the generic perfume connoisseur
My husband and I was thinking about a name to call the perfume range, He came up with Alabaster Box! wow what a beautiful story: Someone once said that worship is the act of sacrificially giving to Jesus something that is precious to us. What would that be for you? Your money? Your time? Your job? For the woman described in this scripture, it was a container of perfume. Let’s look at her story.
This story takes place just before Jesus rides into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey. Sometimes, historians back in Jesus’ day didn’t write things in chronological order; they ordered events together to show a comparison or contrast of some sort. Mark identifies the place as the house of Simon the Leper in Bethany. We know almost nothing about this man, but evidently he had suffered from leprosy, and Jesus had healed him.
Mark doesn’t mention the name of the woman, but John identifies her as Mary of Bethany, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. John says that Martha was serving at this gathering and that Lazarus was sitting with Jesus. Their presence in the story has caused some to believe that Simon may have been their father, or at least a close relative.
Jesus is the guest of honor at this gathering, and as He sits and eats, Mary enters the room with an alabaster box of perfume. Scripture identifies this perfume as spikenard, which was a very expensive fragrance imported from India. In verse 5, this small container of perfume is valued at three hundred pence, which was the equivalent of a year’s salary for a common worker. Some believe that this perfume may have been Mary’s dowry. If that is true, it was probably all that she really possessed.
It was customary to wash the feet and anoint the head of a guest in your house, but Mary goes above and beyond. John says that she anointed Jesus’ feet and wiped them with her hair. She then breaks the container, and pours all of its contents on Jesus’ head.
Immediately, the disciples begin to criticize her. One gospel records that Judas is the most vocal. They claim that Mary has wasted this precious perfume, and that she should have sold it and given the money to the poor instead. Could you imagine how Mary must have felt? After pouring out everything she had as an act of worship, she gets criticized and ridiculed by the disciples of Jesus. I am sure that her heart must have been broken just like the alabaster box that had contained her perfume.
But Jesus puts a stop to their criticism. He tells the disciples to leave her alone, because she has done a good work for Him. He says that they can help the poor anytime they want, but that they will not have very many more opportunities to show their love for Him in person. Jesus had told His disciples on several occasions that He was going to Jerusalem to be put to death, and now He claims that Mary’s act of devotion will serve as the anointing for His death. Although Mary probably didn’t intend for her actions to be interpreted this way, the custom was to first bathe and then anoint the body of a dead person. After the body was anointed, the flask that contained the ointment was to be broken and laid with the body in the tomb. Jesus knew that He would be put to death as a criminal, and that He would be buried without the proper anointing.
Jesus goes on to state that wherever the Gospel
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