, and God and His people. These two
elements are:
·
The vessel itself is destroyed,
·
The material is saved to be reworked
successfully.
God’s word
comes to Jeremiah: “O house of Israel,
can I not do with you as the potter has done?”
The events
which will transpire will make God’s meaning clear: The nation will be destroyed, but its people
(some of them, at least) will be preserved, so that God’s inheritance among His
people may be rebuilt.
And so the
events of history bear God’s judgments out:
Judah is destroyed, many of its people are carried off into captivity in
Babylon, and eventually – as the Babylonians are conquered by the Persians –
the people of God are allowed to return to the promised land, to be able to
rebuild the nation and the Temple.
The effect
of all this is to purify God’s people….just as the imperfect vessel of clay is
destroyed, so that a perfect one can emerge in its place, so God’s people will
be cleansed of their imperfections, to emerge as a faithful embodiment of God’s
grace, mercy and presence.
In this
purifying action, God is preserving for Himself a faithful remnant of people
who will embody His love, His grace, His mercy, and His holiness.
We’ve just
mentioned the word “purifying”. In the
Letter to the Hebrews (12:6), we find much the same theme as we’ve seen in our
reading from Jeremiah, as we read:
“The
Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son he receives.”
Here, it
would be good for us to do a bit of word study on the word “chastises”. The word comes to us from much earlier use,
where it is related to the word “chaste”, which means “pure”. So the Lord’s chastisement carries with it
the sense of punishment, but also the sense of purifying action.
Just as the
ancient people of Judah were chastised – punished - by their defeat and subsequent captivity in
Babylon, so the Lord – back then, and in all times and in all places – seeks to
purify a people for His own possession.
Looking at
other periods of the history of God’s interaction with His people, we can see
evidence of this principle at work…consider the time of the Reformation in the
16th century as an example: The
medieval Church had become infatuated with worldly power and wealth. Its leadership was often very corrupt. Against this sort of idolatry – love of
wealth and temporal power – the reformers stood up in challenge. The result wasn’t at all pretty in many respects. But God purified the faith, and preserved for
Himself a faithful people from across the spectrum of the Christian family,[2] in
the process.
God’s
people – no matter their place or time in history – stand in need of God’s
purifying work. For the truth is that
none of us is perfect. We are all
fallible human beings, who are prone to engage in various forms of idolatry, as
we put some idea or some object in the place that God alone ought to occupy.
Oftentimes,
God’s purifying, chastening work isn’t pleasant to be a part of, or easy to
watch taking place. But God’s intent, in
ancient times and in our own time, is to preserve for Himself a faithful
people.
A final
thought might be in order: How would
God’s people preserve the image and design that God has in mind, being a
faithful vessel which demonstrates the intent of the creator? How would God’s people show that image to the
world? Allow me to offer some
suggestions:
· Love: In the Scriptures, we read that “God is
love.” (I John 4: 8) Reflecting the love that God has for us, the
love that we see most clearly in the person, work, teaching, life, suffering,
death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, Christians ought to be practitioners
of love. Perhaps our church signs might
carry the motto, “Love spoken here,” or “Love practiced here.” A word of caution should be added….since our
contemporary culture has such a skewed sense of what love is, we ought to
remind ourselves that the sort of love we are talking about is that
self-giving, self-sacrificing love (the Greek word for this sort of love is agape), not the sappy, sentimental,
romantic sense of this word that the contemporary culture has of it. This is the sort of love that is willing to
say the “tough things”, to speak the truth in love, to bear all things (as St.
Paul says in I Corinthians 13), to be willing to suffer the purifying work of
God in our lives as we realize that God is doing that work out of His boundless
love for us. Looking back at our reading
from Jeremiah this morning, we can see that God’s ardent love for His people is
the foundation of His plan to purify for Himself a faithful people.
· Centered
on God: Here we come to the matter
of idolatry. OK, I will admit, none of
our churches have statues of Ba’al or some other ancient idol in them. But what about some of the causes we elevate
to a high position in our estimation?
Aren’t we engaging in some sort of idolatry by casting our eyes and our
thoughts on some contemporary concern or another? Then, too, we might do well to reminder
ourselves that we can make an idol out of our church buildings, or out of our
liturgy, or out of any number of other things.
Remember that the ancient people of God in Jeremiah’s time were guilty
of idolatry, which is defined as putting something in the place that God alone
should have. Idolatry isn’t a matter of
degree…a person can’t engage in just a “little” idolatry. Any engagement with something – no matter how
worthy it might seem to be – that displaces God from His rightful, first place
in our worship and estimation is idolatry, pure and simple.
· The ongoing,
purifying work of God: It is well
for us to remember that God’s purifying work is ongoing. Since the Church is made up of imperfect
people (as we said a moment ago), this work will always be present, if we are
aware of it and open to it. As we look back
into the history of God’s people, we can see time periods when God’s work of
purification was more pronounced than at other times (the Reformation is but
one example). Let’s go back to the
people of Jeremiah’s time for a moment…as we look at the Lord’s comments, we
see that the Lord is placing in the hands of His people the choice to be
faithful, or to be faithless. The text
makes clear that the Lord’s mercy is always there, for the Lord is ready to
forgive and to show mercy. That is the
Lord’s “default” position, to be sure.
But the Lord cannot tolerate disobedience and willful ignorance of His
commands….The ancient people of Jeremiah’s time could not claim to be “Children
of Abraham” as if that status guaranteed them that they were permanently to be a
part of God’s favored people, as if they – like a vessel of clay – had been
found worthy of being fired into a permanent vessel. Neither can we claim to be God’s people if we
engage in idolatry or some other faithless practice. We have a critical role to play in God’s
plan, if only we will seek to be faithful to the Lord whose plan it is in the
first place.
Jeremiah’s
words resound down through the halls of time, to our own day. His warnings deserved to be heard in his own
day and time, and they deserve our attention today, as well.
May we, by
the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, be open to the Lord’s ongoing work of
purification of a people for His own possessing.
AMEN.
[1] The Bible contains more images of the potter
and the clay. Some of these may be found
in Isaiah 29:16, 41:25, 45:9, and 64:8.
St. Paul also uses this image in Romans 9:21.
[2] This purifying action’s results can be seen
in Roman Catholic, Anglican and
Protestant Churches.
