Broken: When We Let Jesus In

+Jeanne Takenaka @JeanneTakenaka

She entered the city leader’s home. Quiet, probably unobtrusive, carrying an alabaster vial of something.

As Jesus and His disciples sat at the table of the leader, she broke her vial over His feet. No doubt the aroma permeated the home, filling it with the heady scent of the costly perfume.

I wonder what everyone thought. No one said a word to her, at first. The men talked around her as if she couldn’t hear them. As if she was invisible.

 

No doubt, judgments screamed in the minds of most of the men around the table. Words pinged that called her names reflecting her past. And those names may have described her . . . in her past.

But that was the past.

Something happened when she met Jesus. Transformation began when she turned from the choices she’d made.

Perhaps something within her broke as she saw her need for Him . . . the gentle love in His eyes as He looked at her, not through her.

 

I’ve been thinking about this woman and her alabaster vial.

We all have pasts. We all have things we wish we’d done differently. Circumstances we wish had turned out differently.

Too often, we hold tight to those regrets, protecting them in our thoughts, in the recesses of our hearts. We don’t want anyone to know about them.

We don’t want to face judgment. Condemnation. Ridicule.

We don’t want others to view the brokenness that came as a result of some of our past choices.

 

And yet, this woman, she broke her alabaster vial.

She poured out the costly nard over Jesus’ feet. She wiped His feet with her hair to clean them.

Her brokenness gave way to worship.

Sometimes we hold onto those things that have broken us, trying to repair the shattered vial of our lives. Trying to hide the cracks.

 

When we do this, we miss out on the healing Jesus offers. We prevent ourselves from learning how to walk in the confidence of Jesus’ love.

We lose ourselves in the barricades of our hearts rather than finding ourselves as Jesus does: As one loved fully and passionately.

It takes courage to walk into a place where judgment will rain down on us. Becoming vulnerable and opening up those broken places in our lives is scary.

 

Here’s the thing . . . when we’re willing to let Jesus do the gentle breaking of those walls we’ve erected, a beautiful thing happens. 

We become the aroma that fills the air around us. Our lives portray a vivid testimony.

When Jesus does the healing, we become the worshipers who draw others to Him.

When we allow Jesus to break the vial that closes us off from His healing touch? That’s when we walk in the confidence of His amazing love.

 

We are freed from the hold of those things which once broke us. And like the woman with the alabaster jar, we can pour ourselves out in worshiping Him.

What about you? When have you been brave about your brokenness? What happened? How has Jesus shown you His love for you?

Click to Tweet: Too often, we hold tight to our regrets

Today I’m linking up with Holly Barrett’s Testimony Tuesday and Kelly Balarie’s #RaRaLinkup