Mark 14:1-8

1 In only two days the eight-day Festival of Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread would begin. The high priests and religion scholars were looking for a way they could seize Jesus by stealth and kill him.

2 They agreed that it should not be done during Passover Week. "We don't want the crowds up in arms," they said.

3 Jesus was at Bethany, a guest of Simon the Leper. While he was eating dinner, a woman came up carrying a bottle of very expensive perfume. Opening the bottle, she poured it on his head.

4 Some of the guests became furious among themselves. "That's criminal! A sheer waste!

5 This perfume could have been sold for well over a year's wages and handed out to the poor." They swelled up in anger, nearly bursting with indignation over her.

6 But Jesus said, "Let her alone. Why are you giving her a hard time? She has just done something wonderfully significant for me.

7 You will have the poor with you every day for the rest of your lives. Whenever you feel like it, you can do something for them. Not so with me.

8 She did what she could when she could - she pre-anointed my body for burial.