Break the Jar

During Passiontide we heard a couple of different accounts of Jesus’ anointing at Bethany. There is one detail in particular that Mark leaves us that has stuck with me since:  “She broke the jar,” he wrote (Mk 14:3).  In each account we know the oil was costly, her action was misunderstood, and Jesus was pleased with her. This little detail, however, shows us just how much she gave.  She was not satisfied with merely pouring it all out.  She had to break the jar to leave absolutely nothing for herself.  Mary of Bethany seemed content in her poverty, and even presented that brokenness as a gift to Jesus. What a foreshadowing of the perfect gift offered by our Bridegroom to us all.

It would take Peter a little longer to understand this self-gift.  Compare the anointing to the scene of Peter’s third denial.  Rather than running to Jesus, he runs away from Him. Peter’s holding back prevents him from pouring himself out in a sacrificial love. Peter closes in on himself and tries to hide, ending up broken in a different way and ashamed of his poverty.  His love had not yet matured and is unable to be totally broken open.  While this brokenness was not yet the fruitful kind, we know Jesus would redeem this (see Jn 21: 15-23), and Peter’s love would eventually be totally given for Jesus and His Church.

Jesus would also be broken, His Body brutally tormented and left to die on the Cross in the ultimate life-giving self-gift.  We also hear of a brokenness in the institution of the Eucharist during the Last Supper: “he took bread, and, after he had given thanks, broke it and said, ‘This is my body that is for you’” (1 Cor 11: 23-24).  In this divine brokenness we find fullness and wholeness.  It is a love that will never run out or away, and strenghtens us to better love in return. 

Will we offer ourselves and our brokenness to Jesus this Eastertide?  May we hold nothing back and "break the jar" to fully surrender to the power of His Resurrection.