THE ALABASTER BOX

Thursday: September 17, 2020

Luke 7:38 And stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment.

The woman described in today’s Gospel might be described as bold by many. But she was far from being bold: the lyrics of the song “Alabaster box” by Cece Winans paints a better picture for us. The first verse goes like this:

“The room grew still as she made her way to Jesus
She stumbles through the tears that made her blind
She felt such pain, some spoke in anger
Heard folks whisper
There’s no place here for her kind
Still on she came through the shame that flushed her face
Until at last, she knelt before his feet
And though she spoke no words
Everything she said was heard
As she poured her love for the Master from her box of alabaster”

When one walks into a place where they are unwelcome, with clear whispers and words of anger echoing this all round, even the boldest can lose their confidence. Even further, Scripture is very particular about her position when she approached Jesus – she did so from behind. She dared not approach him from the front because that is what a bold person would have done. And as the song says “Though she spoke no words, everything she said was heard”.

Armed with “Approach the throne of grace with boldness”, we often approach God in the name of boldness yet we actually only stand before him in nothing but our haughtiness and pride. There is no real brokenness just an intention to show our face. Beloved, if we truly come to understand what boldness means, genuine brokenness would not be far from us. Because if we can truly lay our hearts bare before God and ask him to search us, there will be no reason to hide and boldness to approach His throne will come with ease.

#sly