A person is never too far gone to live in the grace of Jesus. Jesus’ grace is poured out into our hearts every day, just as the alabaster box, even if we do not feel it.
The account of the alabaster box has been a popular encounter circulated among Christians throughout history. Each of the four Gospels tells the story of the woman with the alabaster box, which signifies the importance of this story in Scripture. The alabaster box can often be overlooked in the modern 21st century; however, we are going to deep dive into a present-day look at the alabaster box.
The Significance of the Alabaster Box
The alabaster box is also referred to as the alabaster “jar” (NIV), “vial” (NASB), and “flask” (ESV), depending on which Bible translation you are using. Ultimately, all of these definitions mean the same thing: the alabaster box was a container made out of marble stone that was used to store expensive, fancy, and beautiful perfumes and oils. Alabaster boxes were saved for special occasions, such as burials. The woman from Bethany recorded in Mark 14:3-9 had an alabaster box filled with pure nard, which she broke and poured onto Jesus’ head. Nard is a sweet-smelling oil that comes from the flowering plant Nardostachys jatamansi (Kristeen Cherney, “What You Need to Know About Spikenard Essential Oil” Healthline, 2019).
The woman who owned the alabaster would have been saving the nard for a special occasion; however, from her faith and love to Jesus, she poured the perfume onto His head (Mark 14:3). As soon as the woman had done this beautiful act to Jesus, some of those present complained and said, “This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor” (Matthew 26:10). Jesus rebuked them and spoke words of life that would forever echo to women of all generations to come, “‘Leave her alone,’ said Jesus. ‘Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me. She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial. Truly I tell you, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her’” (Mark 14:6-9).
The woman broke the alabaster box and poured it on Jesus’ head to prepare Him for His burial. This act was done out of pure love, devotion, and thankfulness to the Lord. From the woman’s act of breaking the alabaster box and pouring it on Jesus’ head, we can find three key takeaways for the modern-day:
1. Loving the Lord with All Your Heart
The woman with the alabaster box did not withhold any of her love from the Lord. She gave all of her heart, praise, and worship to Jesus. The woman could have kept her alabaster box for her own burial or another loved one, yet she chose to break the alabaster box for Christ. In our modern-day, we can apply this lesson to our daily lives. We can love God with all of our hearts by serving, obeying, and following Him.
When we love Christ, our love for Him will extend into our actions just like the woman in Bethany. Her love for Christ radiated through her soul and out of her love, she performed this special ceremony to prepare Jesus for His burial. Due to her love, Jesus commends the woman and tells her that because of her actions, all that she has done will be told in memory of her (Mark 14:9). Even in the 21st century, the account of the woman with the alabaster box is being told in memory of her great act of love for the Lord.
2. Listening to Christ
Listening to Christ is a second lesson we can obtain from a modern look at the alabaster box. When the woman poured the perfume on Jesus’ head, she was met with hateful, critical, and angry words (Mark 14:4-5). In fact, the Gospel of Mark says the people “rebuked her harshly” (Mark 14:5b). This would have hurt the woman’s feelings; however, she chose to listen to Christ rather than the people. She turned her focus to Jesus and His words rather than the hateful words of the other people’s opinions and remarks.
In the same way for us in today's age, we need to listen to what Jesus says rather than what the world says. Most times, the world will pour out words of death, hate, and oppression into our minds; however, Christ speaks words of life, love, and redemption in our lives. Both of these voices are constantly trying to make us listen to them, but we have to make the decision to listen to Christ rather than the world. If the woman chose to listen to the other people present rather than Christ, her heart would have become crestfallen. Instead of letting her heart grow depressed, she listened to the Lord and He spoke life into her weary soul. When we are tempted to listen to the world rather than God, we need to turn back to His Word. The Bible is our ultimate guidebook for life, and it is one of the most crucial ways God can speak to us in the modern day. Choose to listen to God instead of the world.
3. Live Life in the Grace of Jesus
A third modern lesson we can learn from the alabaster box is to live our lives in the grace of Jesus. Similar to all people, the woman committed sins in her life as we all fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). Yet, the woman knew Jesus could forgive her of her sins and she held nothing back. Even though her action of breaking the alabaster box and pouring it on Jesus’ head was ridiculed by the other people present, she did it anyway and chose to live in the grace of Jesus.
In our 21st-century life, we can still live in the grace of Jesus. The Lord knows we will mess up as we are not perfect. Each time we mess up, we can run to Him and He is always waiting with His arms open to welcome us home. A person is never too far gone to live in the grace of Jesus. Jesus’ grace is poured out into our hearts every day, just as the alabaster box, even if we do not feel it.
Learning from the Alabaster Box
Even though alabaster boxes were part of an ancient burial practice, there is still much we can learn from this account in our present year. Loving the Lord with our whole heart, listening to God rather than the world, and living a life in the grace of Jesus are just a few things we can unlock from the woman with the alabaster box. Throughout our lives, there will be times where we can live out our faith just like the woman did in her encounter with Jesus, yet it is up to us if we will respond in faith and love as the woman did. There will be many times when the world will try to get us to believe its lies, but we have to always look to Christ and His truth in the Bible. Just as the woman ignored the harsh remarks from other people present and chose to focus on Christ, we must do the same, even all these years later.
Photo Credit: ©GettyImages/PaulVinten
