The Broken Alabaster Box - By Wayne Weaver

"Then Jesus, 6 days before the Passover, came to Bethany where Lazarus was, which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead, and there they made him a supper and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him. Then took Mary a pound of ointment of Spikard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair and the house was filled with the odor of the ointment. Then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, which would betray him, Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence and given to the poor? And he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief and had a bag and bear what was put therein. Then said Jesus, Let her alone. Against the day of my burial has she kept this? For the poor always ye have with you, but me you will not always have." John 12:1-8

"Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the Leper, there came unto him a woman, having an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on his head as he sat at meat. But when his disciples saw it they had indignation, saying, to what purpose is this waste? For this ointment might have been sold for much and given to the poor. When Jesus understood it, he said unto them, why trouble ye the woman, for she has wrought a good work upon me. For ye have the poor always with you, but me ye have not always. For in that she has poured this ointment on my body, she did it for my burial. Verily I say unto you, withers ever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there shall also be this that this woman has done, be so for a memorial of her." Matt. 26:6-13

Let's take ourselves into the setting of Jesus that evening. When he came to the supper that was prepared before him, he sat there with a man that had been dead and had stunk in the grave already, and was called out of the grave. He sat also with another woman that was preparing the meal that had been demon possessed earlier. One person had been demon possessed and the other one had died earlier. Jesus was sitting there eating with them. Then, all at once, there comes Mary.

We want to look and see what alabaster is. Alabaster is a mineral, a whitish mineral. It probably looks more like a Flintstone. You are able to polish it down very fine. It polishes very fine, and a lot of people used it to put most of the expensive ointments and spices in to where they could break these boxes up and the ointment would flow down upon whatever they wanted to pour it upon. We look at this alabaster box, and see probably one of the most prized possessions that Mary had; this ex-demon-possessed person that sat with Jesus that night. Yet, she came under the mighty power of the Holy Spirit, I believe, who had instilled already in her heart that Jesus would die, and that she should anoint him for the death that was to come.

You notice, immediately after the anointing, his very disciples, those that were called after his name, those that walked with him, those that did miracles, those that were showing the power of God in that day and age did not even know that Jesus was to be buried, that He was to die soon. Here had to come this ex-demon-possessed piece of no good, low harlot, low rotten sinner, and a low slave to sin. She had been on her way to Hell. This was a person that in most religious circles today would not be welcome because she was in her past a low, sloppy fornicator, an adulteress woman. Whatever she was now, she had been full of demons. Yet, Jesus sat down that night, and he started eating. This woman, under the power and revelation of the Holy Spirit came and poured her most prized possession upon the body of Jesus. And it says in one place, she anointed the feet, and in another place it says she anointed the head. The disciples knew Christ. They walked with Christ. They knew the power of God. They knew the power of miracles. Yet, they became critical about this woman giving everything that she had.

I want to tell you, Jesus still looks to the foolish of the world. I heard somebody say that one of the reasons there is a certain man not wanting to come to us is, because we are not professional enough. Well, I want to tell you tonight, Mary Magdalene was not a professional Christian. She did not go to the seminars. She did not go to a Bible Class. She knew Jesus. Jesus had a personal touch in her. Once she was lost, but now she was found. She depended on this Jesus, this Master that had touched her. She depended on Him for direction and guidance.

Today, because the Lord Jesus Christ does not bring revival like he used to, we have become scholars of history.

We know how people used to be saved, how people used to be delivered, but today we don't see it anymore. So we need to go and grab the history books and refresh our minds how this all used to be. Friend, we are not in a used to be world. We are in a Jesus in the past and a Jesus in the present and a Jesus in the future world. He is always. He doesn't change from the past to the present. He is the One, the King of kings and the Lord of Lords.

I would like to tell you, you are sitting here as an alabaster box. Have you ever broken yourself upon the body of Jesus? Peter, who said, Jesus, where you will go there I go. Where you will die, there I will die." He followed from far away, but notice one thing about this woman. This woman broke all that she had. I don't know, was it like a glass? She broke it in half and poured it upon the head of Jesus Christ. It flowed down over him, and the disciples said, "What is this?" What they didn't know is that right within the very realms of this oil that was poured upon him, that woman went along up to the cross. While he was in the garden down on His knees and was crying. And He saw your and my sins in that cup. He said, "Father, if it is your will, let this cup pass from me." At that moment He could still smell the aroma of that sweet spice, of spikard coming up. That woman was still with Him. Judas came and kissed Him. He still smelled the smell of the Spikard on that cold walk over into the city. Every once in a while the wind probably swept around and He could smell, there is somebody with me. "Peter, where are you? You said you would follow, but where are you tonight?" Peter followed afar off, but the woman who had been demon-possessed. The woman with all the problems, let me state it that way, but who simply knew Jesus. She poured herself unto Jesus, and everywhere that Jesus walked through the most crucial times of His experience on earth, there was that woman.

When Jesus was in the court. He now had blood that came down over his face, because they were pounding those thorns into his head.

The blood started running down over his beard, down over his face, unto his clothes, but in the midst of all the blood there was again the smell. Now he could smell again that somebody was broken, somebody gave all that they had for my burial. "Where are my disciples? Where are those who have followed me? Where are those that I have blessed? Where are those that have done the miracles?

Jesus might have thought, "Oh, I wish I could see John. Oh, God, can you send one of my disciples? Just stand him right next to me so that there could be some strength here. I am at a needy moment. Where is Peter?" He looked around and there sat Peter. Peter just put his head down. There somebody spit in his face. Soon there was spit running down, mixed with blood. They threw a crown on his head, and they pierced those thorns in and blood started running and the spit started running. In the midst of it all, here came the smell again.

Where are my disciples? Where are those that have written books and kept track of everything I said? Where are they? Where are my disciples? Where are those who said they would walk with me? Where are those who said they would die with me? Where are those who I have fed out there with a couple of pieces of meat and bread? Where are they?

God, can you just send somebody to me with one word of encouragement? I have been spit upon. I've got blood running all over me. I've got big sweat drops of blood down over my robe. Could you send somebody? Here comes the aroma again.

She never did a miracle. She wasn't there when I fed the 5 thousand, but there came the smell again.

As He came up to the top of that hill, as they laid Him down on that cross, I believe it was at that time He could again smell the aroma.

What I am saying is Mary was not known as a great woman of God. She was not known to be that real faithful Mary. No, she had a history of evil behind her. She was really no good to the world. What good can come out of her? But she went to the cross with Jesus. As he hung there, some of His blood probably rinsed that odor and spikard that was on his hair down over his face. At that point there was probably blood all the way, blood marks from His head to His toes. There was also spikard from His head to His toes.

I would like to ask you a question tonight. That dear sister, Mary that was not known as a big giant for the Lord. Yet, she was the only one who followed Him to the cross. That meek little woman. That big old sinner that the religious people had tried to help. They probably had her in a psychiatric ward. They probably read in Psychology books how to get her free. And they couldn't help her. Yet, here this little woman who was really no good, they thought, somehow she went along up to the cross. She stood right with Jesus as a testimony and as a witness of His truth.

Not only that, I believe when Jesus came back out of His great victory that He had won in the tomb. One of the first things that were in the tomb was not the stench of His own body, but I believe it was the aroma of that spikard.

Brothers and Sisters, what I am trying to tell you is, you look at the body of Jesus walking to that cross and having suffered so terribly.

Now, you look at the body of Jesus. What have you been saying against the body of Jesus? Have you gone with that weak brother or weak sister through trials? Have you poured the alabaster box? Have you broken yourself upon another brother or sister? Have you led a life of brokenness so you can help a soul that is deteriorating under the trials of life? Or do you stand back, where the disciples did, knowing the full width of Christ, walking with Him and knowing everything about Him?

Brothers and Sisters, how broken are we tonight? How many times have you, my friends, gone to a preacher and just broken yourself over him?

I remember one morning in a critical time in my life, when it seemed that everyone was closing the door on me and I was up most of the night. I was crying and weeping. I said, Lord, is there any strength to be had from those who call themselves Christians? I got this telephone call from somebody. I hardly knew the man. He just said, Brother Wayne, I want to just tell you this. I love you. I don't know you very well, but I love you. I want you to just go the way of the cross. I want to bless you."

Brothers and Sisters, you are saying, "If Jesus would be here we would not take him up on the mountain to crucify Him. I wouldn't do it to Him. I wouldn't mock. I would sympathize. I would walk with Him." I want to tell you, "what have you proved yourselves to be to His body here on earth? What have you been doing?"

You see, Brothers and Sisters, when we are bought with the precious blood of Jesus, then we are known as the body of Christ. Have you been critical of the Body of Christ because the body didn't look just like you looked, or it didn't talk like you talk or it didn't walk just like you walk? I don't believe Mary did either. Mary didn't walk the way the disciples walked because they were critical. Yet, somehow Mary went on up to the cross. Mary went into the tomb. They sealed the tomb and said nobody will get in here. Yet, Mary got into that tomb. The world can seal you off, but my friends, if you break your body over another person, over the Body of Christ, there is no door that God will not allow you to go through.

We people, we forget that each other is a part of the Body of Christ. And we get critical. We find fault with each other instead of breaking our lives for each other. Brothers, you say, just as you say, I wouldn't mock at Christ, what have you done to His Body? I am talking of other denominations. I know that some of you have been critical concerning some other denominations. You have almost not called them Christian, because they didn't see just the way you do.

I want to tell you, friends, Brothers and Sisters, you are not to reject any that God accepts. A. W. Tozer taught me that a long time ago. Don't reject those whom God accepts. Some of you have excommunicated the Body of Christ. I want to tell you this out of a humble heart tonight; some of you are not one step behind those accusers who crucified Christ. You have those whom Christ died for out in a tomb somewhere, sealed Him off and wrote him off as no good, when they have the fellowship of Christ within their hearts.

Brothers and Sisters, the message I want to give is this, so many times you get your own ideas in the way. It's in your heart to love you brother. I know exactly what you are talking about. I know those feelings. I know those times when we are tempted to be too critical about somebody else because we just don't see eye to eye. I could tell you of people who have been critical of those whom God had anointed.

If I could relay one message it is, "May God set a watch upon all of your lips." Why do you think the Jews, lost 6 million in the Holocaust? Why do you think they were so unprotected by God's mercy and lost 6 million? They put one on that cross who was innocent and they lost 6 million as a result.

Matthew 25:34-44, "Then shall the king say unto them on his right hand, Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world."

Jesus said because He was hungry and somebody gave him food. Jesus said he was thirsty and somebody gave him something to drink. Jesus said because he was a stranger and somebody took him in. Jesus said he didn't have any clothes, but somebody gave him clothes. Jesus said he was sick and nobody cared. Jesus said he was in prison and nobody came into the prison. You know this is the attitude, "If those Christians are in prisons, they are not worth seeing. Everyone of them, when they come back out, they fall away." That's the attitude.

"And the kings shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren ye have done it unto me. Because of this, he shall say unto them on the left hand, "Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you didn't give me meat; I was thirsty and you didn't give me anything to drink; I was a stranger, you didn't take me in; I was naked, you had no clothes for me; I was sick and in prison, you didn't care; you didn't visit me. Then shall they also answer him saying, Lord, when saw we thee hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison."

I want to tell you, I believe this is the condition of the church. Do you want a description of the church across America and in other countries as well? I believe you are seeing somebody like this. Somebody that is naked. Somebody who is in prison. Somebody who is a stranger. Somebody who isn't clothed, at least maybe not with the clothes we wear. Lying in prison behind chained doors that are kept there by the power of Satan, while the church continues to argue on the doctrine of whether it might be demons, or maybe psychology is the answer.

"Woe unto you people." I want to say that to myself. We might have become critical because of another man that Jesus has accepted. Woe unto us people. We will suffer loss."

What about the alabaster box? This message I received as I was kneeling down. One of the brothers right beside me said, "Lord, break the alabaster box. Lord, break the Alabaster Box." He probably doesn't know that he prayed that, but I got my pen and I said, "That's the message for one of these nights. Break the alabaster box".

You might be a container full of ointment, most precious and most costly, but you haven't been able to break it upon the Body of Christ. You don't have the burden to break it. It looks like a waste to you. You could go out and have another campaign, or you can go support a ministry, and give them a thousand dollars. Maybe that will do it, but that's not the breaking of the Alabaster Box. The Alabaster Box is you, my friend. You are filled with the precious ointment through the Holy Spirit. You who are called by the name of Jesus. You have that precious ointment within you. You need to break that alabaster box.

Once that alabaster box was broken, it was never put back together again. It lay there. It was wasted. It left its odor. It continued to do its work. It went to places that man in his technology at that moment couldn't accomplish. It went to the cross. It went to the grave. It came out of the grave.

What about the alabaster box? What about the spikard? Have you been able to pour your life out upon another person that today has its affect upon their life?

I want to tell you, we would rather take that alabaster box and keep it back here, and maybe hide it where nobody will see it. We will stand out there with binoculars and telescopes, and we will try to find all kinds of faults in each other. They can be in some other denomination. They can be, and I'm not holding everything up and saying it's all OK. I believe there are denominations that a godly person cannot stay in very long, but can you bear with some of those? Do you have enough brokenness in your life to put some of that odor upon them so that they will smell it at the time of their trial? At the time of their decision will that smell come, or is the smell that they received a critical smell?

What have you done to the Body of Christ? Have you crucified it, or have you gone to the cross with it?

I believe most of us are guilty. We have crucified Jesus, and not worked with the Body of Christ? I know it is easy to be critical against ministers, and I welcome that. I am not trying to cover that up. Come to me and be critical. Put me down. That's OK, but don't do it to my brother. The churches where you are from. Your preachers are not perfect. They are ministers of the gospel. They will make mistakes, but can you break your body upon them? It there enough godliness in you to surrender and be broken? If you are a woman, and your partner is not saved, have you broken the alabaster box over him? Does he smell the sweetness of God's kindness upon himself? Do they smell that? When somebody opposes you, do you just slam the door in his or her face? Do you say I have no use for you, or do you open the alabaster box upon them and break?

What have we done with Jesus tonight? What have you done with Jesus?

In the same regard, I will say this; I believe there are people who are not saved. They think they are, but they are not saved. Because someone might be able to say, "Brother, I believe there is fruit lacking in your life of being saved." That is also the opening of the alabaster box.

It is also the opening of the alabaster box to go to a brother and say, "Kind friend, do know that you have made a mistake? Do you know that you need to humble yourself and repent and get right with God?" That is also the breaking of the alabaster box.

It takes breaking friends, I will tell you, if you can come up to man and challenge him on his position, whatever it is, and if you are not broken, you are not fit to do it. It is not the alabaster box. It is the sword in your own hand.

Do you hear me? Are you people saying that the Lord showed me this and this about another person? I have no use for that unless the Lord has given that man enough compassion also to go and help that person. If the Lord shows me that there is something wrong with you, He will also certainly give me the gift of brokenness and compassion, and concern to go and lay myself on that brother.

The Devil has another way, I want to remind you. What have you done with the body of Christ? The Bride of Christ is going through a trial. Does he smell the odor, or did you walk away and say, "I have no use for him.”

Brothers, I am torn up in my heart about this. There are many people out there in the world today who are dying, who don't know the love of Jesus because someone didn't break. When have you last taken your arm and put it around a brother that you might have a heart time with, and just said, "I love you, Brother."

What have you done to the Body of Christ? Has that person whom you have a problem with, has he smelled the sweetness of the Holy Spirit indwelling upon your heart, or has he heard your critical spirit? The lack of compassion? The lack of love? What have they heard?

Father in Heaven, as we stand before you and as we meditate on your Word and meditate on your ways, Lord. I pray that you could somehow convey the message to our hearts. Lord, I pray for the anointing of the Holy Spirit upon my life tonight. Lord, I pray that Jesus Christ could be exalted tonight, Lord, in many ways. I pray that He would sit on the throne in all of our lives by the end of this evening. Lord, I pray that you might help the discouraged tonight, and give more courage to the encouraged. Lord, show light from Heaven upon those that are walking in darkness. I pray for those that are going through confusion. I pray that you might lie out a map for them.

I pray, Lord Jesus, that out of Heaven you might look down into our hearts. Lord, you know every string that is out of place, every tune that is not played right. You know every item that sits in the depths of our heart, and I pray, Lord Jesus, that the doors of Heaven might be opened upon us. You could break our hearts again, Lord. I pray for those people, Lord Jesus, who have been calling on you in the last several weeks for a broken heart and have not been able to break.

I pray for those who are critical, Lord, and for those who are sloppy in their Christian lives. Lord, I pray for all kinds of people tonight, but most of all I pray for those who are named after your name. I pray for the Christians.

We pray in Jesus Name. Amen.