“Portrait of the woman with the alabaster jar.” 2009. Benedict Edet.
We can talk about why she did it
break the jar
pour oil on his head
Or did she wash his feet with her tears
and dry them with her hair?
We can talk about her name
Was it Mary of Bethany
sister of Martha?
Was it Mary Magdalene
rumored wife of Jesus?
or a prostitute
or a sinner
(aren’t we all)
or just a woman
with an alabaster jar
We can talk about the extravagance
the lushness
the expense
Spikenard, the rarest and most precious of oils
earthy
bittersweet
with woody green overtones
Ancient Egyptians used it in embalming mummies
(the symbolism!)
We can talk about the objections
What a waste of money!
Don’t you know there’s poor people in Bethany?
Or was it that he let a sinner touch him?
What a disgrace
We can go deep into the exegesis
Compare the four accounts
Were they even the same woman?
Is this even the same story?
But what about the poor?
Connect back to Deuteronomy 15:11
We can do all these things
as long as we tell her story
Let’s celebrate the woman with the alabaster jar
stranger, sister, wife, sinner
Mary
Let’s dress up like her and make perfume
Make clay jars
and then break them
Anoint one another for our burials
(Why wait until we’re dead?)
Let’s paint her picture
and have extravagant feasts
in her honor
so that
Wherever the good news is proclaimed
(in the whole world!)
what she has done
will be told
in remembrance
of
her