Christian Reflection and Prayer

Read Psalm 75.

TEXT: My strength is dried up like a potsherd
(see Psalm 22:15).

Jews commonly used clay pots to store water. When a
jar broke into shards or pieces (called potsherds) it was
utterly useless. No longer able to hold water the shards
that once made up that pot dried up and grew brittle
under the blazing sun.

The image of a broken pot fits in well with the previous
verse where Jesus says He is poured out like water, and
His heart has melted within His breast. Jesus' body has
been lashed, beaten, pierced and stretched out of joint.
Like a broken pot, His lifeblood pours out from His head,
His hands, His feet, His battered shoulders, back and legs.
His life and strength slowly ebbs away.

If you stop a moment and think of Judas, the disciple that
betrayed Jesus, you see another shattered pot. After he
learned Jesus was condemned, Judas felt great regret for
his sin. But instead of trusting Jesus' promise to forgive
and restore him, Judas went out and hanged himself. The
priests took the betrayal money and bought the field where
Judas killed himself as a burial ground for strangers. That
field was a potter's field, a field strewn with broken
potsherds. Through his lack of faith and subsequent
suicide Judas became another broken pot, good for
nothing but destruction.

All of us are cracked clay pots, if not broken and shattered.
Yet in mercy Jesus comes to repair His broken pots, to
make us useful for God's purposes again. As we live out
our vocations we serve God by serving one another. As we
share the news of Jesus' sacrifice, the Spirit is at work,
repairing other broken pots.

THE PRAYER:

Lord Jesus Christ, You were like a shattered pot on the
cross, pouring out Your lifeblood for our salvation. Repair
my shattered life, and work through me to fulfill Your
purpose for my life. Amen.

(Lenten Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries)