The Alabaster Jar

Author: Tearfund

A Life Poured Out.

We see an example of this in Mary who anointed Jesus (John 12:1-8).

Let us do as Mary did and smash the alabaster jar, so we may be overcome by the fragrance of Jesus.

Utter Exposure 

I will never forget staying with ‘my lady’ in Cambodia on my first trip with Tearfund because she changed my life forever.

She’s called ‘my lady’ because, to my shame, I struggled to say her name in Khmer and thus haven’t retained it.

But ‘my lady,’ a title of respect, sums up what she was like.  

She had no latrine. You just had to go in the field.

There was one hand-water pump in the village that gave out greenish, slimy water, which the whole village drank, but not me.

She had a single light in her bamboo hut, powered by a car battery.

And She cooked the most wonderful meals over an open fire. 

But there was something very special about ‘my lady.’ She was HIV positive.

She had contracted this from her husband, who had been away to work for long periods of time,

and had brought the disease home to their lovemaking!

He had died some years before.

 The Alabaster Jar.

She showed me his photograph.

The frame was carefully and lovingly decorated with paper flowers. 

And because of her status every night ‘my lady’ had this ritual. 

In front of that photograph, in the light of that bare bulb, she put on her glasses that she had fashioned out of bent wire and couple of loose lens;

she opened her Bible and read out loud the passage she had chosen;

and then, carefully, ever so carefully, she took her antiviral medicine.

Then she paused silently, bowed her head and prayed. 

And somehow in the semi darkness with her glasses, her Bible and her medicine, I had witnessed redemption.

Life in the midst of death. 

When I think about Mary anointing Jesus, this is the powerful sense that comes to me, utter exposure—

–worship that’s like having your guts ripped out.

The full meaning of the word ‘worship’ in the ancient Greek means something like “going forward for a kiss.”

When Jesus calls us into worship, he calls us into an intimate deep personal connection with him.

From ‘My lady’ and Mary, we see it demands nothing less than your whole self, your entire person-hood, and your life.

Poured out, utterly exposed. 

As you reflect on their stories, pray that we too will learn to worship in this way.

The Alabaster Jar.

John 12:1-8 KJV

[1] Then Jesus six days before the passover came to Bethany,

where Lazarus was which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead.

[2] There they made him a supper; and Martha served: but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him.

[3] Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly,

and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment.

[4] Then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, which should betray him,

[5] Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor?

[6] This he said, not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein.

[7] Then said Jesus, Let her alone: against the day of my burying hath she kept this.

[8] For the poor always ye have with you; but me ye have not always.

https://bible.com/bible/1/jhn.12.1.KJV

The Alabaster Jar.

Sitting at His Feet

So, what else do we know about this Mary? 

Well, she was the sister of Martha and we hear something of them in Luke’s gospel.

In Luke 10.38-42, we read about Jesus’ visit to Bethany, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home.

“She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying.

But Martha was distracted by her many tasks;

so, she came to him and asked, ‘Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself?

Tell her then to help me.’

But the Lord answered her,

‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things;

there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.”  

Mary has chosen the better part or better ‘portion’ as it says in some translations.

Portion perhaps as in a portion of food?

Mary has chosen the better food, the one, true, living bread of life,

even better than your cooking, Martha, it will not be taken away from her, Jesus explained. 

Who did this Mary think she was?

No woman could just ‘sit at the feet’ of a Rabbi,

because to do that would mean the Rabbi had adopted her as his pupil.

In this simple act, Jesus had elevated Mary to the status of a man,

and had communicated to her and all her community, her infinite value, because he had chosen her to be his pupil. 

So much of the suffering in the world stems from inequality between men and women.

This inequality can result in female infanticide, girls never going to school, forced child marriages, female genital mutilation, and gender-based violence.

Yet Jesus, our God, invited Mary, a woman, to be his pupil. 

Pray today for anyone you know who is affected by these issues and pray that we all learn to honor each other, as we’re all made in God’s image.

The Alabaster Jar.

He Stinketh.

We hear of Mary again because her and Martha sent word to Jesus that their brother Lazarus was sick.

The account is in John 11: 

“When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days…

When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home… Martha and Jesus talked.

Then she went back and called her sister Mary, and told her privately,

‘The Teacher is here and is calling for you.’ And when she heard it, she got up quickly and went to him…

When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him,

‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.’

When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved.

He said, ‘Where have you laid him?’

They said to him, ‘Lord, come and see.’ … Jesus began to weep.” 

Jesus loved Mary. 

We can only guess at the intensity and passion of this encounter;

Mary broken in her suffering, Jesus broken in his witness of her grief.

In this, we glimpse the broken heart of our God for the suffering in our world and his willingness to stand with us in our pain.

He is, and will always be God with us, in the place of greatest need.

Pray today for the suffering of our world and thank God that he is with us.

The Alabaster Jar.

Giving Everything

Six days before the Passover, and five days before Jesus’ crucifixion,

Jesus went to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead.

They prepared a dinner for him. Lazarus was there and Martha served the food.

That evening, Mary brought out a costly perfume which was made of pure nard—

perhaps the same anointing oil she had used on Lazarus as he lay dead in the tomb.

Recklessly, she snapped off the neck of the alabaster jar.

She had no intention to keep any of it.

Immediately, the strong, exotic scent filled her nostrils and she kneeled, the same way she did before when she wept in front of Jesus at Lazarus’ tomb.

She sat at the feet of the teacher—her teacher—the man who chose and loved her, who raised her brother from the dead.

Mary performed a prophetic act and anointed Jesus for his burial six days later.

Slowly, ever so slowly, she untied her hair.

Jewish women would tie up and cover their hair—the only person who could see a woman’s hair uncovered was her husband.

In the act of wiping Jesus’ feet with her hair, she is saying to everyone, Jesus is like my husband.

Gently, she wiped his feet with her hair;

as if time stood still, as the whole house was full with the fragrance of the perfume, this woman gave Jesus everything.

Not only did she give the expensive perfume, probably the most valuable thing her family owned, but she also gave herself.

She was utterly undone.

A life poured out; giving everything.

The Alabaster Jar!

Passion Returned

In her passion and generosity, Mary received criticism from Judas about priorities.

Jesus, in response to Judas, acknowledged that there will always be opportunity to serve.

Mary, unlike her busy sister Martha, who did so much good and cared for so many, knew “the one thing that was needed” (Luke 10.42)

and that was to worship in the presence of Jesus. 

We learn from Mary that true worship is a life poured out in response to a God who emptied himself. 

“Who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness.” (Phil 2.6-7)

It’s such a powerful, evocative image: our God poured out in his emptying.

He emptied himself to become human,

and then as a human he lived humbly amongst us in what would be regarded today as extreme poverty. 

Jesus, our God, gave so much to be born amongst us.

And in the end we see the ultimate act of generosity.

He gave his own human life for all of us.

It was the most precious gift, the most important giving of all.

Five days later, with the scent of the perfume still lingering in his memory, Jesus made his way to the cross.

Our God poured out like the precious perfume, emptied on the cross as a sacrifice, acceptable and holy as he died for all us, to atone for our sins.

Passion returned.

As we draw to a close, ask God to speak to your heart about the passion and generosity we have witnessed together.

Allow the passion of Mary to fill your worship, like the powerful perfume poured out.

Rest in Jesus’ presence with thankfulness. Consider your response.

The Alabaster Jar

Also Read: What is Man! – Diademng (thediademng.org)

If you’d like to know more about the work Tearfund does to combat gender violence, you can read Amina’s story, and other women’s stories, at Tearfund.org. 

Visit Tearfund.org and learn more.