Matthew 26:7 · World English Bible
Matthew 26:7 Meaning A Woman Came to Him Having
a woman came to him having an alabaster jar of very expensive ointment, and she poured it on his head as he sat at the table.
What does Matthew 26:7 mean?
The most precious thing held back and then poured out entirely is the image of a mind that no longer measures its love. The ointment kept sealed is love hoarded against loss; the ointment poured is love given without calculation, which is the only love that heals.
From the Christian Psychology reading below.
Matthew 26:7 through 2 lenses
The same verse, read by 2 traditions.
Christian Psychology
Esoteric
CHRISTIAN PSYCHOLOGY
Christian Psychology
The most precious thing held back and then poured out entirely is the image of a mind that no longer measures its love. The ointment kept sealed is love hoarded against loss; the ointment poured is love given without calculation, which is the only love that heals. To empty the whole vessel upon the one before her is to hold nothing in reserve, and a heart that keeps nothing back has already stopped believing it could run short.
A mind that gives its treasure completely learns that love does not diminish in the giving. The sealed box was the fear of scarcity; the broken seal is the trust that there is always enough. What she pours upon another she pours upon herself, for the abundance was hers the moment she ceased to guard it.
Woman: the part of the mind ready to love without measure, holding nothing in reserve Alabaster box: the sealed heart, love kept guarded against imagined loss Ointment: love itself, precious and healing, meant to be poured out rather than hoarded Head: the seat of thought, the mind anointed and honored by an unguarded love
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ESOTERIC
Esoteric
The woman is the feeling, devoted side of consciousness, and the ointment she pours is the concentrated inner energy raised and released over the highest center. The alabaster box is the pure vessel that has held this substance sealed, the body itself keeping its precious oil until the moment of release. The head is the crown, the topmost center of awareness, and pouring the ointment upon it is the vital force rising to anoint the highest point of the being. Oil throughout stands for the fine spiritual essence generated within, and here it is spent lavishly on the crown rather than hoarded. The whole act is the devotional nature lifting its stored energy to the summit of consciousness.
The meaning is plain: the loving part of a person carries the body's refined inner substance upward and releases it over the highest center of awareness.
Woman: the feeling, devoted side of consciousness Alabaster box: the pure sealed vessel of the body that has held the inner substance Ointment: the refined spiritual essence, the inner oil, generated and stored within Head: the crown, the highest center of awareness at the top of the being
Esoteric lensGo deeper in the app
Christian Psychology lens
Live Matthew 26:7 today
- Spend the good thing today instead of saving it, the candle, the nice bottle, the afternoon off. Keeping it for a better occasion is how it goes unused.
- Tell someone the full compliment you usually trim down. Say the whole sentence, the part that feels like too much, and let it land.
- When you are stretched thin and someone needs ten minutes, give them fully instead of half-listening with your phone in your hand. Giving all of a small thing beats giving a distracted version of a big one.
What love are you keeping sealed because you are afraid of running out?
The same truth in other traditions
Sufism · Rumi
The lover gives everything and keeps no account. What is held back is not saved, it is simply never lived.
Taoism · Tao Te Ching 81
The sage does not hoard. The more he gives to others, the more he has, like a well that only runs clear when it is drawn from.
Buddhism · Dana
Generosity is practiced first with open hands rather than careful ones, because the grasping, not the gift, is what makes a person poor.
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