SERMON NOTES

Unmuted: Put It On Display

Imagine a pizza delivery arrives at your door. You open it expecting the familiar cardboard box — and instead the delivery person is standing there holding the pizza in bare hands, cheese sliding down their fingers, sauce running down their wrist. The first thing you would ask is obvious: where’s the box? Not because the box is the point, but because without it, what’s inside can’t be properly carried or delivered.

Here is the thing though: when you see a pizza box, your mind immediately goes to what’s inside it. You don’t need it opened to start forming expectations. The container points you toward the contents.

What if we’ve spent so much time focused on the outside of people — comparing containers, evaluating appearances — that we’ve lost sight of what they’re actually carrying? What if we’ve done the same with ourselves, looking at what we lack rather than recognising what God has placed within us?

2 Corinthians 4:7 cuts straight to the point: “We have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.” The jar is ordinary. The treasure is not. And what God has placed within you was never meant to remain hidden.

The Alabaster Jar

In Mark 14:3, a woman enters a room where Jesus is reclining at the table. She is carrying an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume — pure nard, worth more than a year’s wages for a labourer. This was not a casual offering. This was everything. And she broke the jar and poured it over Jesus.

She didn’t announce the price. She didn’t stand up to explain what she was doing or make sure the room appreciated the significance of her gift. She didn’t need to. The moment the jar was broken, the fragrance filled the room. What was inside announced itself.

There is a meaningful difference between carrying something valuable and allowing it to fulfil its purpose. Mary didn’t bring the jar so people could admire the container. She brought it because of what it contained — and she released it. The fragrance told the story the moment it was poured out.

It’s worth asking honestly: how many of us have become skilled at telling people what we carry — our gifts, our ministry history, our past achievements — without ever actually breaking the jar? We market what we have from yesterday without releasing what God is doing today. You don’t have to keep announcing that there’s treasure inside. Let the way you live now reveal what God has placed within you. The goal is not to make people admire the jar. The goal is to make Jesus known through what we pour out.

Not Everyone Will Understand

Mark 14:4 records what happened next in that room: “Some of those present were saying indignantly to one another, ‘Why this waste of perfume?’” They saw the price and called it wasteful. In their assessment, there was a better use for what she had brought.

Someone may not understand why you give your time so generously to serve. Someone may not understand why you keep showing kindness after being treated poorly. Someone may not understand why you still believe after everything you’ve been through, or why you give so freely when you could keep it for yourself. And sometimes the fear of being misunderstood becomes the very reason we hold back.

But notice: Jesus didn’t call Mary’s act beautiful because everyone in the room agreed with it. He called it beautiful because He understood what she was doing. And two thousand years later, her act of devotion is still being spoken about. She wasn’t deterred by the opinions in the room. She kept her eyes on Jesus.

Worship That Costs Something

There is a difference between expensive perfume and cheap perfume that tells us something important here. With cheap perfume, people are generous — spray the neck, the wrists, the shirt, the room. But a few hours later, exposed to the world, it’s gone. Overpowered by everything else the day brought with it.

Expensive perfume? Hours later you can still catch the fragrance. You change your clothes. You climb into bed that night. And it’s still there.

There is a difference between worship that costs you something and worship that costs you nothing. When you praise God while you’re hurting, that stays with you. When you trust Him when you don’t have the answer, that stays with you. Don’t give God a moment that smells good on Sunday and then deny Him your life on Monday. Give Him a surrender that lingers — that is still with you when you walk into the week, when the circumstances are the same but something inside you has shifted.

Mary didn’t give Jesus a careful dab and put the lid back on. She poured it out. And once it was poured, the fragrance filled the house. When worship costs something, it leaves something behind.

Psalm 63:3–4 captures the posture: “Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live.” When you truly understand who He is and what He has done, the question stops being what is the minimum I can give? The value of what we pour out is connected to the value we place on Jesus.

Bring What You Have

You don’t have to become somebody else before God can use you. You don’t have to wait until your gifts are more refined, your faith more polished, your story more impressive. Mary brought what she had — and Jesus called it beautiful.

Bring Him your jar. Bring Him your gift, your story, your willingness, your next step. Let your words carry grace. Let your hands serve. Let your generosity speak. Let your forgiveness tell the story of the mercy you have received. Let your faith remain visible in the middle of the difficult seasons — not because you have all the answers, but because you know who does.

The box was never the treasure. It was only carrying it. The alabaster jar was never the point of the story. The perfume poured out for Jesus was.

Our lives are meant to do the same — to point people to the One who has been so good to us, to let what is inside spill out into every room we walk into. Put it on display.