The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: “Come, go down to the potter’s house, and there I will let you hear my words.”

So begins our morning’s reading from the Old Testament. When you hear those words, you may wonder what the Bible meant when it said, “The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord.“ How did that word come to Jeremiah? Was it written down somewhere? Did Jeremiah hear it audibly? Just who was this Jeremiah anyway and why did the word of the Lord come to him?

Lots of questions come to mind. They are questions that deserve some attention before we go any further. Let’s start with the last question about Jeremiah’s identity. Jeremiah was a prophet who lived in the kingdom of Judah about six centuries before Christ. He was the son of a priest, but when still a young man, the …