"And being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard very precious; and she brake the box, and poured it on his head."
Mark 14:3 (KJV)
I just had a 'light bulb' moment reading this. Maybe it was more of a 2 by 4 moment, but either way it was a moment. I was discussing on a Christian forum with some teenage girls about longing to know God deeper and was talking about 'reckless abandon' which is the kind of life I want to live. I was sharing this story with them as an encouragement to love God with their everything and I realized something.
If there is oil in the box, there was a way for oil to go in the box. There is a neck with a lid, a cork, something that allows people to pour oil into the box. Therefore, one can assume logically that there is a way to get oil out of the box- by removing said lid or cork. But this lady didn't. This precious woman broke the box .
The box of alabaster was like a woman's dowry in Biblical times, it defined her status. The oil inside was valuable as well. The whole package was valuable. It isn't any wonder that the people in the house with Jesus were saying, "What on earth is she doing! Why would she do that! Such a waste. Jesus, how can you let her do that? Do you know who she is!?" (Very stupid question)
She gave it all. She held absolutely nothing back. She poured every last drop on him and assured that by breaking the box. That just hit me tonight.
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