Growing up in a family as the oldest of four boys we had our share of broken things. Every time you turned around in our house, something was broken. Everything from furniture to toys-we had our share of broken things. And most of the time our mother's response to anything in our home that got broken was to put it on the shelf if by chance it could be repaired later, or if the item appeared to be broken beyond repair or couldn't be neatly put back together, then it was thrown away. She would toss it! And plan on getting a new one.
Have you ever felt that way? Broken. Shattered. Put on a shelf. Or tossed to the side. Thrown away. Just get a new one. There is something about our social order that frowns upon brokeness. As if experiencing a breaking or brokenness is such a bad thing. When someone grows up with one parent-we say they come from a broken home. When a relationship or marriage ends-we say they had a broken marriage. Or, if someone's dreams don't come to fruition- we say they experienced broken dreams. Brokenness is so often associated with something bad. However, there are times when brokenness leads to beauty!
In our text, Jesus is at the home of Simon a leper. And in the midst of this encounter, a woman comes in with an expensive jar of perfume and breaks it open to pour upon the head of Jesus. Here we see the beauty that can come from brokenness. So the next time we experience a breaking of any sort, we can look for the beauty associated with brokenness.
Rev. Squire J. Newsome III
