Just a few days before Jesus died on the cross, he was having dinner with some friends when a woman named Mary walked in, broke an alabaster jar and poured all of its expensive perfume onto Jesus' head and feet.

Alabaster jars, made of a beautiful white mineral, were sealed in such a way that they could be opened only by breaking them.  Once broken open, the contents would have to be used immediately since there was no way to reseal the container.

Mary was criticized for wasting the perfume, worth as much as a laborer could earn in an entire year.  It could have been sold, her critics said, and the money given to the poor.

That perfume was designed to be used.  Mary could have used it for herself.  Had she sold it to benefit the poor, then whoever bought it would have used it.  It was going to be used by somebody, someday.

But right then, Mary had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, really, a once-in-history opportunity to break open the alabaster jar and pour that valuable perfume on the head and feet of the Son of God just before He poured Himself out for our sin by dying on the cross.

She did what she could, Jesus said.  She had something available to use to honor Jesus and she used it.  He said it was a beautiful thing that she had done.  And He said that, as it turned out, she had unknowingly anointed His body for burial.  When Jesus died on the cross, they had to rush to put His body into a tomb before the sun went down and there was no time to properly anoint it.  That was why on Easter Sunday the women had come to take care of that task, to anoint His body, even though He had been buried three days before.  But when they arrived, Jesus had already arisen from the dead.  So this anointing by Mary was the only anointing for burial that His body would have.

Jesus then uttered a prophecy: that wherever the gospel would be preached throughout the world that this woman’s story would be told in memory of her.  And it is.  I have just told it to you today.  Over and over and over again, every time we study the life of Jesus we tell the story of Mary who broke her alabaster jar and lavished her most cherished possession upon Jesus.

Each of us has an alabaster jar filled with costly fragrance.  It is sealed up and cannot be opened and a little bit used at a time.  When we are ready to use it, we can only get to it by breaking the jar and we must be ready to use it all up right then because there will be no way to save it.  It requires a spirit of total abandonment, complete sacrifice.

That alabaster jar represents our potential to show our devotion to Jesus.

Each of us has it.  Each of us has within us the ability to give up everything for Jesus, to let Him have all the devotion of our heart, to walk away from everything we hold dear in order to honor Him and to serve Him.

We each have it, but we have it sealed in an alabaster jar.  We hold it tightly, knowing that once we break it, our lives will be changed forever.

What is in our alabaster jar?  Everything that we have that we count as dear to us, without which we would not know what life holds.  We hold it closely, not wanting to let it go.  We have encased it in an alabaster jar to keep it safe and secure.

Someday we will die, and if we never break that alabaster jar, then it will be buried with us.  And when that happens it will be of no good to anyone.

That alabaster jar is your potential for loving and serving Jesus, for devoting yourself to Him totally, for giving Him your whole life without any reservation.

Don’t let it be buried with you.  Break it open.  Let the sweet smelling fragrance fill the room and fill your life.  Let it touch the lives of all those around you. 

The treasures that you and I struggle to hold onto, once released, can become a blessing not only to us but to all those around us.  Remember: the treasure is not the jar itself, but what it holds.  Break the jar and let the treasures of your life be poured out for the sake of Jesus.

Be extravagant.  Be wasteful.  Be sacrificial.  Be blessed as you let go of what you think your life is and find out what life can really be.