My Alabaster Box

John 12:1-8 tells the whole story

John 12:3 KJV 1900

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.

Title: My Alabaster Box

Matt 26, Mark 14 and Luke 7 all record this story.

Setting: Jesus has come back to share Passover with his friends Mary, Martha and Lazarus

In the house of Simon the Leper - no doubt healed by Jesus.

Jesus in the days before had raised Lazarus from the dead.

But Jesus had quietly left because there was a warrant for his arrest.

He comes back at even greater risk.

He comes back and there is a crowd there… LAZARUS WAS RAISED FROM THE DEAD AFTER ALL!

So they are sitting around visiting, eating. People are crowded around him…

And a sinner woman comes in.

The Bible calls her a sinful woman. History calls her a prostitute.

***note that this was a different Mary that the sibling of Lazarus and Martha.

She weaves her way through the crowd, finds Jesus reclining at the table as the custom was and takes him by his feet and begins to weep and cry over his feet and then, lets her long hair down and begins to dry his feet with her hair!

Luke would add a layer to the story, telling a little parable to Simon and then saying, you have not kissed me (common greeting of the day) and have not washed my feet, yet she has not ceased to kiss my feet, wash my feet with her tear and wipe them with her hair…

Here is what I see happening.

She came to anoint his body, fell at his feet and began to weep over him, overcome with emotion she begins to kiss his feet, her tears falling on his dirty, unwashed feet and when she opens her eyes to see her tears have made his feet muddy…

No doubt their was mud on her face and lips… she was probably embarrassed that she would made such a mess, and with nothing else to use would loose her long hair and began to wipe the mud from his feet!

You could feel the indignation and embarrassment in the crowd .

Simon the host is angry she is in his home, and thinks to himself “If Jesus was a prophet, he would know what kind of a woman she was!”.

And then it goes from bad to worse… She takes a box of carved stone and brakes the seal and pours the perfume all over Jesus’ head and down his body.

John said his feet, Matthew, Mark and Luke said his head…

OT anointing started at the head and the heavy oils ran down, soaking the hair, beard, clothing, running down the body to puddle on the ground.

The aroma filled the whole house!

Facts: Today we order from Amazon and it show up on our doorstep. We go to Von Maur and walk out with our purchase… But it was not so in Jesus’ day!

Alabaster is a very soft but dense stone that they would carve into jars

Probably came from Egypt, Italy or Spain

The perfume was oil from flowers in the Himalayan mountains of India.

Depending on the flowers, it takes anywhere from 1,000 to 5,000 pounds of flowers to make one pound of fragrance

The alabaster would have to be carried from Egypt, Italy or Spain to the Himalayan’s

The oil sealed in the alabaster boxes

Loaded on camels and taken from India across modern day Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq and Syria - 2,500 miles

One pound of fragrance cost about one years salary for the average worker!

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics the average annual wage in the US in 2022 was: $61,900.00

And this sinful woman wasted it on Jesus!

The crowd could not believe their eyes!

The audacity of this sinful woman!

The money wasted could have went to feed the poor!

BUT Jesus said worship is never a waste!

Worship changes everything!

Here is what the sinful woman taught us about worship!

Worship is a choice, some will never make or understand

Did not allow her past to affect her worship

NOT to worship is a choice!

According to Matthew 26.14 Judas would immediately inquired of the chief priests “what will you give me to deliver Jesus to you?”.

Worship has a cost and their are thieves

Most will not understand…

Worship is intentional and conspicuous

Jesus will always respond to worship

Worship has a purpose

Worship will always be remembered Mat 26.13.

Conclusion:

The fragrance of the perfume would have been on him

In the Garden of Gethsemane

Filled the Pilate’s hall

Hung in the air on Golgotha

Worship affects

everything!