The Sinner And Her Alabaster Box- All That I Have

The Sinner And Her Alabaster Box- All That I Have

Most of us have heard the story of the woman with the alabaster box (Luke 7:36-50). This woman, a sinner, came to Jesus while He sat eating with the Pharisees, and stood at His feet crying. As she stood there crying, she washed His feet with her own tears and anointed His feet with her anointing oil out of her alabaster box (not to be confused with Mary Magdalene who anointed Jesus' head and feet with her costly ointment in Bethany -Matthew 26-12; 14:8 ). There is great significance in what this woman did.

Before I go into detail on what this woman did, it should be noted how the Pharisees and religious men that Jesus sat with viewed the woman and the interactions between she and Jesus. Now, it is noted in verse 37 that this woman was was a sinner, and read in Greek, it can be said that she was a known vile sinner, perhaps a prostitute or whore. Before her entrance and appearance before Jesus we are told that the Pharisees had invited Jesus to eat with them at their feast. It was custom that sinners would stroll past the places where the feasts were held, as the houses were open, but none dared to come in and approach them. To the holy men, as the Pharisees and scribes thought they were most holy, they felt these sinners were too dirty with sin to approach them (Mark 2:16) . It was of the cultural cusotom of those men (Leviticus ch. 5&11); the spiritual leaders of whom were high ranking in society, to keep a clean image and to NOT be seen with sinners as they viewed them  to dirty their pristine image. This is a terrible state to be in, to think that you are too high and good to occupy space with those of sinners, to help or even encourage a wretched sinner, or any other individual who seems to be of lower status than you. It is the sinner who needs Jesus the most (Matthew 9:13). Oh how many pastors and leaders do carry the self righteous spirit of these religious leaders. Jesus has several woes to say to them (Matthew 23).

Not only did the scribes and Pharisees look down on the woman presenting herself before Jesus, they loudly questioned Jesus' character and title of a prophet for doing so, as if to reprimand Him for acting inappropriately, saying,

"This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him: for she is a sinner." -Luke 7:39

These high minded, full of pride, self-righteous men were trying to discredit Jesus, setting up their question to make a statement that Jesus was not who He said He was. How many times have you as a Christian been scolded for being put into a situation where you had to interact with sinners or someone who was looked on as "uncommon/dirty/unlikeable? Be careful how you judge people. You cannot judge by what you see. Sometimes it's more than meets the eye. While some individuals proclaim to follow Christ yet fraternize with sinners to partake of their sins and to seem "cool" or "down" with the world, Jesus let this woman come to Him as He knew she was sick with sin and needed Him to save her. There is a difference between receiving sinners with open arms and compromising God's ways by engaging with them while they sin thus condoning their sins. Here, Jesus did not stop her from approaching him because He knew that with Him was right where she needed to be. You never know who God may lead to you for His greater purpose. People may talk and speculate, don't even worry about them. You have to ignore them and carry on.

Ignoring the reprimand and scornful looks of those around Him, Jesus goes on to questions Simon (the Pharisee Simon, not the disciple whose name was Simon also). He asks, saying,

"There was a certain creditor which had two debtors: the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty.
And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most?"-Luke 7:41-42 

Simon answers saying the one who was forgiven the most will Love the creditor the most. Jesus confirms that the answer Simon gave was the rightful answer.

Here, Jesus is not highlighting His Love for this woman; and we know that Jesus Loved her greatly, even though she was in sin. Instead, Jesus points out #1) that the woman was one who would be forgiven, #2) she had a great debt (her sins were great) and would be pardoned /forgiven of all of it, and in being forgiven #3) would Love Him even more for His act of forgiveness. God's Love forgives us, and just as He forgives, we ought to forgive our offenders. Even when our offenders wrong us and act as if they did nothing wrong, we still must Love them and forgive them.

Jesus is using this interaction to show how grace and Love work as forgiveness is handed down to the wrongdoer. But this is not what struck me the most in reading this chapter. What this woman did is astounding, not that anything we can do can ever pay for our sins. This sinful woman whose past and present life was a mess, full of dirt and sin, came to Jesus and cried before Him. It was not a little cry but rivers of tears that flowed from her eyes. How can I know that? I know that because she washed his feet with her tears. It takes a good deal of water to wet the feet enough to clean them, especially the feet of Jesus. Remember, Jesus traveled on foot miles and miles as He carried out His earthly mission. His feet had to be of the utmost dirtiest. This woman had a heart of repentance, or better said, a repentant heart . She was not there to make excuses for her sin. When one is truly repentant, it shows as they are sorrowful of their wrongs. This is what the Lord desires, not scrifices but a repentant heart- [Psalms 51:17  The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.].

So, this woman cries rivers onto the feet of Jesus and dries His feet with her hair. This was another huge act. Jewish women kept their hair up in public, not letting it down, as a sign of modesty. This sorrowful sinner took her hair down to dry Jesus' feet, in an act of honor, and show of devotion and Love. While she most likely used her hair in the past to lure in men as a tool as seduction, at this time she was using it in humility and surrender to Jesus. She took it a step further and kissed His feet. Oh, how great it is to get down in humility and honor the Lord in this manner.

After washing the feet of Jesus with her many tears, drying them, and then kissing them, she opened her alabaster box and anointed His feet. An alabaster box was a special stoned container lined with wax to keep the precious oil in it's purest form. The alabaster stone was expensive on its own and to add to that the anointing oil was quite expensive in itself. It was custom to hold perfume in the alabaster box so many times the oil was perfumed, having a sweet aroma. I picture the woman, tears running down her face, hair hanging down touching the ground, taking out her precious box and breaking the seal, as the sweet aroma fills the room. With everyone watching her and Jesus, she goes and pours her expensive oil on his feet. Some see the pouring of so much of this costly  oil as a waste of money (in the incident with Mary anointing Jesus the disciples made a sharp remark of this -Mark 14:3-6), especially to pour it onto someone's feet; surely many of the onlookers thought the same. Even so, the woman poured out her oil onto the feet of Jesus. In doing so, she was signifying that even the feet of Jesus were anointed. 

As the Scripture says in Romans 10:15  And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!"

This sorrowful sinner was giving her all to Jesus, just because. She did not come and ask for anything. She didn't say, "I am going to lavish you with my Love only if you do this for me", or afterwards, "I did all of that to you, now do this for me!.". She did it with no strings attached. That's how unconditional Love works. You do it just because.

This woman Loved Jesus as He noted in His question to Simon, the Pharisee. It should be noted that in order for someone to Love you more, there must first be a level of Love to start off with. You can't increase something that is non existent, just as you cannot multiply anything by zero and get anything but zero. Some people will receive from you and not care or even be thankful. They had no Love for you so no matter what you do for them, they will not Love you more for doing so. That is not the case with this woman. She adored Jesus and didn't care if anything would be given in return for her sacrifice of Love. She was a sinner, but she had a heart that loved and loved earnestly. The Lord sees the heart's condition and character, beyond what man can see.

After Simon answers, the story goes on:

[And He(Jesus) turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet: but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head.

Thou gavest me no kiss: but this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet.

My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment.

Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.]-Luke 7:44-47

Jesus then goes on and does something marvelous for the woman:

"And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven." -Luke 7:48 

He tells her that she will be forgiven of ALL OF HER SINS. He says, thy sins are forgiven. He didn't pick out certain sins to forgive and leave others unforgiven. He could've, but He didn't. God is not like that. He is NOT like man who will forgiven you for one thing than hold something else against you and remind you of your wrongs forever. When Jesus clears you, and cleanses you, you are made new.  Your slate is wiped clean.

That's just how God works. He sees our faith, our sorrows, our contrite hearts, everything in us, and He moves accordingly for us. The woman gave her all without asking for anything.

With no guarantee that her acts would even make a difference, she still washed Jesus' feet with her tears…

Without a guarantee that her acts would even make a differerence she still undid her hair and dried His feet…

Without a guarantee that her acts would even make a differerence she still opened up her pricey alabaster box and poured her expensive oil on His feet.

She had faith in Jesus and did not care who saw her doing what she did for Jesus.

Will you be like this woman and run to Jesus? Even if you are saved and sanctified, you still need Jesus. Will you lay before Jesus and humble yourself or are you too full of pride like the Pharisees and scribes? Will you continue your worship to God, even when it seems to the outside world that your acting unseemingly? Will you pour all that you have in you out before the Lord? Will you Love the Lord with all of your being? If you Love God like you say, will you Love your neighbors right, even those who are deep in sin? Will you Love those sinners enough to show them compassion and let them know there is a better way? Will you still give God the praise, even if you don't have what you need? Will you praise God and keep on loving Him when there is no guarantee that you will receive anything in return?

Let us all think of this wretched sinner, who ran to Jesus, cried at His feet, washed His feet with her hair, kissed His feet, and poured out her precious oil on His feet. When we present ourselves to God, just as we are, with a repentant heart, God sees our act of faith along with our ailments; He acknowledges our effort, and changes us, making us clean.

Isaiah 1:18  

Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

Mark 2:10  

But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (he saith to the sick of the palsy,)