Psalm 31:9-16
Jeremiah 18:1-11, 18-20
Matthew 20:17-28
HAVE YOU EVER FELT like that clay pot? Looking around and thinking, hey I’m a pretty good pot. I’m pleasant to look at; I hold cold, clean water for people to drink; I am always available whenever I’m needed. I’m doing just what a pot should do. And I’m feeling pretty good about myself. Then along comes the potter to take a look at you. He carefully examines your inside and your outside, and says, “Well, this is a nice pot, but it’s not quite what I created it to be.” And there you go, back onto the wheel, being reshaped.
There’s an Amy Grant song that says, “All I ever have to be is what You made me to be.” True. But it’s not always easy to know what that is. I find that my image of myself is not always in line with what God’s image of me seems to be. Likewise, my image of God is not always in line with who God really is. Much like James and John’s mother, seeking something from a worldly “king-to-be” and missing the reality before her. How disappointed people must have been when Jesus was captured and crucified. Consider how many people, in addition to the Apostles, followed him and how few came together after Easter Day.
When God doesn’t live up to our expectations, it is because our expectations are of the image we have created, not of the reality. The truly joyful news is that God continues to shape us into beings who can see that reality.
