Mark 14:1-11Common English Bible

14 It was two days before Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread. The chief priests and legal experts through cunning tricks were searching for a way to arrest Jesus and kill him. ² But they agreed that it shouldn’t happen during the festival; otherwise, there would be an uproar among the people.

³ Jesus was at Bethany visiting the house of Simon, who had a skin disease. During dinner, a woman came in with a vase made of alabaster and containing very expensive perfume of pure nard. She broke open the vase and poured the perfume on his head. ⁴ Some grew angry. They said to each other, “Why waste the perfume? ⁵ This perfume could have been sold for almost a year’s pay and the money given to the poor.” And they scolded her.

⁶ Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Why do you make trouble for her? She has done a good thing for me. ⁷  You always have the poor with you; and whenever you want, you can do something good for them. But you won’t always have me. ⁸  She has done what she could. She has anointed my body ahead of time for burial.⁹  I tell you the truth that, wherever in the whole world the good news is announced, what she’s done will also be told in memory of her.”

¹⁰ Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, went to the chief priests to give Jesus up to them. ¹¹ When they heard it, they were delighted and promised to give him money. So he started looking for an opportunity to turn him in.

Question to Ponder: When have you been like the women in the story, and when have you been like crowd?