A Woman Anoints Jesus^(A)

⁶ While Jesus was in Bethany at the home of Simon the leper, ⁷ a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume and poured it on his head while he sat at the table. ⁸ But when the disciples saw this, they became irritated and said, “Why this waste? ⁹ Surely this perfume could’ve been sold for a high price and the money^[a] given to the destitute.”

¹⁰ But knowing this,^[b] Jesus asked them, “Why are you bothering the woman? She has done a beautiful thing for me. ¹¹ You’ll always have the destitute with you, but you’ll not always have me. ¹² When she poured this perfume on my body, she was preparing me for burial. ¹³ I tell all of you^[c] with certainty, wherever this gospel is proclaimed throughout the whole world, what she has done will also be told as a memorial to her.”

Mary Anoints Jesus^(A)

12 Six days before the Passover, Jesus arrived in Bethany, where Lazarus lived,^[a] the man whom Jesus had raised from the dead. ² There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. ³ Mary took a litron^[b] of very expensive perfume made of pure nard and anointed Jesus’ feet. She wiped his feet with her hair, and the house became filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

⁴ But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples, who was going to betray him, asked, ⁵ “Why wasn’t this perfume sold for 300 denarii^[c] and the money^[d] given to the destitute?” ⁶ He said this, not because he cared about the destitute, but because he was a thief. He was in charge of the moneybag and would steal what was put into it.

⁷ Then Jesus said, “Leave her alone so she can observe the day of my burial, ⁸ because you will always have the destitute with you, but you won’t always have me.”