My Alabaster Jar

Imagine this: 

You have this jar. It is marble and intricately delicate; It appears almost transparent, due to its rare, white color. It sits on a safe place in your house, maybe on top of a shelf so the kids or dog can’t knock it over. Inside it; a priceless oil or perfume. An alluring aroma that is worth more than its weight in gold. It is like a precious bottle of wine, sitting for decades only to be used on the most special occasion. One of the most important things to know about this jar is that it can only be used once. In order to use it, it has to be cracked open.  You’ve been saving your jar for years, waiting on the right moment. The right use, but now you know. A man is in town. You decide that he is worth your priceless oil. You decide to pour it over his head as he is reclining at a table.  As you do, his friends instantly react with negative emotions for wasting it as you could have sold it for the poor or saved it for a better occasion. Their emotions don’t rule you, though, because you are in love with this man. You are in such awe and wonder, that you know this is how it was meant to be. You pour it out as an act of worship. Another woman has a jar like yours. It is just as beautiful and rare. It is just as special to her as yours was to you. She hears of the same man, eating at a high ranking religious man’s house. She decides to go. As she gets to the house, she begins to weep at his feet. As she wept, she began washing his feet with her tears and wiping them with her hair. She then broke her jar to pour her perfume on his feet.  

In Jesus’ day, this jar was known as an alabaster jar. This jar has captivated my interest. There are three separate times throughout the gospels that we see this jar mentioned. I don’t know about you, but I had never heard about this ‘jar’ until this week. It is one of those details that we probably skip over a few times too often. The first time we see it is in Matthew 26, verses 6-13. Jesus is eating at Simon’s house, it says, “… a woman approached him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume. She poured it on his head as he was reclining at the table.” As she does this, Jesus’ disciples become indignant asking why she had wasted this expensive jar and oil. Jesus rebuked them saying, “Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a noble  thing for me. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.” The other time we see this is when Jesus is eating at a Pharisee’s house. Luke 7 verses 37-38 says, “… She brought an alabaster jar of perfume and stood behind him at his feet, weeping, and began to wash his feet with her tears. She wiped his feet with her hair, kissing them and anointing them with perfume.” In his head, the pharisee says, “This man, if he were a prophet, would know who and what kind of woman this is who is touching him — a sinner.” Then Jesus responds… PAUSE: Jesus is responding to his inward thinking … RESUME: Jesus says, “ … Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she, with her tears, has washed my feet and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but she hasn’t stopped kissing my feet since I came in. You didn’t anoint my head with olive oil, but she anointed my feet with perfume. Therefore I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven; that’s why she loved much. But the one who is forgiven little, loves little.” … I mean, if that doesn’t take you back and make you want to read it again because it’s crazy, I don’t know what will. That is just how good He is. One thing that fascinates me about these women is that they break their jars for Jesus. These jars were used for such special, one time occasions that they had to be cracked in order to get the perfume out. These women had realized that His love for them, despite what sins they needed to be forgiven from, was worth even their most prized possession. 

Saying this has made me ask myself, what is my alabaster jar? What is my prized possession that I can offer to Him as an act of worship? I want to live in surrender, truly not caring what it costs. Being completely honest, it is hard to be home. It is hard not to be where I thought I would be, again. It is hard to pursue Him as passionately as I did in Georgia. It is hard to only see my new community through social media and facetime. It is hard to be in quarantine. BUT, He got on that cross with ME on His mind, and you, and you, and yes, you too. LIKE WHAT??!?! When I reflect on that, I can’t help but want to give Him my alabaster jar. 

love you guys, 

kaylin 🙂