The Last Jar (Luke 7)

As I review Luke 7 in preparation for Thursday night's Bible study group, I am trying to see the big picture. There are two deputations in this chapter--one from a Roman centurion and another from John the Baptist--and they are a study in contrasts, a Gentile with great faith and a Jew doubting what he knows to be true. There is a woman who's lost her only son and a woman who has lost her former way of living; in Jesus' compassion, the woman's son is restored to her alive and the woman who is a sinner is forgiven. There is also a contrast between the woman of ill repute who has saving faith and the Pharisee who has none. 

All of the stories in this chapter that Luke relates also deal with position/posture: 

• Jesus' position, loaded with compassion and mercy, full of authority, brimming with life-giving power, able even to forgive sin;

• The centurion's position as a Gentile with authority who humbly asks Jesus to heal his lowly slave;

• The widow's helpless position as she watches her only son borne on a stretcher towards his grave;

• John's great position as a prophet now locked away in a prison awaiting Herod's ruling;

• All believer's positions in Christ, elevated even above John's great position;

• The Pharisees' and lawyer's positions (generational position) as they reject both John and Christ;

• The sinful woman's position before Christ, her posture of repentance;

The chapter ends with a woman forgiven of her sins, restored by her faith, and enabled with peace, and I can picture it: the old life left behind her, the new stretching out in front of her as she goes in peace. I John 1:9 tells us that forgiveness is available if we confess our sins and purity is the result. I won't apologize for picturing what that looked like, but I will share my reflections: 

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The Last Jar

The last alabaster jar of perfume

Sits on the table quietly condemning me,

Taunting me with its very presence,

Tempting me to go back,

But I won’t.

I brush past it for the tenth time today.

No one believes the change is real.

Another knock at the door.

Another, “No!”

I won’t go back.

My hunger drives me

To pick up the jar and flee the house.

I think to myself, “I will sell it and be free.”

But that, too, would be going back,

And I won’t.

So I walk down familiar streets,

Past people who know my shame to Simon’s.

I see the crowd of people, and I know He is there. 

Holding my alabaster jar, I slip inside unseen,

Unwilling to go back.

My head bowed, those at the table ignore me, 

Thinking me a servant.

But as I stand beside His feet, weeping silently, 

I break open my jar.

There’s no going back now.

The aroma perfumes the room, and they all stop in shocked silence, 

Condemning me without words. 

He turns, and in both shame and gratitude I bend low,

Hiding behind my hair the tears now wetting His feet.

There’s no going back now.

In His compassion, he allows me to wash His feet with my tears.

He allows me to dry His cleansed feet with my hair.

He allows me to kiss His feet in gratitude, to anoint His feet 

With the perfume from my alabaster jar.

I know I cannot become again what I used to be.

Without condemnation, Jesus speaks to Simon of debts owed and love.

When I hear his words I better understand my new faith drove me here.

Jesus says my debt, more than I could ever pay, has been forgiven.

What’s in the bottle, once poured out, can’t be put back.

I will never go back, but I will go forward in peace. 

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So often, we let the things in our lives distract us, the old things of the life we left behind when we decided to follow Jesus. We look back at past failures and defeats and listen to the taunting, and it is easy to begin believing that it defines us. Jesus has borne our sins for us on the cross. He has already paid the penalty for our sins. We do owe a debt we could never repay, but because He has paid it for us, we love Him in fierce gratitude. I am reminded that even when things seem darkest, I should trust in what I know and walk in the light! :)