Mark 14:8

8 What she could she did: she has perfumed my body in preparation for my burial.

Mark 14:8 Meaning and Commentary

Mark 14:8

She hath done what she could
What she had in her heart, and in the power of her hands to do; she hath done according to her ability, and her good will; and if she had not done it now, she could not have done it at all.

She is come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying;
or, "as if it was to bury me", as the Syriac version renders it. Christ signifies by this, that he should shortly die, and that this woman came before hand to anoint him, and, as it were, to perform the funeral rites before he was dead; it being revealed to her by the Spirit, that Jesus would quickly die, and she should not be able to perform this good work when dead, and therefore came to do it before; or, at least, she was directed by the Spirit of God, because she would be prevented doing it afterwards; (See Gill on Matthew 26:12).

Mark 14:8 In-Context

6 But Jesus said, "Leave her alone: why are you troubling her? She has done a most gracious act towards me.
7 For you always have the poor among you, and whenever you choose you can do acts of kindness to them; but me you have not always.
8 What she could she did: she has perfumed my body in preparation for my burial.
9 And I solemnly tell you that wherever in the whole world the Good News shall be proclaimed, this which she has done shall also be told in remembrance of her."
10 But Judas Iscariot, already mentioned as one of the Twelve, went to the High Priests to betray Jesus to them.
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