Can I not do to you, house of Israel, as this potter has done? Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. A prophet’s task is never an easy one because he often straddles the two worlds of the divine and the earth. For even as a prophet is sent to preach or ply his trade amongst his own people, he does so as a representative of God. A prophet is the mouthpiece of God, the visible presence of God in the community. In the same way, when the prophet is summoned by God, he is not summoned not only as an individual or an intercessor for the community but also as the community. When the prophet is before the Lord, he not only represents the community but rather is the community. This is why we find the Lord “using” the personal lives of prophets such as Hosea to communicate his message to the community.
In todays’ First Reading, we see the Lord leading the prophet Jeremiah to a potter’s workshop in order to speak to him. However, when we listen to the content of the Lord’s message to Jeremiah in the potter’s workshop, we immediately realize that the message was not meant for Jeremiah as an individual. The Lord was speaking to the community! The Lord had summoned Jeremiah’s community in order to speak to the people through a visual aid. It would appear that the community had hardened their hearts and turned deaf to the Lord’s verbal communications. The Lord hoped that with the help of a visual aid, he would perhaps make some progress. Since the community was not hearkening to the Lord’s summons to return to him, the Lord wanted the people to know that he is their potter: he has the power to destroy and restore. The Lord could, if he wanted, do away with the community and in its stead create a new people through whom he will fulfill his plans. The people’s stubbornness was not going to stand between the Lord and the fulfillment of the Lord’s plans.