Alabaster Jar

“Do you see this woman?

When I entered your house, you did not give me water for my feet,

but she has bathed them with her tears

and wiped them with her hair.

You did not give me a kiss,

but she has not ceased kissing my feet since the time I entered.

You did not anoint my head with oil,

but she anointed my feet with ointment.

So I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven;

hence, she has shown great love.”

Luke 7:36-50

How much have you forgiven me?
What debts I cannot pay
are lost in all you've given me,
new tallies every day?

How can I search the depths of it,
or scale the dizzy height,
or know that I have met with it?
Lord, only by your light.

Then shed that light upon me now
and teach my heart to know
your ocean where my sins are drowned,
your streams that overflow.

Teach me to know how I am loved,
and then to love in turn:
My heart within your furnace proved,
oh, teach me how to burn!

For you, O God, have given me
an alabaster jar
to hold you've forgiven me,
distilled to sweet attar.

And so I break it open here
and pour it on you, Lord.
Anointed so with oil and tears,
you perfume all the world.