One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to have dinner with him, so Jesus went to his home and sat down to eat. When a certain immoral woman from that city heard he was eating there, she brought a beautiful alabaster jar filled with expensive perfume. Then she knelt behind him at his feet, weeping. Her tears fell on his feet, and she wiped them off with her hair. Then she kept kissing his feet and putting perfume on them. Luke‬ ‭7‬:‭36‬-‭38‬ ‭NLT‬‬

It’s easy to compare ourselves to someone else. We can always find someone and say, “Well, at least I’m not as bad as her.” There is always going to be someone with a shady past you can recall to make yourself feel better.

But are we really any better?

There is beautiful story from the Bible where a harlot is a prime example of how it’s so easy to look down on someone with an unflattering past.

It’s interesting that Jesus knew about this woman. And yet he didn’t look down on her. He probably didn’t even need to look at her, but could smell she was around. And that smell told everyone around her what type of woman she was. One whiff and you knew what she was.

It has been said that during this time some of the main users of perfume were sex workers. They used the smell to entice and make themselves known. It was like their form of advertising or calling card.

And perfume was not cheap.

Some of those at the table were indignant. “Why waste such expensive perfume?” they asked. “It could have been sold for a year’s wages and the money given to the poor!” So they scolded her harshly. Mark‬ ‭14‬:‭4‬-‭5‬ ‭NLT‬‬

I used to read this story of the woman pouring her perfume on Jesus like it was a simple of act of repentance. I thought the pouring of the perfume was an act to clean and wash Jesus since sandals didn’t keep their feet very clean. I thought she was being hospitable. I didn’t know. I didn’t see the true significance.

But my heart cringed when I discovered the true meaning.

This woman of the night had enough perfume to pay someone for an entire year. And she just dumped it out on Jesus. The emptying of her jar was no small offering. She was in essence handing Jesus her entire past of her scandalous ways…and her new, empty future. If she didn’t have that perfume, she didn’t have a way to earn her living in the sense she had earned it the night before.

She had handed Jesus over her reputation. Her career. Her livelihood. Her security.

By pouring out her alabaster jar, she was telling Jesus, “This is all I have. Please have all of me. I am forever yours.”

Her pouring of her alabaster jar was her act of total surrender.

We don’t know what she did next. What career she started. But since her past was so taboo, I’m fairly certain she was not welcomed with open arms as a receptionist or waitress. She knew the sacrifice she was making by pouring the perfume. And yet, she didn’t hold anything back.

She didn’t keep some back in case she needed to eat tomorrow. She didn’t have a secret stash she could raid if times got tough. She didn’t have any regrets in pouring it out for the world to see.

And as I was hearing this story in a new light, I immediately thought, we all have an alabaster jar.

It may not be filled with perfume, but maybe your alabaster jar is filled with your reputation? A proud heart of having to be seen.

Or maybe your jar is filled with a comfortable life? A comfort that causes you to play your life safe instead of following where you know Christ is calling.

Or a savings account? Funds where you rely on your own means and not God’s provisions.

Or maybe, your jar is filled with friends. Friends that are holding you back to being the person God is nudging you to be.

You may not be a prostitute, but we all have a jar. We all have a jar with something that would be incredibly hard to pour out at Jesus’ feet and tell him, “This is really important to me. And it’s really hard to let it go. But you are worth so much more.”

Sadly, I’m not sure I can pour out my jar. My jar that I have had for most of my life. My jar that I love. My jar that I have worked so hard to fill up. My jar that would be so hard to pour out at Jesus’ feet.

And as I sit here and write this…I feel like that naughty, horrible, treacherous, scandalous, sinful woman who poured her perfume on her Savior is actually…she’s actually the type of person I wish to be.

May we all pick up our jars and lay them down at Jesus’ feet. May we see that He is so much better than anything this world can ever give.

Peace