Without reservations, “The alabaster box”

Inside the box:

The alabaster box was used to store expensive ointment. It was made of a hard, white marble-like substance. It was considered a precious stone. In Solomon’s time, it was used to make the pillars of the temple. The box was sealed tightly, so to open it, one had to either shake it or knock it to the ground to loosen the seal. The writers of the gospels mention varying occasions when the alabaster box was opened and poured on Christ, and each one is unique. The bride in the Song of Solomon likened it to the strong legs of the king, the Messiah (Song 5:15). Once the box was opened, the woman rubbed or scraped out all the ointment that might have been stuck, and poured it all on Christ’s head. The act of this woman is a symbol of total worship and surrender without holding back. Annias and Sapphira paid a hefty price for holding back after they sold their property and committed to give all of it to the apostles to help with the needy (Acts 5:1-3). They paid with their lives for withholding the total price. Jeremiah says that we will find God when we seek him wholeheartedly (Jer 29:13). The Psalmist prayed that God would not let him wander away, because he was seeking him with his whole heart (Ps 119:10).

Mark 14:3-6

³ 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.

⁴ And there were some that had indignation within themselves, and said, Why was this waste of the ointment made? ⁵ For it might have been sold for more than three hundred pence, and have been given to the poor. And they murmured against her.

⁶ And Jesus said, Let her alone; why trouble ye her? she hath wrought a good work on me.

Some of the people in the house became indignant, including Judas Iscarote, when the woman opened the expensive box and poured all the costly perfume over Jesus’ head. Watching this box being opened and poured on Christ’s head and run down and seep through the floor cracks, to some of the crowd, it was a waste. The word waste means to use or expend carelessly, or to no purpose. The value of this material product, to them, was more valuable than to whom it was poured. To them, the pouring of this precious ointment did not have a purpose. To the woman, on the other hand, there was no price tag on the sacrifice of praise that she rendered to the Lord. The ointment that comes out of our mouths is a sacrifice of praise that should come out without a price tag (He 13:15). The things that we do for the kingdom of God should be done without a price tag. The Bible teaches us that we should offer our entire lives wholeheartedly, and without reservations, as living sacrifices (Ro 12:1). 

The woman with the alabaster box did a good work in Christ. She fulfilled the purpose for which she was created, and that was for good works. The scriptures teach us that we are created for good works (Eph 2:10). 

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