An artist slips with her brush and makes a mark on the painting that does not belong.  She need not get another canvas; rather she simply corrects the mistake.   A potter is creating a vessel when it starts to lean to one side.  It is not necessary to throw the clay out and start again with fresh clay; but the vessel must be reworked into another vessel. 

            The Lord says to Jeremiah it is the same with the chosen people of God.  When the nation of Israel turns evil, he must break it down – reduce it to a ball of clay so that he can rework it into a new vessel worthy of carrying God’s word to all nations.  The people responded to Jeremiah much the same way any of us would respond – with anger.  No one wants to destroy what they have worked hard to create and start over in hopes of getting it right the second or even third or fourth time.

            Yet, that is the message God shares with Jeremiah and Jeremiah shares with the people.   I love this image of the people of God being the potter’s clay.  Like the potter, God is at work in our lives attempting to create something beautiful, something that fulfills a need.  At times, though, we think we know what is best and interfere.  God patiently reworks the clay and starts again. 

            In our Gospel reading, Jesus is going to Jerusalem to be handed over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified and he tells this to his disciplines.  It doesn’t appear the apostles understand him, for next they are jockeying for position wanting to sit in a place of importance beside Jesus in his Kingdom.  This story reminds me of growing up with five brothers, each of us wanting something the others couldn’t have.  We each want to be special – to stand out. 

Jesus asks – are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink? He is asking if they are truly willing to be destroyed by the potter and reworked into a new vessel.  They reply, “We are able.”  Then they bicker like six little boys (12 in this case).   Jesus tells them that to be first they must be last, “just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.”

            Jesus gave his life for us and was resurrected – and Christ calls us give our lives to God so that, like the potter, God can create from us a new vessel capable of carrying Christ within us.