The potter's vessels and the washing of regeneration
Chrysostom is addressing the catechumens, explaining how baptism remakes the whole person, and now turns to the prophet's image of the potter's vessels to show that God can reshape those who have fallen.
Suppose someone takes a golden statue that has been fouled by long years, by smoke, by dust, and by rust, and melts it down. He gives it back to us spotless and gleaming. That is what God has done with our nature. It had rusted over with the rust of sin, it had absorbed a great deal of smoke from our offenses, and it had lost the beauty He deposited in it at the beginning. He took it and melted it down from above. He plunged it into the waters as into a smelting furnace, and He let the grace of the Spirit play over it instead of flame. Then He brings us up from there freshly formed and new, able at last to look the sun's rays in the face with great radiance. He has crushed the old man and fashioned a new one, more splendid than the first.
It was this crushing and this mystical cleansing that the prophet was hinting at long ago when he said, 'You will crush them like a potter's vessel' (Psalm 2:9). That he is speaking about the faithful is shown clearly by what comes before: 'You are my Son,' he says, 'today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance, and the ends of the earth as your possession' (Psalm 2:7-8). Do you see how he remembered the Church drawn from the nations, and spoke of Christ's kingdom stretching everywhere? Then he says again, 'You will shepherd them with an iron rod'—not a burdensome one, but a strong one—'you will crush them like a potter's vessel' (Psalm 2:9). See how the washing is presented here in a more mystical way. He did not simply say 'earthen vessels,' but 'a potter's vessel.' Pay close attention. Earthen vessels, once crushed, cannot be repaired, because of the hardness the fire has produced in them once for all. But a potter's vessels are not earthenware; they are clay. So even when they are distorted, they can easily return to a second shape through the craftsman's skill. When Scripture speaks of an incurable disaster, it does not say 'a potter's vessel' but 'an earthen vessel.' For example, when God wanted to teach the prophet and the Jews that He had handed the city over to an incurable disaster, He commanded him to take an earthen jar, crush it before all the people, and say, 'So shall this city be destroyed and crushed' (Jeremiah 19:10-11). But when He wants to hold out good hopes to them, He brings the prophet down to a potter's workshop. He does not show him an earthen vessel; He shows him a clay vessel taking shape in the potter's hands, falling apart, and then He adds, 'If this potter takes up the vessel that fell apart and reshapes it, will I not be far more able to set you right after you have fallen apart?' (Jeremiah 18:3-6).
God is able not only to set right those who are clay through the washing of regeneration, but also to bring back to their original state those who have received the Spirit's working and then slipped away, through careful repentance. But this is not the time for you to hear about repentance. Rather, may the time never come when you need those medicines. May you always preserve intact the beauty and radiance you are about to receive now. So that you may always preserve it, let me speak to you briefly about your way of life. In this wrestling school, the athletes' falls carry no danger. The contest is against friends, and they practice everything on the bodies of their teachers.
Greek
Ὥσπερ οὖν ἀνδριάντα χρυσοῦν πολλῷ τῷ χρόνῳ καὶ τῷ καπνῷ καὶ τῇ κόνει καὶ ἰῷ ῥυπωθέντα λαβών τις καὶ χωνεύσας, καθαρώτατον ἡμῖν καὶ ἀστράπτοντα ἀποδίδωσιν, οὕτω καὶ τὴν φύσιν τὴν ἡμετέραν ὁ Θεὸς ἰωθεῖσαν τῷ τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἰῷ, καὶ πολὺν δεξαμένην τὸν καπνὸν τὸν ἀπὸ τῶν πλημμελημάτων, καὶ τὸ κάλλος ἀπολέσασαν, ὅπερ παρ' αὐτοῦ παρὰ τὴν ἀρχὴν ἐγκατέθηκε, λαβὼν ἄνωθεν ἐχώνευσε, καὶ καθάπερ εἰς χωνευτήριον ἐμβαλὼν τὰ ὕδατα, καὶ τὴν τοῦ Πνεύματος ἐπαφεὶς χάριν ἀντὶ φλογὸς, εἶτα νεοπαγεῖς ἐκεῖθεν καὶ καινοὺς γενομένους ἀντιβλέψαι λοιπὸν ταῖς ἡλιακαῖς ἀκτῖσι μετὰ πολλῆς ἀνάγει τῆς λαμπρότητος, τὸν μὲν παλαιὸν συντρίψας ἄνθρωπον, νέον δὲ κατασκευάσας τοῦ προτέρου λαμπρότερον. δʹ. Καὶ ταύτην ἡμῖν τὴν συντριβὴν καὶ τὸν μυστικὸν τοῦτον καθαρμὸν αἰνιττόμενος ὁ προφήτης ἄνωθεν ἔλεγεν· Ὡς σκεῦος κεραμέως συντρίψεις αὐτούς. Ὅτι γὰρ περὶ τῶν πιστῶν ὁ λόγος, ἡμῖν τὰ ἀνωτέρω δείκνυσι σαφῶς· Υἱὸς γάρ μου εἶ σὺ, φησίν· ἐγὼ σήμερον γεγέννηκά σε. Αἴτησαι παρ' ἐμοῦ, καὶ δώσω σοι τὰ ἔθνη τὴν κληρονομίαν σου, καὶ τὴν κατάσχεσίν σου τὰ πέρατα τῆς γῆς. Εἶδες πῶς τῆς ἐκ τῶν ἐθνῶν Ἐκκλησίας ἐμνημόνευσε, καὶ τὴν πανταχοῦ τοῦ Χριστοῦ τεταμένην βασιλείαν εἶπεν; Εἶτά φησι πάλιν· Ποιμανεῖς αὐτοὺς ἐν ῥάβδῳ σιδηρᾷ· οὐ φορτικῇ, ἀλλ' ἰσχυρᾷ· ὡς σκεῦος κεραμέως συντρίψεις αὐτούς. Ἰδοὺ καὶ τὸ λουτρὸν μυστικώτερον παρελήφθη· οὐ γὰρ εἶπεν ἁπλῶς σκεύη ὀστράκινα, ἀλλὰ σκεύη κεραμέως. Ἀλλὰ προσέχετε. Τὰ μὲν γὰρ ὀστράκινα σκεύη συντριβέντα οὐκ ἂν λάβοι διόρθωσιν, διὰ τὴν ἐκ τοῦ πυρὸς ἐγγενομένην αὐτοῖς ἅπαξ ἀντιτυπίαν· ὅτι δὲ τὰ σκεύη τοῦ κεραμέως οὐκ ἔστιν ὀστράκινα, ἀλλὰ πήλινα· ὅθεν καὶ διαστραφέντα ῥᾳδίως ἂν πρὸς τὸ δεύτερον ἐπανέλθῃ σχῆμα τῇ τοῦ τεχνίτου σοφίᾳ. Ὅταν μὲν οὖν συμφορὰν ἀνίατον λέγῃ, οὐ σκεύη κεραμέως φησὶν, ἀλλὰ σκεῦος ὀστράκινον. Ὅτε γοῦν ἐβούλετο διδάξαι τὸν προφήτην καὶ τοὺς Ἰουδαίους, ὅτι συμφορᾷ ἀνιάτῳ παρέδωκε τὴν πόλιν, ἐκέλευσε λαβεῖν βίκον ὀστράκινον, καὶ συντρίψαι ἔμπροσθεν παντὸς τοῦ δήμου, καὶ εἰπεῖν· Οὕτως ἀπολεῖται καὶ ἡ πόλις, καὶ συντριβήσεται. Ἐπειδὰν δὲ βούληται χρηστὰς αὐτοῖς ὑποτείνειν ἐλπίδας, εἰς κεραμεῖον κατάγει τὸν προφήτην, καὶ οὐ δείκνυσιν αὐτῷ σκεῦος ὀστράκινον, ἀλλὰ δείκνυσιν αὐτῷ σκεῦος πήλινον ἐν ταῖς χερσὶ τοῦ κεραμέως γινόμενον, διαπίπτον, καὶ ἐπάγει λέγων· Εἰ ὁ κεραμεὺς οὗτος τὸ σκεῦος τὸ διαπεσὸν ἀναλαβὼν ἐῤῥύθμισε πάλιν, οὐ πολλῷ μᾶλλον ἐγὼ δυνήσομαι διαπεσόντας ὑμᾶς ἐπανορθῶσαι; Δυνατὸν μὲν οὖν τῷ Θεῷ οὐχὶ πηλίνους ὄντας μόνον διορθῶσαι διὰ λουτροῦ παλιγγενεσίας, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν τοῦ Πνεύματος δεξαμένους ἐνέργειαν, καὶ διολισθήσαντας διὰ μετανοίας ἠκριβωμένης πρὸς τὸ ἀρχαῖον ἐπαναγαγεῖν. Ἀλλ' οὐ καιρὸς ὑμῖν τοὺς περὶ μετανοίας ἀκοῦσαι λόγους· μᾶλλον δὲ μηδέποτε γένοιτο καιρὸς εἰς χρείαν ὑμᾶς ἐκείνων ἐμπεσεῖν τῶν φαρμάκων, ἀλλ' ἀεὶ μένοιτε τὸ κάλλος καὶ τὴν λαμπρότητα, ἣν μέλλετε λαμβάνειν νῦν, ἀκέραιον διατηροῦντες. Ἵνα οὖν ἀεὶ μένοιτε, φέρε καὶ περὶ πολιτείας ὑμῖν διαλεχθῶμεν ὀλίγα· ἐν γὰρ τῇ παλαίστρᾳ ταύτῃ ἀκίνδυνα τοῖς ἀθληταῖς τὰ πτώματα· πρὸς γὰρ τοὺς οἰκείους ἡ πάλη, καὶ τοῖς σώμασι τῶν διδασκάλων ἐμμελετῶσιν ἅπαντα.