One Alabaster Jar

It was two days before the Passover and the festival of Unleavened Bread. The chief priests and the scribes were looking for a way to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him; for they said, “Not during the festival, or there may be a riot among the people.”

While he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at the table, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment of nard, and she broke open the jar and poured the ointment on his head. But some were there who said to one another in anger, “Why was the ointment wasted in this way? For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii, and the money given to the poor.” And they scolded her. But Jesus said, “Let her alone; why do you trouble her? She has performed a good service for me. For you always have the poor with you, and you can show kindness to them whenever you wish; but you will not always have me. She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for its burial. Truly I tell you, wherever the good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her.”

Then Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went to the chief priests in order to betray him to them. When they heard it, they were greatly pleased, and promised to give him money. So he began to look for an opportunity to betray him. Mark 14:1-11 

One Alabaster Jar

The days had tumbled by too fast

she had held back her heart too long 

the daily tasks had consumed too much

she needed to break open the alabaster jar.

There was nothing she could give that was enough

nothing she could do to repay him in kind

not a single thing could make up for the gift

of love from a broken alabaster jar.

One alabaster jar of fine perfume

the whole room overcome with exotic aroma

the rich and poor stopped in their tracks

as love poured from the open jar.

A full heart and a face full of tears

everything washed over the teacher's head

love from above had been the gift and sign

creations loveliest gift poured back again.

Love medicine is divine and grounded

tears and laughter, a meal and a song

the hard work of loving is a priceless endeavor

and we will remember her for all lives long.