36 One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee’s house and took his place at the table. 37 And a woman in the city, who was a sinner, having learned that he was eating in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster jar of ointment. 38 She stood behind him at his feet, weeping, and began to bathe his feet with her tears and to dry them with her hair. Then she continued kissing his feet and anointing them with the ointment… 44 Then turning toward the woman, he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has bathed my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. 45 You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not stopped kissing my feet. 46 You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. 47 Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which were many, have been forgiven; hence she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little.” 48 Then he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” 49 But those who were at the table with him began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?” 50 And he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” [Luke 7:36-50, NRSV]
Simon the Pharisee had invited Jesus to dine in his house. Hearing the “news”, an unnamed woman of the city, apparently known for her “sins” whatever those might be, came with an alabaster jar of ointment intending to anoint Jesus with it. But imagine the ruckus she must have caused: a woman, and a known sinner for that matter, gate-crushed at the dinner party hosted by a strict Jew; she would go on to bathe the famous guest’s feet with her tears, dry them with her hair, kiss his feet and anoint them with her expensive perfume. All that love-display and physical contact by a woman of sin with a man, a rabbi, who is not her husband, would certainly be the subject of a great scandal! But the aroma from the perfume would also have filled the whole house, thus drawing attention to her weird intrusion and perplexing drama.
Issues from this story have driven engaging discussion down the ages. Our interest here is to reflect on the persistent aromatic fragrance from the woman’s cracked jar.
1. Fragrance came through her brokenness
The only way the perfume could be released to anoint the Messiah was if the jar was broken. One imagines the woman cracking open her alabaster jar of perfume much like an act of worship in order to pour out its contents. This action is rich in symbols.
Just as the fragrance of the perfume symbolises the spirit or the inner self, the alabaster jar symbolises the outer person, the outer shell that contains the inner person. An interiority that carries a contrite heart will manifest in exterior brokenness. God in the story uses a broken person and a broken jar. Both person and thing are broken which means they are no longer complete, arrogant in self-sufficiency, and needing no one, not even God. God works quietly in brokenness. So broken soil produces crop, broken clouds give rain, bread is broken to be passed round and shared for community-building and to give strength. And right here in the story, it takes a broken woman to anoint Jesus, to decide to break her alabaster jar to give forth fragrance that fills the entire house. Truly, fragrance comes through brokenness when one is liberated from a pent-up, self-damaging lock-down.
Her tears have never stopped flowing ever since she entered the house and met Jesus. That points to a contrite heart, and tells of sorrows that work repentance and turn the person totally around. With brokenness, we respond to God calling us back to where we belong. Jesus forgave her who was broken.
The Psalmist knows it well: The Lord is near to the brokenhearted; and saves the crushed in spirit (Ps. 34:18). The woman’s brokenness exudes from her deliberate act of humility, her deep respect for Jesus, even her self-humiliation in foot-washing and foot-kissing. Perceiving the host’s silent grumble and muffled hostility, Jesus reminds him of his lack of courtesy to a welcomed guest, and that the woman’s devotion contrasts sharply with his insolence in violating the rules of hospitality [1]. This Gospel story exposes for our instruction two contrasting attitudes of mind and heart and which of these meets with the Lord’s approval.
2. Fragrance came through her sacrifice
To make a sacrifice, we normally offers up a gift of something precious, meaningful, even the best we own. In the Old Testament, God’s people gave the first and the best from among their flock as an offering to God. When the Lord smelled Noah’s offerings, they were a scent of satisfaction to His heart, and caused Him to have mercy on His people (Gen. 8:21). Fragrance, humanity has long understood, comes through sacrifice.
The woman in the story worshipped the one who had set her free by giving herself and her precious possession – her most expensive jar of perfumed ointment. Jesus smelled the sacrifice that the woman gave him on that memorable day. His heart was turned towards this broken woman. He not only accepted her sacrifice, but he turned her act of giving into a learning point for all those who looked on.
Notice the symbolic value of the woman anointing Jesus. Her sacrifice represents our human affirmation and grateful acceptance of Jesus, the Anointed One who came to make the ultimate sacrifice for the salvation of sinning humanity. Her pouring forth her sacrificial love met with the anointed message of Jesus to all. It is his fragrance, his anointing, his chrism oil, his balm of compassion and mercy that will fill the earth.
- 18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, 19 to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord” (Luke 4:18-19, RSV).
3. Fragrance came through her love
The woman loves much, for she has been forgiven much. The woman demonstrated her love to Jesus by giving. She gave it to him in a way that he would know that at least one person truly loved him and believed him to be the Messiah.
Imagine the scene. The room grew still as the woman made her way to Jesus, stumbling through her tears, and feeling such pain in her contrite heart. She ignored ugly whispers and angry words from those who denied any place here for her kind. Still she came, and persisted, through the shame, until she reached the place before Jesus’ feet, knelt down and performed what she came to do. She spoke no words, for in a men’s world of her time it was not her place to speak. So she spoke in symbolic actions, breaking the jar with love and in worship, pouring out her love for the Master from the expensive perfume reserved only for him. As the lyrics from the song “Alabaster Jar” go, “though she spoke no words, everything she said was heard.” Her generosity was considered outrageous to all except her and Jesus, for to her no cost was too much for the cause of Jesus; and to him no cause is more worthy than human salvation through advancing the kingdom of God on earth as in heaven.
Jesus’ affirmation of her actions has left us with two stunning truths.
First, in rebuking her critics, Jesus taught all who were present the logic that binds together love and forgiveness. The Scripture here underscores the logic in the flow from forgiveness to loving action. Different translations may help or confuse; we choose the Jerusalem Bible in this case for the clearest explanation:
- “For this reason, I tell you that her sins, her many sins, must have been forgiven her, or she would not have shown such great love. It is the man who is forgiven little who shows little love” (Luke 7:47, JB).
This story thus enacts the parable Jesus told, in the form of a “Socratic interrogation” [2], about the creditor who had two men in his debt (Luke 7:40-43). Luke here is not addressing his gospel to the Pharisees, but to the people in his community, to expand their notion of and thus to teach them the right relationship with God [3], particularly in regard to the logic between God’s forgiveness and our work of love.
Simon the host was rich and self-sufficient. Unconscious of any need for love, he felt no love and received no forgiveness. Feeling all perfect, he was quite unaware of any sin. St Paul, another strict Jew, became a better man by far as he felt he was foremost amongst sinners (1 Timothy 1:15). We find the same spiritual autobiographical description of wretchedness and misery by St Francis of Assisi. Luke 7 underscores Jesus’ teaching that we are the most sinful when we are conscious of no sin. By contrast, a sense of need for divine help will open the door to the forgiveness of God. Love and forgiveness wait at the door. From Revelation 3:20, we learn to relent, to soften the heart, to even repent and be in need of forgiveness and so to open the door, and let grace and forgiveness come in.
Then, in the original telling of the story by Mark (followed by Matthew), Jesus prophesied for all eternity, right to this day:
- “Truly I tell you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.” (Mark 14:9; Matt 26:13)
Truly, fragrance came through her love, a love for the Messiah that is a commitment which will not be swayed by what other people say or think. It manifests in deep expressions of gratitude that exude from a heart that has experienced the Lord’s forgiveness. It is the fragrance of gratitude of which the Lord accepts, affirms, and defends against others who are out of line whenever they speak out against it.
We love to reflect on Scriptures by imagination, placing ourselves in the story and moving with it. Songs, with the right lyrics and voice, can be excellent aids in this exercise. “Alabaster Jar” sung by CeCe Winans (on Youtube) is such an aid for us.
4. Does fragrance come through us?
All this leads to the inevitable question: what fragrance, if any, come through us each day?
Everyone gives off some kind of smell through our actions, our attitudes, and our words. Whether we like it or not, we smell like the foods we eat (think garlic, peanut, or fish), the company we associate with (think smokers). We are shocked when little children begin to use slangs and even swearing words (think who they have been with all day, at home).
We are not to hide behind a false aroma or use something to mask who we really are. The story of the woman who anointed Jesus’ feet tells us that nothing is hidden from him. He knows! We must be genuine, be real with the Lord, with others and with ourselves. Saint Paul defines how we smell to God:
- 14 But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumph, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. 15 For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and those who are perishing (2 Cor 2:14-15, RSV).
In a dramatic way, this story is telling us that we fulfill our role as the sweet smelling fragrance of Christ only if we become broken bodies and alabaster jars. In brokenness, we are able to first receive much from the Lord, and then give back much to him and the world.
Endnotes:
[1] Luke Timothy Johnson, The Gospel of Luke, Sacra Pagina series, p.129.
[2] Charles H Talbert, Reading Luke, p.86.
[3] Richard Rohr, OFM, The Good News According to Luke: Spiritual Reflections, p.119.
Copyright © Dr. Jeffrey & Angie Goh, November 2022. All rights reserved.
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