Broke

“While He was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head.” (Mark 14:3-5).

Annointing the Feet of Jesus (Ann Lukesh)

It is almost the end of Lent.

This is my favourite time of the Liturgical year.  It is during this time that the suffering Christ stands closest to me – or perhaps, when I can try to stand closest to Him?

In the Gospel readings on the final Monday of Lent, we hear the story of the woman with the alabaster jar of nard…

“While He was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head.  Some of those present were saying indignantly to one another, ‘Why this waste of perfume? It could have been sold for more than a year’s wages and the money given to the poor.’ And they rebuked her harshly.  ‘Leave her alone,’ said Jesus. ‘Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me.  The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have Me.  She did what she could. She poured perfume on My Body beforehand to prepare for My burial.  Truly I tell you, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.’” (Mark 14:3-9).

Christ so loved this woman for her contribution.  Not only did she give Him this expensive perfume – but she broke the jar doing it.

That alabaster jar was not supposed to be broken.  It was supposed to be reused.  In fact, even if the nard was emptied from the jar, the scent of the nard in the alabaster jar – even if the nard were removed completely – would have remained very beautiful.  The open jar could have been placed in the doorway of a home or amongst clothes in a closet so that anyone who wore those clothes or walked past that room would be able to share that beautiful perfume.

But the jar was not left intact.  And instead of the woman using all the nard and leaving the jar with its remnants to be used again, she broke it open.  The jar was used for Our Lord in a way that meant it could never be used for any other purpose ever again.  It was not only a financial offering, with a large and valuable amount of perfume being given, it was more than that.  It was a sacrifice of the pleasure of that perfume in its entirety.  Not even a whiff of perfume remained for the woman to enjoy.  She would not be able to smell it on her clothes or in her house.  She would not have the sweet smell as a reminder of the time when she anointed the Son of Man.  The only thing that she would have was the firm knowledge that she broke the alabaster jar in sacrifice for her Beloved.

And as I reflect on this story today – so close to the end of Lent – I have to wonder, whether I ever broke anything for my Beloved?

For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.