Psalm Reflection: Pentecost Sunday - Cycle B

“Lord, send out your Spirit, and renew the face of the earth.” - Psalms 104

In Isaiah 64:7, the prophet writes:

Yet, LORD, you are our father; we are the clay and you our potter: we are all the work of your hand.

I have always appreciated pottery but have never had the chance to try it. I have watched countless videos on it that I find it deeply relaxing and satisfying. However, I imagine than when it comes down to me actually having to do it myself it will be much more difficult than people make it look.

I imagine that God, the Divine Potter, would have good reason to be frustrated with His creation not turning out the way He intended for it be in Eden. 

The LORD God formed the man out of the dust of the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. - Genesis 2:7

But the Lord is perfect and good. He is kind and patient. He does not destroy the clay when it becomes frustrating and misshapen, He turns it into to something new.

That is what the Psalmist inviting us to pray this week: “Lord, send out your Spirit, and renew the face of the earth.” It is through the creative action of the Holy Spirit that God can reshape and recreate us into the work of His hands. Jesus came to proclaim that the kingdom of God was at hand, and manifests that kingdom by making broken things whole again. He does this in John chapter 9 when He heals the man born blind using the language and action of a potter reforming a broken vessel:

As he passed by he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “Neither he nor his parents sinned; it is so that the works of God might be made visible through him. We have to do the works of the one who sent me while it is day. Night is coming when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva, and smeared the clay on his eyes, and said to him, “Go wash in the Pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So he went and washed, and came back able to see. -John 9:1-7

Notice how Jesus, who has the power to heal with His mere words, decides to use physical clay to restore the man’s sight. It is as if He, as the incarnate Divine Potter, wants to reform our broken mounds of clay into something new and more glorious. He sees the cracks and deficiencies in us, and throws us back on the pottery wheel to restore us with the new clay of His Holy Spirit.

Jesus took care of sin and death by dying for our sins on the cross, but we still live in a world that has been distorted by sin and evil. God still wants to get us back to Eden, and so He sends the Holy Spirit to reform us and reshape us into new creations. He adds new clay to the areas that are cracked or broken and forms us into new vessels.

In order for God to heal us, things in our lives will need to be reformed and reshaped. It may feel like things are falling apart before they get better, like clay being reduced to a mound in order to be made into something new. We are called to trust that the Divine Potter knows what He is doing and that we are being made into something new and whole by His capable hands.

Where are you currently experiencing the brokenness of sin and suffering in your life?

Where do you need to Lord to reshape you and reform you?

Are you ready and willing to let go of how your life looks now in order to be made into something new? If not, what is holding you back?

Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.” We have to be willing to let parts of us die for new life to spring up. We must present ourselves before God with an openness to change, for He tells us “Behold, I make all things new” (Revelation 21:5). If we do not want to be made new, we are telling God that we do not want Him or His will for our lives.

The Holy Spirit wants to manifest in abundant, supernatural ways in your life. He wants to make you whole and new, able to do things you were never able to do before. But there is only one driver’s seat, and if you are in it, He cannot take the wheel. If we let Him take the wheel, He will throw our clay bodies onto it and spin us into something more glorious.

Do not stand in His way.

A pot cannot spin itself.

You need the Potter.

Trust that He knows what He is doing, and the end result will be worth any deforming that is needed to get there.

I am praying for you, please pray for me, and I will see you in the Eucharist.

Matt

This reflection is based on the Responsorial Psalm for this Sunday, May 19th, 2024, which is Pentecost Sunday - Cycle B: Psalms 104:1, 24, 29-30, 31, 34.