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.”