Daughter of The Potter

Made with Purpose: Breaking your Alabaster Jar

To the verse that inspired the name behind my blog and encouraged me to boldly step forward in the call God placed on my heart: 

We are going to break this verse down into two separate posts,  because I firmly believe there is so much we can learn from these two verses about our faith and the transformative power of believing in Jesus. This week, I want us to focus on the alabaster jar and the perfume poured on Jesus’ feet. 

To truly understand the significance of these verses, we need to understand the culture. Perfume in ancient times was not how we know it today. Perfume was sealed in alabaster jars and was insanely valuable, in some situations equaling up to a year’s wages. One bottle of perfume could represent someone’s entire inheritance. Perfume was also traded as a form of payment or currency. In some cases, it was used in exchange for primisques activities, which lent to the woman’s questionable reputation and her identity as a woman living a sinful life. But back to the jar.

This mineral used in making alabaster jars was very valuable because once sealed, it eliminated evaporation, allowing the contents to stay perfectly preserved for many years. The only problem was to get to the precious liquid inside, the vessel, the alabaster jar, had to be broken. There was no other way to get to the contents. However, once opened, the jar could not be resealed, essentially voiding its value. For being such a costly material, alabaster is actually very fragile. So great care was taken to protect the jar and the liquid inside. 

This was the jar that the woman brought to the feet of Jesus. A fragial jar containing her most valuable posession. Her offering was all that she had, her most expensive and sought-after treasure. An offering that was more actually beautiful broken than it was preserved. An offering whose fragrance filled the room. The woman faithfully brought her best gift to be laid before Jesus’ feet. 

But the true value in this story is that this broken alabaster symbolizes her own unraveling. As she broke that jar to get to the priceless perfume inside, so too she allowed herself to be broken before the Potter. The fragile vessel of her being now shattered open, offering her heart and soul. This was the most valuable offering brought to Jesus. It was only when the jar was broken, when the woman was broken, that Jesus was able to do His greatest work, His redemptive and healing work. 

When we bring our alabaster jar before Jesus, we often want to cling tightly to what we have deemed so valuable, so precious. We would never imagine breaking the jar at Jesus’ feet, but this is exactly what the woman who lived a sinful life did. She courageously broke the jar, and what she was given in return was far more valuable this a fragile jar with a fleeting amount of perfume inside. What she received was an opportunity for the Potter to transform her and build her stronger, to make her with a purpose and shape her by truth. 

In pottery, there is a material called potsherd. Postherd is broken and discarded pieces of pottery. In the Bible, these fragments of pottery symbolize destruction and suffering. There is a process in pottery making in which dust from potsherd is mixed into the new clay, and when fired, the new pot is actually strengthened by the fragmented discarded pieces. This is what the Potter does for us. The wreckage of our past can be the material through which God redeems our brokenness and builds us stronger. We only have to be willing to break the jar and yield to the Potter. 

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