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THE MAKING OF A BODACIOUS WOMAN

Jeremiah 18:1-11

I really like the words to the song “Till You Do Me Right.”¹ It is a song about a relationship that has gone bad. It is a song about someone’s feelings being disregarded and his or her personhood being disrespected. It is a song about somebody who has a good measure of self-esteem and requires other folks to treat him or her right. It is a song about someone who seems to know what it feels like to have been messed with, mistreated, lied to, and hurt because of the lies and duplicity of a partner who has caused deep pain.

The songwriter seems to have had some firsthand experience with a person who had taken him or her for granted and neglected to consider that a person’s ways are eventually found out. The song is definitely about a love that has gone sour. The song is from the heart of a person who has been betrayed, who has known what it’s like to forgive one incident and even another, only to find out that the relationship has been a lie all the time. This person sounds like an individual who has cried long into the night and woke up to meet those same tears. This person writes as one who has tried to fool himself or herself time after time and keeps getting slapped in the face with the reality of being dishonest with oneself. I know from personal experience about the words of this song. I have been there and have surely done that!

As long as you are asleep and in a fog about an individual, your heart sings and your emotions ride high. You can stay on a cloud and imagine what life is going to be like with this awesome individual. You spend time talking and sharing and dreaming and planning. You dare to risk being intimate, not only allowing that person to enter your sacred sexual space but also letting him or her have access to your inner thoughts, your innermost secrets, and your untold hopes. Oh, it’s heaven to be able to talk seriously and to be open and honest and to believe that you have been listened to with attention. It’s wonderful to be in love!

We all have a fantasy of finding that special someone who will love us without conditions, who will care for us no matter what, and who will be there for us when the chips are down. We want passion. We want excitement. We want sexual thrills. But more than anything, we want someone to love us gently and to be committed to us for the long haul. It’s part of the human dream, part of the human psyche. Love is what makes the world go round. No matter where you travel, no matter what the race, tribe, or ethnic group, there is a sexual attraction and a mating ritual and a game that we play.

Love sells. It sells books. It sells movies and videos. It sells clothing and perfumes. It sells cars and even vacuum cleaners. Its rates high as an advertiser. It rates high as a featured attraction in lectures, workshops, and seminars. Everybody wants love! Love can be wonderful. Love can be special. Love can be grand. Love can open your nose and cause you to do crazy things. Love can make you behave like an imbecile. Love can make you go out on a limb and get yourself in debt trying to please and win over the object of your love. Love can make you compromise your values and do things you swore you never would. Love can make you toss away your ethics and get you involved in things you would not commonly do. Love can make you crazy. Love can make you stupid. Love can make a fool out of the best of us. For we all need someone to love. And, more important, we need someone to love us.

Love can go wrong. Sometimes we do not make the best choices about lovers. Sometimes we allow our emotions to run wild without engaging our heads. Sometimes our heart says one thing, our rational thought says something else, and confusion sets in. Sometimes we begin to suspect that things are not what we thought they were. Sometimes we begin to get the feeling that we are being played. Sometimes the little things just do not add up. The stories do not jibe. The words do not ring true. There is no consistency between the words being said and the feelings we are experiencing. A little nagging voice begins to say, “Watch out.” A little whisper in our ear says, “Be careful.” A little nudge in our spirit says, “This ain’t right.” And once awakened, a sleeping fool cannot be put back to sleep.

I was talking with another clergy member about one of her female parishioners, whose husband of thirty-two years had played her once too often. He had three other women, and babies by each one. The women had credit cards with his name, and the bills came to his home. The wife had gotten tired, and the husband had to go. He left a number where he could be reached, and she did not call for many days. But love will make you change your mind. So, she dialed the number, and a woman answered the phone. When the husband came to the phone, the wife asked, “Who was that?” Can you believe that he tried to make her think that she was crazy by telling her that no woman had answered the phone? What was more shocking was the fact that he had played that game before and she had fallen for it! Love can make you doubt your sanity.

But one day the light will click on. One day the sun will break through the fog in your mind. One day you simply wake up. Things begin to add up for you, you begin to see clearly, and you simply know what you know and know that you know it. First, you begin to give out little hints. Then you begin to give just the eye clue that says, “I’m not as dumb as I look.” Finally, you get tired of the game playing and begin to sing the song:

Ain’t nothing good gonna happen to you, till you

do me right.

I don’t want to talk to you, till you do me right.

I don’t want to hear you call my name, till you do

me right.

Cause ain’t nothing good gonna happen to you, till

you do me right.²

Girlfriend, you have become a bodacious woman!

Nobody wants to be made a fool. Nobody wants to be played. Nobody wants to believe that they were dumb enough to fall for the old con game of being taken for a sucker. We do strange things when people take advantage of our affections. We act in peculiar ways when we know that someone is trying to use us for his or her advantage. We are likely to hurt, get back at, or even kill a person who misuses our affection. Alienation of affection is a serious offense in a court of law, and divorces have been granted on this charge. Murder cases have been won when the jury buys the defense of a love gone wrong that affects the defendant’s judgment, causing that person to kill out of temporary insanity because of the anguish.

We can all understand a scorned lover being hurt. We can all comprehend a scorned lover taking revenge. But we cannot fathom our God being a lover who will turn on us. God longs for us to be true lovers in our personal relationship. God desires that we would be genuine, straight-up, authentic, and real when we say that we love God. God wants words that are backed up with action. God wants sincerity of motive, honest expression, and deeds that will let the world know that we really are serious about this love.

God is the ultimate lover, who chose us when we had nothing to offer. This love came our way when we were downright ugly, dirty, filthy, and lost in our sin. When we were in the gutter of life, God came and picked us up, turned us around, and claimed us with love. God has been a generous lover. God has been a tender lover. God has been a kind lover. God has always been there for us. God has continued to make ways for us. God has been faithful to us. And God has loved us so much that God’s only begotten child was sent to die in our place. You cannot doubt God’s love; it has been proven. You cannot fault God’s love; it has been steadfast. You cannot deny God’s love; it has been rock steady. But God’s people have always had a habit of playing God for a fool. God’s people have a reputation of walking off, being unfaithful, and even having affairs with other gods. God’s people have a tendency to lie, cheat, and try to swindle the greatest lover who has ever been. We think we can play with God’s love and get away with it.

The prophet Jeremiah was deeply involved in the political life of the people of God. He prophesied under the reigns of many kings, both in the united kingdom of Israel and after the kingdom was split in two. Jeremiah announced judgment on God’s backsliding folks. Jeremiah pronounced doom if they didn’t fall on their faces and repent of their evil ways. Jeremiah had a message from God to those who continued to play God for a fool. Prophets always received their message straight from God and always began their message by saying, “This is the Word of the Lord.”

Jeremiah wanted the nation to understand that the message was hard to hear, although it was not difficult to understand. The message was filled with warnings and impending judgment, but it was from God. Jeremiah did not want to bring it; he did not want to say it, and he did not want to be around to see it come true. However, he was only the messenger, and the message had to be delivered. Jeremiah came to tell the church of the living God that God said, “Nothing good is gonna happen to you till you do me right. I don’t want to talk with you, so don’t bother to pray till you decide to do me right. I don’t want to hear you call my name, with your two-faced ways, until you do me right. Cause nothing good is gonna happen to you until you do me right!”

Jeremiah told the people how he had been sent by God to go and watch a potter spin a vessel on the wheel. As Jeremiah watched a master craftsman at work, the pot fell. If you have ever worked with clay, you know it’s pliable and weak, not strong and hardy. So, even in the making, the pot was spoiled in the potters hand. But rather than throwing the pot away, rather than saying it was worthless, rather than saying it was no-account and useless, the potter took that spoiled vessel and began to reshape and remake it into a more beautiful vessel than it had been previously.

It is our human tendency to want to destroy something that is deformed. When our relationships go sour, we want to pull each other down, take away every material thing, and wreck each other’s lives. We do not want the other person, but we do not want anybody else to want that person either. We like to reject those who have hurt us. We want to turn our backs on them and to write them off as worthless. Thank God for the Potter who does not have our human frailties. Thank God for a second chance. Thank God for the opportunity to be reworked instead of destroyed.

We know that we are not living up to our fullest potential. We are scorning the Lover of our souls. We are rejecting true love. But, the Potter wants to make us over again. The Potter wants to do a new job on us, not to destroy us but to make our love relationship stronger, better, and more committed. We know that we are playing God. We know that we are not being fair. We know that we attend church without really worshiping God. We realize that we take the holy sacrament without really meaning to be disciples. We understand that we take God’s breath, time, energy, and strength, and we go to work to receive the monetary blessings that God has stored up for us, and then we take God’s time and money and give it to our other lovers!

“Reverend, I do not have time to work with the children’s ministry; I’m so tired after working all day.” “Reverend, I just cannot get here for Bible study; it’s my bowling/bridge/sorority meeting/football night.” “Reverend, I cannot tithe, but I consistently increase my pledge.” “Reverend, I cannot tithe; I owe too many people, I have too many bills, I have kids in school.” Well, God got tired of the excuses. God got tired of the old rap. God had enough of being lied to over and over again. God said, “Look, I am a potter shaping evil against you and devising a plan against you.”

“Wait, God—you are love. Wait, God—you are gentle. Wait, God—you are meek and mild-mannered. Wait, God—you are simply too nice to sound like that.” But God is a lover who has been spurned. God is a lover who has been rejected. God is a lover who has been played over and over again. This is a warning for the game players. This is a warning for those who continue to want to play church. This is a warning for those who will not be serious about their relationship with God. God is not ignorant of what we do; God is not crazy. God sees. God is watching. And God is warning us that our evil ways will be judged.

The Potter wants to work out that ultimate purpose for your life. If it takes hard times and difficulties, God will send them your way. God wants us to be vessels of beauty, pure both inside and out. If it takes long nights and difficult days to get you to return to your lover, God is willing to allow that to happen.

The troubles, the difficulties, the misery, and the trials are meant not to punish you but to draw you back to the arms of the Beloved. God loves you so much. God wants so much to have you in an open and honest relationship. God wants to be intimate with you and to work on you, from the inside out. God wants to shine in your life. God wants the victory to be yours. God wants you to be the most dazzling, brilliant, and awesome display of divine love. God wants you to be a bodacious woman.

You know how people want to show off their best china. We want to display our best porcelain and crystal. We want the world to see the most beautiful and most cherished articles that we possess. Just so, God wants the world to see Christ in our lives. And this happens only when we are in love with and devoted fully to our God.

Love is always about correction. Love is always about relationship. Love is always about having your best in mind. So, Love told Jeremiah, “I am the Potter and I want the people to know I want no more game playing. For nothing good is gonna happen to them till they do me right. I don’t want to hear from them until they decide to do me right. I don’t want to hear them call my name till they do me right. For nothing good is gonna happen to them till they do me right!”

Then, Love told Jeremiah how the people could do right. “All you have to do,” said Jeremiah, “is straighten up and fly right. If you will turn now, all of you, from your evil ways and amend your ways and your doings, Love will do you right! Repent, change, do differently from what you are doing. There is a better way. There is a new way that leads to more abundant life. The choice is up to you.” With just one turn toward God in honesty and earnestness, the bodacious woman within you is released and your world is a much better place. So, always keep in mind the voice of God saying, “Nothing good is gonna happen to you till you do me right!”