Sermon Illustrations for Proper 18 | Ordinary Time 23 (2022)
Jeremiah 18:1-11
Americans like to think they are in control, that each of us is responsible for determining his or her own fate. It is as William Shakespeare once put it: “It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.” Famed 19th-century German Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche claimed that “we ought to face our destiny with courage.” Not so, our lesson proclaims, God is the potter and we are but clay (vv.5-6). John Calvin compared Jeremiah’s message to our false confidence in life as our responsibility to determine outcomes. He wrote: