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Once upon a time there was a piece of a jigsaw puzzle. It did not know it was a piece of a jigsaw puzzle; it only knew that it was there and it was pretty nice to be there. There were many other pieces which also knew little of themselves or their whereabouts. The pieces lived together, jumbled up in a big box. This first puzzle piece seemed to live quite well on its own. It ate its own food, drank its own drink, did its own work, and enjoyed its own peace. Seldom did the puzzle piece consider why it was different than all the other pieces. It rarely wondered, for example, why it ate and drank things that others would not try or why it felt quite comfortable next to some pieces and very uncomfortable next to others. These questions rarely came; they certainly did not affect how the puzzle piece lived its life.

One day, for some inexplicable reason, the first puzzle piece felt drawn, as if by a large magnet, to another piece. Maybe it was their common green color, maybe it was not. It only knew that the two fit perfectly together. It was as if it had been ordained to be that way from the beginning. When some other pieces saw that the two pieces had come together on their own, they also began to pair up -- reds with reds, blues with blues, square pieces with square pieces. Some pieces could not find a proper fit; others did not want to try. Those, however, that did find a match felt more fulfilled.

A little later two pairs found that they could become one group of four. In a flurry of activity, two pieces became three, two pairs became a quartet, and two quartets an octet. In the midst of all the activity, the original puzzle piece yelled out, "Where will it all end?" The question stunned the pieces; all was quiet. No one had ever thought of this before. One piece offered an answer, a second another response. The way was not clear, the future was uncertain. Without clear vision the pieces began to separate and for the first time in their lives they felt loneliness. The confusion that had been caused was worse than their original state. Something had to be done; it was simply intolerable to live without an answer. Then all of a sudden, miraculously or mercifully, someone or something dropped a picture in front of them. All the pieces stopped and stared. "It is us," they all shouted in unison. "At last, we know exactly how we fit and where we go!" In the end all the pieces reunited, the puzzle was solved, the picture was completed, and everyone lived happily ever after.1

The puzzle pieces were composed of all sizes, shapes, and colors. On the surface they did not seem to belong together at all, but once they realized that their unity and ability to complete the picture was up to them, they began to work as a team, in unison. Yes, they needed some assistance from above, someone or something to show them the "big picture" and how they fit together, but they had to be willing and ready to come and act as one. Their unity was a question of free will, the ability to say yes or no to any and all questions, opportunities, and possibilities.

In some important ways the story of the puzzle pieces closely illustrates the life and opportunities that the Hebrew people had. Unfortunately, unlike the puzzle pieces, who upon seeing the big picture were able to come together and find unity, the Hebrews were too independent and distrustful of each other to bring unity to the southern Kingdom of Judah and its people. God, the potter, was molding them, but as a result of the poor use of their free will, they failed to form themselves into a cohesive unit. They had the opportunity to grow toward God, but they wasted their chance. If we are not careful, the same fate may happen to us.

We hear in today's First Lesson the famous tale in Jeremiah of his visit to the potter's house. The prophet is told to go to the potter and observe his work so that the word of God can be proclaimed to him there. The potter is working hard at his trade, molding and shaping his clay pots as he wishes. God, of course, is the potter and the people of Judah the clay in his hands. God can mold the people of Judah to his own wishes. God can shape and control, but he does so in response to the people. God wishes the nation, the people of Judah, to be vibrant and pro-active. If the potter creates a beautiful pot, a unique people special to God, and the people, through their own free will, wander away in order to do evil, then God will remold the pot into another form that is not as worthy as the first. If, however, an inferior pot is made first and the people, again through their own free will, transform their lives and choose righteousness, God will refashion the first pot and create a new one that is far superior. God can create goodness and beauty from what appears to be evil and ugly. But God can also transform attitudes of superiority and cries of victory into a great defeat. God warns the Hebrews, as we hear at the end of today's lesson, "Look, I am a potter shaping evil against you and devising a plan against you. Turn now all of you from your evil way and amend your ways and your doings" (18:11c).

The people are like the puzzle pieces; they are of all types and are all jumbled up in the box. They have the overall picture provided by the Law and the prophets who speak God's word, but they have chosen to ignore the picture, God's plan for them. The leaders of the Hebrews have been derelict in their responsibilities, especially toward the poor. Power and prestige have corrupted the leaders so that individual pursuit and need have come ahead of the community's necessities. God is greatly disappointed in the actions of his chosen people and will now act to punish those responsible for the nation's failures.

We believe that God is all-loving, omniscient, omnipotent, and filled with compassion. Knowing this reality, we might legitimately ask why the world suffers. Why do pain, problems, and suffering exist in such abundance? If the Hebrews were God's chosen, holy, and special people, why does God, as we just heard, threaten evil against them? Why do people in positions of public trust commit acts that cause others not only to lose faith in the individual, but in the system as well? Why do people fight one another and the only question between them is the color of their skin, their political preference, or religious belief?

The basic answer to these challenging questions is personal choice, our free will to say yes or no to God at any time in any way. Søren Kierkegaard, the famous nineteenth century existentialist philosopher and theologian, once wrote, "Faith is a matter of choice, our personal decision in finding God." This personal decision, our free will, is why the world suffers. It is free will that allows the drunk to drive and kill others. It is free will that allows people in public service to break the law and thus lower the integrity of the system. It is free will that places certain members and groups in society on the fringe and does not allow them to participate. Free will moves us closer to or further from God. As Kierkegaard wrote, it is our decision; faith is our choice. We must, therefore, judiciously guard and rightly use this most precious gift.

God is the one in control and we, God's greatest creation, have absolute dependence upon God. The Lord does not act arbitrarily, but rather, responds by taking human free will into consideration. God reacts to our words and actions. God most assuredly wishes good to prevail and desires conversion of hearts and minds; the Lord will always be faithful to his commitment to us. We are reminded by the Pauline author in 2 Timothy: "If we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he will also deny us; if we are faithless, he will remain faithful for he cannot deny himself" (2:11-13). God, like any loving parent, waits for us, his sometimes prodigal children, to return home. Like the father in the famous parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32), God waits for us; all we need do is to make the first step.

We must make a commitment to use our free will wisely. In our homes and in our relationships with family members and close friends, we must use our free will to foster and build up relationships and to promote love and harmony in the home. Too many times today people use their free will to be confrontational, offering their own opinion as the only valid one. We assert our power to the detriment of others. But we can, if we choose, seek unity, like the puzzle pieces, to see how we can fit and work together in God's overall picture for our world. A commitment to the proper use of free will must also be made in our daily lives in society and in the decisions we make regularly. Too often today we hear of political and business decisions that are made to benefit an individual or a select group of people. The basic Christian concept of working for the promotion of the common good seems to fade from our minds, and, therefore, our actions. Contemporary society, especially here in the United States, is plagued with what people call "random acts of violence." The exaltation of the individual, so much promoted by people today, is antithetical to the development of unity and community. The picture we desire will never be complete if we choose to "go it alone" or "do our own thing," as contemporary parlance puts it. In place of individualism, we must offer to be remolded by God into a united and whole people. In place of random acts of violence, we must substitute random acts of kindness. In place of exercising power, we must offer humility. We must be willing as individuals to sit at the lowest end of the table, as Jesus tells us, so that we can be asked one day to come up higher (Luke 14:7-11).

Free will, one of the two great gifts that separates us from the rest of God's creation, is a powerful tool that can be used for good or evil; the choice is always ours! God will never place any of us in handcuffs and demand compliance to a certain response or set way of doing things. Let us, therefore, this day recommit ourselves to the wise and proper use of this great gift. May we seek to be remolded by God, the great potter, into the image of Christ, so that we can be a people unique and special, a community that others would be inspired to follow. Let us set our goal to find our way to the loving embrace of God, the source of all that is good.


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1. Paraphrased from "The Jigsaw Puzzle," in John Aurelio, Colors! Stories of the Kingdom (Mystic, Connecticut: Twenty-Third Publications), pp. 19-20.